As we all know, the world we live in loves to create and leave us to deal with, or live with all the problems we have. Political, social, business, all kinds of controversy, and more. But what about the majority issue? The issue that everyone helps to create but don’t realize is affecting everyone. Lets recap on what climate change is doing to us, our environment and our money.

According to the Oxford dictionary “Climate change is a change in global or regional climate patterns, in particular a change apparent from the mid to late 20th century onwards and attributed largely to the increased levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide produced by the use of fossil fuels.” Though people say that this is a controversial topic, it is simply fact. Climate change is both a slow and fast moving issue that affects us in our lifetime and more so in future generations.

“Climate change threatens the lives and livelihoods of over 100 million in extreme poverty. Global warming is expected to melt Africa’s remaining glaciers in the next few decades,”  says Charles A. Ray, a member of the Board of Trustees and Chair of the Africa Program at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, “and the reduction in water essential to agricultural production will create food insecurity, poverty, and population displacement,” he adds. People in poverty are not well equipped if a climate disaster happens such as heat waves, droughts, small fires that run into wild fires. Without a stable ecosystem the timing on crops may be delayed, meaning that it could grow at a later or earlier time. 

How much has the temperature risen? “Average temperatures across the globe have warmed about 1.1 degrees Celsius (nearly 2 degrees Fahrenheit) since pre-industrial times, the fastest rate in at least 2,000 years, according to the U.N. climate change panel,” according to an NBC news article. 

We all know or can guess the basic effects of climate change, droughts, rising sea levels, melting glaciers, more disastrous weather and ect. Each one affects humans and wildlife differently. Just take a look at California, where the state has been starting to burn extremely quickly.. Thousands of people had to be displaced from home due to a climate change in heat and the drought, making the firefighters work double time..

According to the United States EPA, natural effects that cause climate change would be, “Changes on the Earth’s orbit and rotation, variations in solar activity, volcanic activity, and changes in naturally occurring carbon dioxide concentrations.” Humans have contributed to climate change by greenhouse gas emissions (gasses like carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide), and Reflectivity of absorption of the Sun’s energy. We cause this by using more solar powered electricity but if we use fossil fueled electricity we would hurt the ecosystem even more (fracking). At the same time the fossil fuel business keeps hundreds of thousands employed and has major profit for the owners of those businesses.

“The length of the frost-free season (and the corresponding growing season) has been increasing nationally since the 1980s, with the largest increases occurring in the western United States, affecting ecosystems and agriculture,” states nasa.gov.

Not to scare anyone but if this keeps happening, which it will unless we all come together, our world is soon going to:

• Rise in temperature in an unordered, smooth fashion.
• Cause the frost-free and growing season to lengthen (The increases will be considerably smaller if heat-trapping gas emissions are reduced.)
• Cause changes in Precipitation  patterns (more floods, longer rainy days, hurricanes)
• Cause more droughts and heat waves
• Ensure Hurricanes become stronger and more intense (more category 4 and 5 hurricanes)
• Sea levels continue to rise 1-8 feet by 2100 (Global warming has already caused the sea level to rise 8 inches since 1880. This is caused by the ice melting in the ice lands.”
• Cause the Arctic become ice free 

Want to help?

Things that you could do is talk to your local community council and propose to make a change in our community. Make rain gardens, plant gardens in your backyard. Make changes in your lifestyle to conserve energy or switch energy sources. If you feel strongly about this issue then here are some organizations for community service that help our environment:

https://climateoutreach.org/

http://www.anacostiaws.org/get-involved/volunteer-stewardship

http://www.fergusonfoundation.org/

http://www.accokeekfoundation.org/

https://mde.maryland.gov/programs/marylander/Pages/www.maeoe.org

https://allianceforthebay.org/about-us/