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What is climate change?
Also called global warming, climate change
is an increase in the world’s average temperature that is
causing dire consequences. Ice in the arctic and Antarctic
is melting at an exponential rate, causing dangerous
increases in sea levels. Ocean and wind currents that have
been in place for 10,000 years are destabilizing, causing
drastic changes in weather patterns. Severe weather is
escalating, with an increasing rate of hurricanes, tropical
storms, tornadoes, flooding, and heat waves. This is causing
problems for all life on earth, including us humans. Each
year, more species become extinct, their habitats altered in
ways that make it impossible to survive.
 What is causing climate change? The primary
cause is from the burning of fossil fuels – gasoline, coal,
oil, and natural gas – which is emitting carbon dioxide into
the atmosphere. The thin layer of atmosphere above us is
being thickened by the buildup of carbon dioxide and other
greenhouse gases and is trapping the heat that would
normally escape out into space. The result is the crisis we
call climate change.
Carbon dioxide is the most abundant
greenhouse gas, with methane, nitrous oxide, and other gases
adding to the mix. They are called greenhouse gases because
they ideally keep the earth’s surface at the correct
temperature. Methane comes from livestock farming and
landfills. Nitrous oxide comes from fertilizers, fossil
fuels, and the burning of forests.
Climate change has become potentially the
biggest challenge that humans have ever had to face. It is a
true crisis that is calling all of us to join together to
find solutions we need to survive. The good news is that we
can help stop the damage we are causing. Each of us can be a
part of the solution by making simple changes in our
everyday lives. So take the pledge, and help us put the
brakes on climate change.
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