Do you ever think about how beautiful the Earth is, and then think I wonder what it would look like before humans? Well, something scientists have found out is that the generation of millennials and gen Z are killing the Earth. The carbon dioxide level has more than doubled since the 1920s according to a NASA Global Climate change article. Climate change became a problem around 30 years ago, the problem keeps growing and we are doing nothing to stop it, according to many articles I found in my research many scientists believe that we only have 12 years to climate change is irreversible so why wait when we can and should act now. What can we do to help you may ask, today we will look at the following three points. First smoking, Second household electricity usage, and Third coal/oil and livestock. Let's listen to these points so we don’t kill the only known planet in the universe to be home to human life.
Climate change is an epidemic in the world and specifically, the U.S. carbon dioxide in the air is a cause of this. Statistics say that carbon dioxide is the highest it’s been in 650,000 years! Smoking is a major producer of carbon dioxide. Researchers say that in 2015 25.3% of high school and 7.4% of middle school students used tobacco products, since then it has only gone up. More than 5 million middle and high school students currently use e-cigarettes, according to the 2019 National Youth Tobacco Study (NYTS). Carbon dioxide is an important heat-trapping gas, which is released through human activities such as smoking, deforestation and burning of fossil fuels, and even natural processes like respiration and volcanic eruptions. So by choosing to stop smoking or make sure that you are following the smoking laws is a major way that you can help make an impact on the reduction of carbon dioxide in the air.
Hydrofluorocarbons or HFCs come from leakage of and end of life disposal of refrigeration, air conditioning equipment, and aerosols, on top of that HFCs, are completely man-made there are no natural sources of this. This being said we can eliminate all HFCs from the environment. According to data journalist Martin Armstrong, the demand for air conditioning is on the rise with a total of 1.6 billion in 2016 to an estimate of a 4,206% increase by 2050. To prevent this there are many alternatives like fans. Using fans and more eco-friendly products could help the environment. So think about the Earth before you turn on the AC or use arousals.
In 2017, methane accounted for about 10.2 percent of all U.S. greenhouse gas emissions from human activities. Human activities emitting methane include transportation of coal, oil and the raising of livestock. Coal and the raising of livestock also assist in the production of carbon dioxide. Another producer of methane is landfills, there are alternatives to this, for example, recycling and waste to energy or the WtE process. Waste-to-Energy supports high-quality recycling. For example, countries with very high recycling rates – such as Austria, Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands also have high rates of Waste-to-Energy as a final destination for non-recyclables, and thereby have reduced landfill to almost zero. Maybe if we start to participate in this then we can decrease the methane in the air and help to eliminate global warming.
In conclusion, choosing to stop smoking or make sure that you are following the smoking laws, Using fans and more eco-friendly products and think about the Earth before you turn on the AC or use arousals; and recycling and waste to energy or by using the WtE process. Then we can continue to live on the Earth for another 4.543 billion years. Every day just takes some time to recycle, turn off the AC, and put down the cigarettes, after all the generations before us didn’t help grow this world for us to trash it, and the generations after us will thank us. If we can prevent climate change and global warming why don’t we? So take time and think about my points today then we can make sure that the only planet known to man with humans on it stays around.
