Global Warming

Okay, so I'm pretty sure I've brought up the topic of Global Warming before on this blog, but I'm now going to dedicate an entire post to this incredibly important topic. I've just finished a research project for my science class on Global Warming. We each had a country to research about. We had to find out basic knowledge about climate change as well as specific facts about the impact of Global Warming on my country.

The country that was randomly selected for me to research was Bangladesh. It's in Asia, for all of you who don't know- and I have to say, I had never even heard of this country before this project came about. And apparently, some pretty serious stuff is happening over there.

So let me share with you some facts about the world and Global Warming that I found particularly alarming.

• A one-meter rise in sea level would cause Bangladesh to shrink in size by about 18%.
• The United States, home of about 5% of the world's population, is responsible for approximately 36% of the total greenhouse gas emissions.
• Concentrations of carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere are about 35% greater than before the Industrial Revolution. This is due mainly to human activity.
• In 2003, heat waves caused 20,000 deaths in Europe and 1,500 deaths in India.
• The number of category four and five hurricanes has just about doubled since the 1970s.

Kind of scary, isn't it??? What I'm trying to get across here is that we, the humans of Earth (at least I hope that's who is reading my blog!) need to reduce the amount of emissions we are constantly sending into our atmosphere. We need to- all together now:

"REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE!!!!!"

That right. And I know it may sound corny, and I know you've probably heard it a million times before, but it's true. If we want to live in a world that doesn't have wars over water, or isn't destroyed by extreme cyclones and other tropical storms, or a world that doesn't have air and water that is heavily polluted, we need to act now. You heard me. NOW. Not later. Not in ten minutes. Not after you beat that high score on that vidoe game you're obsessed with. NOW!!!

So, if you're worried about our future here on Earth, or if you just feel the urge to make a difference, do it! Plant a tree! Shut off the lights and unplug electronics when you leave a room! Take shorter showers! Walk or ride a bike instead of driving or riding in a car! All of the little things can really add up. If you want, you can comment below this post and say what you pledge to do to help the environment. That would be cool. Thanks, people! The Earth will thank you too!

Going green(ish),

Aceba