So I'm guessing you all had heard of the term "Global Warming". It's often called "climate change," and is a big environmental problem caused by our activities. But at this point, the Earth's gotten too hot to be called "Global Warming" so it's now being referred to as "Global Boiling."
- Â What is global boiling?
So the way greenhouse gases, Earth and the Sun's heat are supposed to work is: First, the Earth receives heat, then some of it is absorbed, and then the Earth emits energy back into space. Then the naturally occurring greenhouse gases trap some of the heat, so that Earth still has enough heat energy to sustain life on it. What do humans and animals do? They breath in oxygen and breath out carbon dioxide. Then plants do the work of changing the carbon dioxide (greenhouse gas) into oxygen. So, global boiling is the extreme act of trapping the heat of the earth. It happens because too many of the non-natural occurring greenhouse gases fill the Earth's atmosphere and trap way too much heat inside of it.Â
- Causes of Global Boiling
What are the main causes of global warming? The main ones are burning of fossil fuels, deforestation, and residential emissions. For example, when we are in our homes, on our phones while charging, lights on, AC blasting at 16 degrees celsius, and getting some drinking water from the refrigerator while eating a fine meal of beef, we are burning fossil fuels, one of the biggest and most harmful causes of global warming. Those greenhouse gases come from a big factory, where the chimneys are full of big clouds of very black smoke that are obviously very harmful. Burning greenhouse gases is also for transportation and industry. Then us living in our own homes, with malls and gas stations and all sorts of buildings nearby? Those used to be huge, dense forests; they do a very big and important job in converting carbon dioxide to oxygen, which is called the oxygen-carbon dioxide cycle. This is called deforestation, the process of clearing out forests for agricultural purposes or for humans to inhabit. This deals massive damage to Earth, contributing to the global boiling problem as there are fewer and fewer plants available to repeat the oxygen-carbon dioxide cycle. Then that delicious steak we eat? Huge farms full of cattle that are producing that delicous beef also produce lots and lots of methane (greenhouse gas) just from the cows living. They actually fart and burp very frequently, which consists of methane, and every single cow produces at least 70 kg of methane every year. Yeah, global warming is one of the hardest challenges faced by humankind.Â
- Result of Global Boiling
As the name suggests, global boiling causes temperatures to rise higher, breaking records not too long after the other. I mean, just look at the chart about the absurd rate at which global temperatures are rising. Anyways, considering the Earth is 71% made up of water with huge, and I mean HUGE, icebergs, global warming has definitely made a change to those icebergs and the water levels, too. Icebergs are huge floating structures of ice on which all sorts of animals seek refuge and protection on when resting after a long and tiring day at sea. These animals include polar bears, penguins, seals, and much more. Global boiling is making it harder for these animals to survive by melting these icebergs and drowning them doing so, and even for us, it impacts us by raising sea levels around where we live and causing the erosion of beaches, as well as the loss of wetlands and marshes and even flooding. Then, with more severe ones such as extreme weather events occurring more frequently, may it be thunderstorms, hurricanes, droughts, or wildfires, they shift the local ecosystems into inbalance, which messes up the diversity species living there. And for us humans? For one, air pollution and excessive greenhouse gases can trigger heat-related illnesses and waterborne diseases caused by the change in climate. Global boiling also threatens food and water availability, and they become less and less reliable. And overtime, something serious and irreversible might happen, such as the extinction of various animal species, and by 2100, it is estimated that 18% of all land animals have a very high risk of going extinct.
- Â Is there any solution to this problem?
Well, though it may seem difficult, all is not lost, at least not yet. I won't be telling you how you should be replanting trees or discovering an entirely new solution, like what a man did when he discovered liquid trees/microalgae that have the same oxygenation abilities as a tree and all that, but I'm going to tell you how you can actually do it in your own home. Save energy in your home; don't use it all too much, because the more you use, the more the industry would have to manufacture. Don't leave sinks on, lights on, or anything else on when it's not in use. Walk, cycle, or take public transport to reduce gas emissions. Less vehicles on the road mean less vehicles that emit greenhouse gases. Now this is a surprising one, but eat more vegetables, because meat takes more energy to process than vegetables. And lastly, throw away less food, since landfills also contribute to producing excessive greenhouse gases.Â
- ConclusionÂ
Though it may not be easy, and it also definitely needs the coordination of the whole human population on Earth, it is definitely still possible. After all this, you might say, why bother? I won't be living long enough to see the effects become extreme, and I don't care about endangered animals, but we have to do this, as God has entrusted us with this task of taking care of the wonderful and beautiful planet Earth, and it is our sole duty to take care of Earth and the living things in it.
- Sources:
- https://www.zurich.com/en/media/magazine/2022/is-there-more-to-methane-than-cow farts#:~:text=A%20single%20cow%20can%20produce,of%20the%20rear%20end%2C%20too!
- https://www.usgs.gov/media/images/distribution-water-and-above-earth#:~:text=About%2071%20percent%20of%20the,in%20you%20and%20your%20dog.
- https://sciencing.com/ice-caps-melting-5365744.html
- https://www.c2es.org/document/sea-level-rise-global-climate-change-a-review-of-impacts-to-u-s-coasts/#:~:text=The%20major%20physical%20impacts%20of,a%20result%20of%20saltwater%20intrusion.
- https://www.ifaw.org/international/journal/animals-most-impacted-climate-change#:~:text=How%20much%20is%20climate%20change,high%20risk%20of%20going%20extinct.
- https://www.un.org/actnow
