Climate change has become the biggest global health threat of the 21st century. Hurricanes, tornados, super storms, and prolonged drought are not only becoming increasingly common but, tragically, increasingly destructive. Perhaps the biggest threat humanity faces as the earth continues to warm is the rise of the sea level.
In the last few years, Greenland has hit its highest temperatures in the recorded history and Antarctica's land ice has been melting at an alarming rate. If we care about our planet, we have to reduce the greenhouse emissions created from fossil fuels, deforestation and unsustainable agricultural practices like intensive livestock farming, or use of synthetic fertilizers and industrial chemicals. In order to stabilize glaciers in Greenland and stop adding so much heat into the environment, we need to cut emissions of carbon dioxide by at least 80%.
Renewable energy resources like wind, nuclear fusion or solar could generate energy with little or no pollution or greenhouse emissions. Wind and solar power on their own could reliably and affordably provide up to 40 percent of U.S. electricity by 2030, and 80 percent by 2050.
Some countries have already made renewable energy at the center of their energy strategy. In fact, Denmark has 14 offshore wind farms and in 2014 broke a world record, powering an average of 40 percent of the country on wind alone. However, the US still hands out $20 billion a year to fossil fuel companies and despite the negative impact of Carbone emission, the U.S. oil and gas productions have been booming under the Obama's administration.
Climate change is the one problem where there are no winners and our role as citizens of Earth is to keep pushing our politicians and our energy providers, as well as using our purchasing power, to make sure that we speed up the adoption of renewable sources of energy like fusion, solar and wind. If human beings are going to sustain our civilization into the future, we have to cut our addiction to fossil fuels and implement solutions to the climate crisis that threatens our planet. As they say “We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children”. |
