Global Warming

Global warming has consistently been happening and affecting our planet. Amanda MacMillan answers the basic questions asked about global warming by sharing her knowledge on the subject. Global warming is when the temperature of the earth keeps increasing at alarming rates. In the past 50 years the average global temperature increased at the fastest rate recorded in history. If we do not try and improving the situation now the average temperature will increase about ten degrees Fahrenheit over the upcoming century. Global warming happens when carbon dioxide, other pollutants, and greenhouse gasses collect in the atmosphere and absorb light and radiation that bounces off earth’s surface. Usually the radiation would be left in space but the pollutants (that can last for years to centuries) trap heat and that is what causes the planet to get hotter (aka the greenhouse effect). The United States is one of the biggest contributors of global warming by burning fossil fuels that create electricity. The biggest contributor is coal-burning power plants. Scientists believe that earths increasing temperatures are what causing the longer and hotter heat waves, droughts, heavier rainbow, and dangerous hurricanes. The planet’s oceans temperatures are also getting higher which can cause storms to get more dangerous. Because of global warming a category 3 storms can become a category 4 storms, which are more dangerous. Scientists have noticed an increase in hurricanes since the 1980s. The rising temperatures have caused water sources to melt and droughts to get worse. The sea levels are rising and creating coastal flooding. America is in second place in “biggest polluting country” right after China. We need to stop polluting our planet and start protecting it.

Read the article here: https://www.nrdc.org/stories/global-warming-101

California Drought

California has been suffering from a terrible drought the past couple years and it has freaked out a lot of people. The LA Times provides some answers why the drought is so bad. People have learned to conserve their water usage as much as they can and it has helped greatly in the past few years. A major impact was that the land was dry. There was a huge dry spell that went over California and because of the lack of snow and rain it hit California hard. Many reservoir levels decreased greatly and things that held water went dry. A reason that water shriveled up because we have been facing some of the hottest times lately. The winters are still cold but they are warmer than usual. The heat makes the drought conditions worse by increasing evaporation and drying soil out. These conditions California has been suffering lately has caused for many acres to be burned in wildfires across the Northern areas of California. There were record-breaking amount of acres that were burned in a calendar year with a total of 813,163 acres. Since there has not been much precipitation lately the vegetation has dried out which caused fuel moistures to drop to critically low numbers.

Check out the article here: http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-grim-consequences-of-california-drought-accelerating-in-2015-20151001-story.html

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

The three R's you are always hearing everyone say are reduce, reuse, and recycle. The EPA (US Environmental Agency) tells the benefits of reducing, reusing, and recycling and gives ideas on how you can do them at home. There are so many benefits that come from reducing and reusing. A few things that would get saved when reducing and reusing is time, energy, and money. When reducing, it reduced green house gasses that have a huge impact global climate change and it also reduces the amount of waste sent to recycle plants or to landfills and incinerators. The key to reducing waste is to not create it at all. A lot of energy, materials, and resources are used when creating a new product. Most products have things that need to extract the earth’s resources. A lot of people just waste their products early on and never let them be used to their fullest extent which just creates pollution that can be prevented. Some ways that everyone can do to reduce and recycle. Buying used instead of new since you can literally buy anything used. Reduce waste by buying products that do not have that much packaging. Maintain your products and repair them when damaged so they can live to their fullest extent and then borrow, rent, or share your items with others. Recycling is taking used materials that people would usually throw away and turning them into new products that extend its purpose. Recycling helps everyone for a lot of the same reasons reducing and recycling is beneficial. It helps conserve natural resources like wood, water, minerals, and more. It also creates new jobs in the American recycling industries.

Check the information out here: https://www.epa.gov/recycle