A Changing Planet: Why We Have to Care

Climate change. Global warming. Climate crisis. The liberal agenda. 

Whatever you want to call it, our planet is dying. Regardless of your political affiliation, there is no denying that our planet is undergoing significant expedited change at the hands of humans and their habits. From plastics choking our oceans to global temperature rise to the loss of keystone species, the impacts of this global change are far-reaching in both their scope and magnitude of devastation. My goal in this post today is not to present you with all the evidence for global change; however, I will point you in the direction of some reputable resources that will provide that information. My goal for this post is to explain why we all need to care, why the effort of scientists alone is not enough. 

What Exactly is Climate Change?

Unless you've been living under a rock instead of on top of one, you've heard the phrases global warming, climate change, and global change. Before we go any further, I want to explain the difference between the three, because they are often used interchangeably, which can cause a lot of confusion. 

Global warming is a specific phenomenon that describes the gradual increase in global atmospheric temperatures over time. This change in temperature can generally be attributed to an increase in atmospheric concentrations of greenhouses gases, including carbon dioxide and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). Climate change is more general than global warming and refers to the change in climate patterns over time, including atmospheric temperature, concentration of specific gases, and weather patterns. Finally, global change is the most inclusive and broad of the three categories, referring to large scale planetary changes in weather patterns, temperature, ecosystems, and the overall health of the planet over time. 

I want to quickly note that climate change is indeed a natural phenomenon; our climate has gone through hundreds of changes over its 4.5 billion year history, which you can read more about here. However, it is widely researched, documented, and supported that the climate change we are experiencing in this human era is extremely expedited as a result of human activity, particularly after the industrial revolution. Thus, we are talking about human-mitigated climate change in this brief post. I will provide more resources and sources of evidence about this linked below, but welcome any questions or discussion on the matter. 

Notice that these three phenomena increase in specificity, with global warming being the most specific and global change being the most broad. An easy way to keep these topics straight is to remember that global warming is one part of climate change and climate change is one part of global change; these phenomena are not mutually exclusive and each level envelops the one below it. Understanding the difference between these three global phenomena is extremely important in moving forward with our discussion of our changing planet. Education and knowledge may be one of our strongest allies in fighting this climate fight, and understanding the problem is the first step in working towards a solution. 

Why Should You Care?

To many of us, climate change and global environmental change seem far away; it feels like something scientists in Washington DC need to worry about, not you and me. While it may seem like something a little above our pay grade, I'm here to tell you it's not. This misconception that there is nothing that the average Joe and Jane can do, so we don't need to worry about it, is the exact reason this problem is not getting better. So, I'm here to tell you why you should care and why you have to care in order to break this cycle of pollution and devastation. 

First and foremost, I want to highlight the current state of our planet with some quick facts and figures:

• According to IUCN, 8 million tons of plastic enter our global oceans every single year. 
• The current concentration of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere is 416 parts per million (ppm), which is the highest it has ever been in human history. 
• The five warmest years since regular temperature recording began in 1880 have all occurred since 2015. 
• Due to recent sea level rise (as well as other risk factors), the current capital of Indonesia, Jakarta, will be moved to avoid it sinking into the Java Sea, and it isn't the only city debating that option. 
• Experts estimate species extinction rates to currently be 1,000 to 10,000 times higher than the natural extinction rate. 
• Climate.gov reported that the average global sea level has risen between 8 and 9 inches since 1880. 
• And so much more......

Plastic pollution in Ghana. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Plastic_Pollution_in_Ghana.jpg

This quote from Eos really resonated with me and accurately details the scope of changes we are extensively documenting:

"Thousands of studies outlined in the report document rising surface, atmospheric, and oceanic temperatures; melting glaciers; diminishing snow cover; shrinking sea ice; rising sea levels; ocean acidification; and increasing intensity and frequency of rainfall, hurricanes, heat waves, wildfires, and drought. The report meticulously outlines how these effects can be largely traced back to human activities and associated emissions of radiatively important gases and particles."

If we don't make sudden, drastic changes starting right now, all I can promise is that the patterns and devastation we are seeing now will only intensify. We will soon run out of resources to nourish ourselves, space to build on, ecosystems to lean on, hospitable lands to settle on, and so much more. Plastic will continue to choke our oceans to nothing; sea levels will continue to rise and eliminate islands and coastal areas; extreme weather patterns including hurricanes, atmospheric temperatures, droughts, and wildfires will continue to increase in magnitude and frequency; greenhouse gases will continue to poison us; species will die faster and faster; and our beautiful Mother Earth will no longer be suitable for any sort of life, not just human. 

"63 Years of Climate Change"- Visualizing global temperature increase by NASA from 1950 to 2013

Newton's Third Law states that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. In the case of global change, we need equal and opposite global forces to combat this change, and that starts with each and every one of us. My ultimate goal is to lead the frontlines of climate action and change the industry, policy, and legislation that holds us back from real, measurable, global change. We need to tip the scales in the right direction; while that takes large-scale changes to how we run our country and the world, our small-scale efforts add up to real change, and no one can take that away from us. So for now, I will resign to making my small, everyday changes and hope that this ripple touches at least one other person and encourages them to be more conscious of their decisions and how they can make a change. One day at a time, one change at a time, one less piece of plastic at a time. 

If you are interested in learning more about the evidence of human-mitigated climate change, please check out the following websites:

https://climate.nasa.gov/

https://www.climate.gov/

https://www.noaa.gov/

https://www.epa.gov/

If you're interested in joining the climate fight, GREAT! We are so happy to have you! I plan on posting a more in depth post on every day changes you can make, but you can also get involved by volunteering, lobbying your local politicians to vote for climate action, making more sustainable choices, and educating people in your life about this issue. Please share this post far and wide and let's rally for this fight.