be in utter devastation, and it is those who are calling this situation a hoax who will be
sorry they ever claimed that.
The majority of today’s scientists, including NASA, have concluded that climate
change is a present danger based on records of melting ice caps and an abundance of
greenhouse gases. Even though most people can’t see the changes in their everyday
lives, they are occurring all around us, much faster than people would have imagined.
The ten hottest years on record occurred since 1998. 2014 was the hottest ever. Air
temperatures in the Arctic this year are 20C degrees hotter than usual. For low-lying
communities, some consequences could be rising water levels which erode the coastline
away. There are already many accounts of major flooding in Florida, which is likely to be
one of the first areas of our nation to be consumed by rising sea levels due to melting ice
caps. This is why we need to provide a solution to the issue instead of denying the facts.
The human race needs to act quickly in order to slow climate change. We need to
make a more critical effort in the transition from using fossil fuels for energy to wind,
hydroelectric, nuclear, geothermal, and solar energy. We should also be recycling and
reusing anything we possibly can to reduce waste. We should keep food scraps out of
landfills to prevent the release of methane, a greenhouse gas 84% more potent than
carbon dioxide. The best way to do this, of course, is to compost food waste, rather than
putting it in the trash. Boulder already collects curbside compost; Longmont launches
this service in spring 2017. Another example of these practices being successful is the
country of Denmark, where they are living almost entirely “green” in their energy
sources. We currently live in a very materialistic community, but if we stop consuming
the products that are harmful to the environment, producers will stop making them as
well as stop wasting energy on these products.
It is true that we are almost all guilty of throwing away plastic bags or leaving the
lights on when nobody's home, but with each action we take, we have the ability to stop
climate change from progressing. In our school alone, we can make small changes in our
daily lives, such as using alternate means of transportation (city bus, walking, biking, or
carpooling), changing the means of recycling so that it is more readily available to
everyone, as well as composting whenever possible. Such simple tasks could make all
the difference in a world that is so close to the brink of destruction. However, this will
only be possible if people stop denying it and start looking at the issue straight in the
face.