Global Warming in California Professor Ramos Blog

Global Warming in California Many people seem to not pay enough attention to global warming. Our climate has changed so much over that past few years in record breaking ways. The weather is getting hotter and hotter by each passing year. Yet, no one seems to care or pay attention to why this is happening. California is one of the most populated states in the world. We are heavy contributors to this epidemic. Wildfires and hurricanes are beginning to get worse due to the horrible weather conditions we live in on a day to day basis. Living life forms on land are also not the only ones effected by global warming, our fellow sea creature suffers from rising sea levels and climate change in the ocean. This is a very serious issue that I hope after reading this, you’ll pay more attention to our climate change and other natural changes that are due to our atmosphere. One main thing to keep in mind when you think about global warming is the rise of temperature within our decade. Since there’s been more toxic gases released in the air due to our own evolution of industries, we have had our climate been the hottest it’s been in recorded history. â€Å"Over the past 50 years, the average global temperature has increased at the fastest rate in recorded history† (MacMillan NRDC). The scary part about this fact is that it’s only getting hotter. Our summers are breaking the record of the previous summer year by year and it’s something we really need to try and deal with. The main cause of global warming is the greenhouse effect which MacMillan breaks down very simply in her article making it simple for those who don’t believe global warming is â€Å"real†. Greenhouse gases is something that is man-made and being that we live in California, we create an abundance of greenhouse gases. The populated Californi a becomes, the hotter and horrible our climate becomes year after year. One of our natural cause disaster that happens very often in California are the wildfires. The number of wildfires California has a year is very alarming. On average, more than 100,000 wildfires a year in just California alone according to Cal Fire experts. These fires are not only destroying our land, they’re destroying our homes. â€Å"Much of the western United states is extremely dry, and there are many reports of temperatures and forest fires that have broken records. The number of buildings destroyed – nearly 1,000 in a recent count – is staggering† (Moritz 273). Our climate change that we brought upon ourselves is something that’s adding fuel to these forest fires that are potentially destroying homes and agriculture. Its freighting to think that even our own weather can destroy families and homes we worked so hard to build and maintain. We are also creating a problem in our sea life the more global warming gets worse, especially here in populated California. The more and more we contribute to this climate change the more ice caps will melt. Once a significate amount of polar ice caps melts, the rise in our sea levels will begin to happen. This can be a major threat to the costal living area all throughout California. â€Å"Even if world manages to limit global warming to 2 degrees C – the target number for current climate negotiations – sea levels may still rise at least 6 meters (20 feet) above their current heights, radically reshaping the world’s coastline and affecting millions in the process† (Kahn). Our coastal cities that we love to visit will be completely under water. Many live and homes will be gone and we will ultimately face an epidemic in the future that we may not have any control over. â€Å"By 2050, 26 major U.S. cities will face an â€Å"emerging flooding crisis† (Kahan). That number is not far away from as of now. Who knows what cities will be emerged in water by the time 2050 starts slowing coming our way. This is from global warming, this is a man-made condition that the majority of us ignore or don’t believe to be something that’s real. The more we disregard this epic crisis that’ll sooner or later cause us great problems, the faster the effects will come to us. Now, there are some of us that are trying to make a change to this crisis. We are coming up with better transportation solutions that’ll be eco-friendlier towards our atmosphere. More electric power vehicles and solar panels to replace a lot of our technology that causes damage to our atmosphere. Apart of our technology, we have urban forest organizations that plant urban trees to help reduce the amount of green-house gases from emerging into the atmosphere. Many donation organizations that go around and help area of the planet that need agriculture assistance. Planting trees and other greens in dry, high fire risk areas is one great way to help. You can also make changes yourself by getting an eco-friendly vehicle or reduce your drive time by car-pooling. Global warming is something we obviously need to pay more attention too, but there are still good people out there that are trying to make the changes that most of us aren’t doing. Make sure you turn off any electroni cs that you aren’t using, buy energy efficient household products, use less hot water, plant a tree, and always recycle materials that you would normally throw away. I chose this topic to write about because, there are many of us out there that go outside and do fun activities and enjoy the outdoors. Having these harsh climates year by year will decrease the fun time you have when you go outside. I want everyone to be aware that by you making a simple decision like leaving your light on or driving constantly when it’s not necessary can take away the cool refreshing days and leave us inside and living in a world that is constantly hot and unimaginable for us and our loved ones.