The Dangers of Climate Change and What We Can Do to Help

It’s a crisp mid-March Monday morning. You get dressed in your favorite sweater, jeans, and winter shoes. You grab your puffer jacket because of the chill in the air before leaving your home and starting your day. However, three days later, you’re sweating in a simple t-shirt and jeans because of the sweltering heat. Climate change is the cause of this rapid and uncomfortable rise in temperature.

Over the past few years, climate change has become a hot-button topic for all nations worldwide. It’s an issue that affects everyone, no matter their race, color, creed, country of origin, sexuality, or political affiliation. However, how much do we really know about climate change?

The term “climate change” indicates the long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns. Sometimes, these shifts can be natural, but studies show that humans are to blame for global heating over the past 200 years. Human activities, such as burning fossil fuels, are the main force behind climate change.

Burning fossil fuels like coal and oil produces greenhouse gas emissions that wrap around the earth and trap the sun’s heat, raising temperatures. The primary greenhouse gases causing climate change are carbon dioxide and methane, which come from using gasoline to drive a car or cutting down forests.

Although warmer temperatures are the most obvious effects of climate change, that’s just the beginning of the problem. The consequences also include severe droughts, wildfires, rising sea levels, disastrous storms, and declining biodiversity.

The effects of climate change on our environment are significant, but climate change can affect other aspects of our lives. Climate change can affect our health by causing respiratory and heart diseases and water- and food-related illnesses. It can also affect mental health. Besides our health, climate change can affect our housing, safety, and ability to grow food.

These effects will only get worse if we don’t get more serious about taking action against climate change. Although fighting climate change feels like an impossible feat, there are a lot of things that people can do at home and in their community to help.

At home, people could use less energy by switching to LED light bulbs and energy-efficient electric appliances and washing clothes in cold water. Coal, oil, and gas power most of our electricity and heat, so switching will reduce the use of these fossil fuels.

For short-distance travel, try walking or riding a bike to your destination. For long-distance travel, contemplate taking public transportation or carpooling. Fewer cars on the roads mean less diesel or gasoline burning.

For food intake, eating more vegetables and fewer animal-based products helps a lot since manufacturing plant-based products generates fewer greenhouse gases. Also, try throwing away less food because when food rots in a landfill, it emits methane.

When shopping, shop at second-hand stores or repair what you can. If you have to throw something away, recycle it when you can. Buildings, housing complexes, and school campuses could provide recycling bins in easily accessible areas to make recycling more possible.

Finally, the most effective way to make a difference is to raise awareness about climate change. Talk to friends, family, and colleagues about the dangers of climate change and what they can do to fight it. Because if more people don’t start taking climate change seriously, soon it will be too late to do anything.

Go out and make a difference today!