On the Edge of Despair, Reaching for Hope

Cardboard protest sign "Earth is more valuable than money," with a handpainted Earth on the right of the text.
Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash.

I haven’t published much since the November 2024 election, mostly because I don’t know what to write about. I feel like I’m at a loss and am grieving. Like all hope is lost.

I feel like the climate crisis fight is over.

I feel like there’s nothing more to say. Half of us voted against the climate crisis and environmental issues and endangered species. The half of us who care about our environment lost the election.

I have cried and I am sad. I want to hug a tree and save the polar bears and protect the sea turtles.

I am angry. I hate politics and I hate money – though don’t misunderstand, I know we need politics in a democracy and we need money to survive. I just wish ethics ruled and money didn’t.

I can’t remain politically neutral anymore, mainly because the climate crisis and environmentalism have become left-aligned. These are NOT POLITICAL ISSUES though, and they never should have been. I am angry with those politicians who made it a political issue.

Humans will suffer with rising sea levels and the coral reefs will die out. Rainforests, which are like the Earth’s lungs, will perish. Human activity and climate change are killing off our species at an extremely high rate. And we’re next, as we endanger our own existence and that of our children.

These issues are actually SURVIVAL issues. We cannot survive without a specific climate, plant and animal biodiversity, or clean air, water, and soil.

Demonstrator in a costume holding a sign with the message "Wake up humans, you're endangered too" at a protest against climate change and destruction of nature.
Photo by Ivan Radic on Flickr, Creative Commons license (CC BY 2.0).

The election happened. Trump, the Republican right, and their allies won the presidency, the Senate, the House, and they have the Supreme Court too. They’ve been telling us what they want to do all along, even publishing their plans in a manifesto called Project 2025. They fully plan to trash any plans related to improving the environment or curbing the climate crisis. They’ve been clear about this.

The people Trump is choosing for his cabinet are often unqualified and anti-environment. For example, Chris Wright, a fracking magnate, is the confirmed U.S. Energy Secretary. He makes a moral case for fossil fuels! He explained that “the world’s poorest people need oil, gas and coal to realize the benefits of modern life that Americans and others in rich nations take for granted. Only fossil fuels, he says, can bring prosperity to millions who still burn wood, dung or charcoal for basic needs like cooking food and heating homes.”2

Lee Zeldin is confirmed as the leader of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), where he will dismantle environmental regulations and reduce the EPA itself, per Project 2025. Zeldin has little experience in environmentalism and has taken money from fossil fuel companies. Environmental regulations seem doomed. “He is expected to work to erase rules to fight climate change and chemical pollution, while shutting down programs designed to help poor and minority communities that are disproportionately affected by pollution.”3

There are dozens of federal agencies being shuttered or at risk of being closed. Federal employees have already been furloughed or laid off entirely. The Trump administration has warned more than 1,100 Environmental Protection Agency employees that they could be fired at any time. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) might be on the chopping block next.

Image of an oil rig at sea, at dusk.
Photo by Maria Lupan on Unsplash.

Climate change is no hoax. A warmer climate is causing stronger storms and worse natural disasters. This is causing human suffering across the planet. As Lisa Friedman recently wrote in the New York Times, “On the heels of the hottest year in recorded history, one that brought the planet to a dangerous temperature threshold, President Trump effectively told the world on [January 20] that the United States is out of the climate fight.”5 Trump is withdrawing the United States from the Paris Agreement. He wants to curb the expansion of renewable energy efforts, expand oil drilling, and end federal regulation of dangerous emissions from fossil fuels.

This is after global temperatures reached record highs last year in 2024. We have surpassed the 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above preindustrial levels that scientists warned us against. They indicate that “every fraction of a degree of warming above that level brings greater risks from deadly heat waves, wildfires, drought, storms and species extinction.”6

The glaciers are melting. Scientists studying the Thwaites Glacier in Antarctica discovered that it is “melting at an accelerating rate and could be on an irreversible path to collapse…Thwaites holds enough water to increase sea levels by more than 2 feet. But because it also acts like a cork, holding back the vast Antarctic ice sheet, its collapse could ultimately lead to around 10 feet of sea level rise, devastating coastal communities from Miami and London to Bangladesh and the Pacific Islands.”8 Countries like Vanuatu have already experienced sea level rise and had to relocate an entire village because of it.

Worse, without United States leadership on the climate crisis, other countries are less likely to put forth efforts to curb the crisis.

Woman in crowd holding a cardboard sign, "Change the Politics, not the Climate."
Photo by Tania Malréchauffé on Unsplash.


Parts of the Los Angeles area burned to the ground and the Trump administration and Congress can’t agree on distributing aid to the thousands who lost everything. In fact, they want to shut down the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Some of the people in California lost their homeowners insurance before the crisis! Increasingly, insurance is getting more difficult to obtain and more expensive. This is a direct result of climate change. “As climate-fueled disasters get worse, home insurance is becoming a money-losing business in more of the country. Without insurance, you can’t get a mortgage; without a mortgage, most Americans can’t buy a home.”9 Perhaps the elites want everyone to be renters, ensuring we remain dependent on them.

California wildfire with glowing orange smoke in the Sierra Nevada mountains. Stars in sky behind smoke.
Photo by Ross Stone on Unsplash.

Everything might get worse before it gets better, especially for the environment. Changes to the Constitution could hurt our economy or even lead to war.

Are we transitioning to an oligarchy? Wealthy elites and billionaires are calling the shots. Forbes reported that at least 26 billionaires donated to Trump’s campaign. The main industries among these backers are casinos, finance, and oil and gas. What is their number one priority? Money. Not climate or trees or polar bears or humanitarian causes or philanthropy. One, in particular, wants to figure out how to live on Mars. Why don’t we just protect the beautiful planet and life we already have?

I wish he’d go to Mars. We don’t want him on Earth!

These billionaires support Trump due to money and greed, not because they believe he will do the right thing.

Because everyone knows Trump won’t do the right thing.

Three white signs with black text on a chain link fence with trees and bushes behind it: "Don't Give Up," "You are not alone," and "You matter."
Photo by Dan Meyers on Unsplash.

I’m here to tell you that we should not despair. There are so many of us who feel powerless and alone. But we aren’t alone. We need to come together, unite, and stand up. We can’t give up, and we can’t keep quiet. We must object, call on our representatives, and protest.

What other choice do we have?

Footnotes:

  1. Article, “Trump’s questionable ‘clean water and clean air’ claims,” by David Gelles, Climate Forward newsletter, New York Times, October 29, 2024. ↩︎
  2. Article, “Trump’s Choice to Run Energy Says Fossil Fuels Are Virtuous,” by Lisa Friedman, New York Times, December 12, 2024. ↩︎
  3. Article, “Senate Confirms Lee Zeldin to Head E.P.A.,”by Coral Davenport, New York Times, January 29, 2025. ↩︎
  4. Article, “Trump Signs Orders to Promote Fossil Fuels and End Climate Policies,” by Lisa Friedman, Brad Plumer, Rebecca F. Elliott, and Eric Lipton, New York Times, January 20, 2025. ↩︎
  5. Article, “3 of Trump’s most important executive orders on climate,” by Lisa Friedman, Climate Forward newsletter, New York Times, January 21, 2025. ↩︎
  6. Article, “A Big Climate Goal Is Getting Farther Out of Reach,” by Brad Plumer and Mira Rojanasakul, New York Times, updated November 15, 2024. ↩︎
  7. Article, “Trump Signs Orders to Promote Fossil Fuels and End Climate Policies,” by Lisa Friedman, Brad Plumer, Rebecca F. Elliott, and Eric Lipton, New York Times, January 20, 2025. ↩︎
  8. Article, “Scientists looked deep beneath the Doomsday Glacier. What they found spells potential disaster for the planet,” by Laura Paddison, cnn.com, September 20, 2024. ↩︎
  9. Article, “A climate crisis at your doorstep,” by Christopher Flavelle, Climate Forward newsletter, New York Times, December 19, 2024. ↩︎
  10. Article, “A climate crisis at your doorstep,” by Christopher Flavelle, Climate Forward newsletter, New York Times, December 19, 2024. ↩︎
  11. Article, “‘BACK TO PLASTIC’: Trump Vows to Keep the Government on Plastic Straws,” by Hiroko Tabuchi, New York Times, February 7, 2025. ↩︎

The Climate Crisis isn’t a Political Issue

Photo by Mika Baumeister on Unsplash.

I’m over the climate crisis being a political issue.

Because it isn’t a political issue.

Regardless of its cause or origin, the climate crisis is unfolding right before our eyes, every single day.

I’m tired of holding back when it comes to discussing climate change. From now on, I won’t worry about offending anyone or sparking political debate. Enough is enough.

Climate change and the climate crisis are not hoaxes. They are not, and should never have been, political issues. It’s absurd that they’ve become so polarized, and it infuriates me.

It’s certainly not a partisan issue — it should be a bipartisan one.

An everyone issue.

Because the climate crisis affects everyone, everywhere.

Photo of a street in Asheville, NC after Hurricane Helene in September 2024. A man walks down the muddy street with broken electrical poles and downed wires, with a raging river ahead of him. Only the billboard at the right is still intact.
Asheville, North Carolina after Hurricane Helene caused massive destruction. Photo by Bill McMannis on Flickr, Creative Commons license (CC BY 2.0).

You don’t have to look very long or very hard to find real-life evidence of the climate crisis. Hurricane Helene, which has taken the lives of over 230 people as of today, is a recent result of the changing climate. This hurricane destroyed areas in the mountains of western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee – where people never expected a storm like this to affect them with such severity. These areas are hundreds of miles inland.

That hurricane also hit Florida and caused massive flooding. Now, another major hurricane—Hurricane Milton—will make landfall in Florida sometime tomorrow. That’s two major storms in just a couple of weeks!

Hurricane Milton “explosively” intensified from a Category 1 storm to a Category 5 in just about 12 hours. This is the strongest storm in the Gulf of Mexico since 2005. Florida hasn’t even had a chance to finish cleaning up from the last storm, and the ground is already saturated. Some areas are still partially buried in feet of sand. This is a terrible situation. UPDATE 10/11/2024: Hurricane Milton made landfall as a Category 3 at Siesta Key, Florida, spawned an unexpected number of tornados, and left a lot of destruction behind. So far, 16 people are dead.

What’s worse, Florida’s governor, Ron DeSantis, doesn’t believe in climate change. In fact, in May 2024, he signed legislation that removed the words “climate change” from many Florida state laws.2 I’m not sure how he ignores the obvious climate issues in his own state.

We’re seeing record-breaking weather extremes in storms and weather patterns. We’re also seeing drastic changes in climate, such as air temperature and ocean temperatures.

Climate change creates a downward spiral because everything in nature connects. The more carbon dioxide, the warmer the planet gets, including the ocean. The warmer the ocean, the more strength hurricanes gain as they develop. The bigger the storm, the more moisture it accumulates. The warm water is their fuel.

We’ve set heat records every year in recent decades. July 2024 was the warmest July on record for the planet in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s 175-year record.4 Last year, 2023 became the warmest year on record for land and ocean areas individually in both hemispheres.5

There have been 14 consecutive months of record-hot global temperatures, spanning from June 2023 through July 2024. This breaks the previous record (May 2015 through May 2016) for longest record-warm global temperature streak in modern record (since 1980). Each month of record global temperatures, compared to the 1991-2020 average, is shown in sequence. Places that were warmer than average are red; places that were cooler than average are blue. Image by NOAA Climate.gov, based on data from NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information.

Remember when the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warned of global warming levels reaching 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels? Well, we are already at 1.2°C!6

Here’s what the 1.5°C means: “Climate scientists have long warned that, to avoid the worst impacts of climate change, we need to drastically cut climate pollution and limit global warming as close as possible to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. Every fraction of global warming beyond this level exponentially increases climate harm, as well as the risk of crossing tipping points in the climate system – which would trigger abrupt and irreversible changes and accelerate warming. In other words, tipping points are points of no return.”7 This is the downward spiral I referred to above.

Melting glacier ice, Alpefjord, Northeast Greenland National Park. Photo by GRID-Arendal on Flickr, Creative Commons license (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0).

Glaciers, of which there are approximately two hundred thousand on the planet, are melting. In daily life, this may not be so evident. However, to those monitoring the glaciers, it is very evident. We have accelerated glacial loss from 6.7 inches per year in the 1980s, to 11 inches per year in the 1990s, to 1.6 feet per year in the 2000s, and to 2.9 feet per year for the 2010s.8 This is directly causing sea level to rise, among many other problems. For example, warmer water expands, furthering the rise.

Glacier front positions of Jakobshavn Isbræ from Khan et al. (2015) (1850–1985) and CCI products derived from ERS, Sentinel-1 and Landsat data by ENVO (1990–2016). The background map is a Landsat-8 image from 16 August 2016 (from the U.S. Geological Survey). Location names that occur in the text are marked. The inset shows the location of Jakobshavn Isbræ in Greenland.
“Glacier front positions of Jakobshavn Isbræ from Khan et al. (2015) (1850–1985) and CCI products derived from ERS, Sentinel-1 and Landsat data by ENVO (1990–2016). The background map is a Landsat-8 image from 16 August 2016 (from the U.S. Geological Survey). Location names that occur in the text are marked. The inset shows the location of Jakobshavn Isbræ in Greenland.”9
The blue line shows the current boundary between the Jakobshavn Glacier (right side, light gray) and the floating ice (center, white) between the valley walls (top and bottom, dark gray). The other colored lines show where this boundary was in previous years. Michalea King.
“The blue line shows the current boundary between the Jakobshavn Glacier (right side, light gray) and the floating ice (center, white) between the valley walls (top and bottom, dark gray). The other colored lines show where this boundary was in previous years.” Graphic by Michalea King, Creative Commons license (CC BY-ND).
Street protest in a city between two buildings, a person at center holding up a sign, "Act Now or Swim Later" with ocean waves on background.
Photo by Chris Boese on Unsplash.

Seas rose in the 1800s by half an inch. The 1900s saw almost 7 inches in sea level rise. In just the first two decades of the 2000s, we’ve reached a rate of 12 inches, and it continues to accelerate. Scientists expect another rise of 10 to 12 inches in just 30 years, by 2050.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the projections for U.S. sea level rise depend on the path we follow. “If we are able to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions, U.S. sea level in 2100 is projected to be around 0.6 meters (2 feet) higher on average than it was in 2000. But on a pathway with high greenhouse gas emissions and rapid ice sheet collapse, models project that average sea level rise for the contiguous United States could be 2.2 meters (7.2 feet) by 2100 and 3.9 meters (13 feet) by 2150.”11

More severe storms, combined with sea level rise, are causing the loss of lands, especially islands. Vanuatu has already relocated one village and the country is one of the most vulnerable to sea level rise. But the Maldives, Kiribati, Tuvalu, and the Marshall Islands are at a high risk of island loss as well. In 2018, Hurricane Walaka wiped out a whole island near Hawaii; an island that was a critical habitat for several endangered species.12

What can we do? Yes, we can all make small changes in our daily lives, but the most critical step is voting. Once we’ve voted, we must hold our elected leaders accountable and push them to take meaningful, large-scale actions to slow the climate crisis. While it can no longer be entirely stopped, we can still slow its progress. It’s time to get everyone involved, set aside the “hoax” claims, and focus on moving forward together.

We must do better.

Thank you for reading – share articles like Climate Change, Simply, and subscribe to learn more!

  1. Book, Superman’s Not Coming: Our National Water Crisis and What We the People Can Do About It, by Erin Brockovich, Pantheon Books, New York, 2020. ↩︎
  2. Transcript, “Florida Gov. DeSantis signs bill that deletes climate change from state law,” Morning Edition, NPR, May 17, 2024. ↩︎
  3. Page, “The hurricane hunter: Meet extreme meteorologist Reed Timmer and his tornado-chasing terrier Gizmo,” News24.com, September 30, 2021. ↩︎
  4. Article, “Global climate summary for July 2024,” by NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information AND Global Precipitation Climatology Project (University of Maryland), August 13, 2024. ↩︎
  5. Article, “Climate Change: Global Temperature,” by Rebecca Lindsey AND LuAnn Dahlman, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, January 18, 2024. ↩︎
  6. Article, “Have we already gone past 1.5 degrees of warming?” by the Climate Council, June 24, 2024. ↩︎
  7. Article, “Have we already gone past 1.5 degrees of warming?” by the Climate Council, June 24, 2024. ↩︎
  8. Article, “Climate Change: Mountain glaciers,” by Rebecca Lindsey, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, May 10, 2024. ↩︎
  9. Image from article, “Simulated retreat of Jakobshavn Isbræ since the Little Ice Age controlled by geometry,” The Cryosphere, July 12, 2018. ↩︎
  10. Book, “Ocean: A Global Odyssey,” by Sylvia A. Earle, National Geographic, Washington, D.C., 2021. ↩︎
  11. Article, “Climate Change: Global Sea Level,” by Rebecca Lindsey, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, August 22, 2023. ↩︎
  12. Article, “Hurricane Walaka practically wiped an island off the map,” Hawaii News Now, updated October 24, 2018. ↩︎
  13. Book, The Intersectional Environmentalist: How to Dismantle Systems of Oppression to Protect People + Planet, by Leah Thomas, Hachette Book Group, New York, 2022. ↩︎

Climate Change, Simply

Last updated January 18, 2024.

Polar bear on meting ice, batting around a plastic object.
Photo by Yomex Owo on Unsplash.

This photo is the typical emotion-evoking imagery of a polar bear suffering from the effects of climate change. I love polar bears, and I of course would like to protect them and all wildlife. But the hard truth about climate change is that if we don’t act and make big changes now, the Earth will become uninhabitable for humans. For us.

Save the Humans with a whale logo, Peace Resource Project
From the Peace Resource Project (not an affiliate link).

There is also the common phrase, “Save The Earth!” But the Earth will survive us, as it has survived 5 major extinction-level events already. It’s not the Earth that we need to save. It’s ourselves. We need to save the humans.

We are experiencing a climate change crisis. But I’ve discovered that many people don’t really understand what climate change is or what it means. Climate change is a complicated combination of physical science, meteorology, oceanography, physics, and chemistry. But that doesn’t mean it has to be incomprehensible. So I thought I’d write an article that explained it, simply.

It’s a series of events that combined, will spiral out of control.

Demonstrator in a costume holding a sign with the message "Wake up humans, you're endangered too" at a protest against climate change and destruction of nature.
Photo by Ivan Radic on Flickr, Creative Commons license (CC BY 2.0).

What is Climate Change?

Climate is the pattern of weather conditions over a long period of time. Climate change refers to long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns. It is a natural and gradual process, allowing life on Earth time to adapt to the changes. But human activities are making climate change happen faster than life can adapt.

The greenhouse effect is the natural process that keeps our planet warm, liquid, and habitable. If all the water on the planet was frozen or gas, nothing would survive. The balance of gases in our air traps the warmth in our atmosphere, keeping the temperature just right. But human activities have thrown off the balance of gases in the air, which is making the Earth warmer. Typically, some of the heat from the sun enters the atmosphere of Earth and then bounces back into space. But CO2 traps and holds heat, causing the Earth to warm.

On top of that, humans are releasing other, more harmful greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, throwing the balance off further. These include methane from animal agriculture, F-gases (fluorine) from air conditioning, and nitrous oxide from fertilizers. This imbalance has resulted in global warming, which is the long-term heating of the Earth’s surface.

The ozone layer is a thin part of the Earth’s atmosphere that absorbs almost all of the sun’s harmful ultraviolet (UV) light. Think of it as a protective layer. The ozone layer is thinning because of the changes in greenhouse gases. The thinner the ozone layer, the more radiation and UV enter and warm the Earth. (Conversely, when less radiation and UV from the sun reaches Earth, the colder the global temperatures. This can happen when volcanic eruptions create huge clouds of ash and block the sunlight.)

What are humans doing to cause this?

Oil pump in a desert landscape.
Image by John R Perry from Pixabay.

It starts with carbon. Carbon is in all living things as well as in the air, rocks, and soil. Carbon dioxide, which is carbon and oxygen together, is the main cause of the greenhouse effect. The carbon cycle is simply the transfer of carbon from the atmosphere to living things to Earth and the oceans and back to the atmosphere again. So when things die and we expend energy from dead animals and plants, such as burning fossil fuels, we release extra carbon.

Fossil fuels refer to coal, crude oil, and natural gas, which are made from the remains of plants and animals that died millions of years ago, even before the dinosaurs. Coal comes from ancient tree trunks that were buried under many layers of rocks. Oil, or petroleum, was made from the remains of tiny sea creatures that formed a thick sludge on the seabed millions of years ago. That sludge also created chemicals that bubble out as “natural” gas. The burning of these creates energy that humans use to power machines and factories, as well as generate electricity. But when they are burned, they release carbon that was previously trapped and not part of the regular carbon cycle. This extra carbon is causing the greenhouse effect.

Eighty-one percent of the total energy used in the U.S. comes from coal, oil, and natural gas. “This is the energy that is used to heat and provide electricity to homes and businesses and to run cars and factories. Unfortunately, fossil fuels are a nonrenewable resource and waiting millions of years for new coal, oil, and natural gas deposits to form is not a realistic solution. Fossil fuels are also responsible for almost three-fourths of the emissions from human activities in the last 20 years.”1

We are using up something that took millions of years to form in just under two hundred years. It just doesn’t make sense.

“Our careless use of fossil fuels has set us the greatest and most urgent challenge we have ever faced. If we do make the transition to renewables at the lightning speed required, humankind will forever look back on this generation with gratitude, for we are indeed the first to truly understand the problem and the last with the chance to do anything about it.” -Sir David Attenborough, A Life on Our Planet

The Role of Forests

Forest trees with sunlight peeking through.
Image by Pexels from Pixabay.

Trees, forests, and rainforests absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen. But we are cutting down thousands of trees and forest daily, a process referred to as deforestation. Deforestation not only depletes the oxygen released by the trees and plants previously there, but it also increases the amount of carbon dioxide released. When forests are cut down, the trees and plants release the carbon dioxide that was stored inside of them.

Forests maintain soil structure and moisture. Deforested areas become very dry and warm because there are no trees or plants to release water vapor into the air. This is called transpiration, which also helps keep the air cool and is sometimes called “nature’s air conditioner.” Trees also prevent erosion because their roots keep the structure of the ground stable. When trees are removed, that structure disappears and can allow landslides and floods to happen.

Also, forests of all kinds are home to thousands of plants and animals that lose their habitats during deforestation. Some animals will migrate, but many species die off as a result.

“From the 1950s to today, about one-fifth of earth’s forests have been cleared.” -Tom Szaky, Terracycle2

The Role of the Ocean

Ocean with white clouds reflecting off of the blue surface.
Ocean, Gulf of Mexico, photo by Marie Cullis.

The oceans play a huge role in the climate and climate change. More than half of the Earth’s oxygen is produced by algae and phytoplankton that live on the ocean’s surface. The more we deplete the ocean of phytoplankton through global warming and pollution, the less oxygen is produced. The ocean also absorbs carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, about one-quarter of the CO2 that we create when we burn fossil fuels.

However, all that extra carbon is causing the ocean to become more acidic. This is called ocean acidification. Ocean acidification is contributing to the destruction of coral reefs. Additionally, warmer ocean temperatures are causing coral bleaching, which is essentially the death of the coral reef system. Coral reefs provide food to sustain about 25% of marine creatures; marine creatures that humans rely on for food and money. Coral reefs protect coastlines from storms and erosion and provide jobs for local communities through tourism.

“To date, the ocean contains 90 percent of the heat from human-induced global warming, and the year 2020 was the warmest ever measured for the global ocean.”- NASA3

The Role of Ice

Melting glacial landforms, ice falling into the water.
Melting glacial landforms, public domain photo from rawpixel.com, Creative Commons license (CC0 1.0).

Warmer ocean and air temperatures cause ice to melt. Melting permafrost (frozen ground) and melting glaciers release greenhouse gases. Those gases that were previously trapped could further speed up global warming. Ice melt causes sea levels to rise. Further, water expands as it warms. For each 1.8°F the global temperature rises, sea level rises almost 1.3 feet.

Seas rose in the 19th century by half an inch. The 20th century saw almost 7 inches in sea level rise. In the first two decades of the 21st century, we’ve reached a rate of 12 inches per century, and it continues to increase. It will continue to spiral. Scientists expect another rise of 10 to 12 inches in just 30 years, by 2050.

Further, the more ice that melts, the less white reflective surface there is, thus heating up the Earth’s surface even more. Between rising heat, sea level rise, drought, and floods, millions of people will be displaced and have to migrate. This will put a strain on already overpopulated areas and food sources.

“Never before have the actions of humans been able to change the sea level on Earth.” -Keltie Thomas, Rising Seas4

Climate Change Causes Extreme Weather

Large tornado, very dark clouds, over farmland.
Photo by Niccolò Ubalducci on Flickr, Creative Commons license (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0).

Climate change also creates more extreme weather events. This includes stronger storms, hurricanes, and tornados; more rain at one time and then flooding; drought in other places; and wildfires (to which droughts directly contribute). Our natural disasters are getting worse and more extreme.

Dr. Reed Timmer, an extreme meteorologist and storm chaser, has personally witnessed the impacts of climate change. As he explained to News24.com, “The impact of global warming is obvious with the hurricanes because the frequency is increasing so dramatically, especially over the last 10 or 20 years. The hurricanes are thriving off of the warmer ocean temperatures and intensifying as they’re making landfall, especially in the Gulf of Mexico. Usually there’s a little bit of a ribbon of cooler water, or a lot of times those hurricanes will wrap in dry air as they’re about to make landfall in the Gulf of Mexico, which will cause them to weaken a little bit. But these days, they’re intensifying and ramping up.”5

Stoplight sign partially under water on a flooded street.
Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

Other Climate Change Problems

The spiral effects of climate change are exponential. Here are a few more examples, though this certainly is not an exhaustive list.

Warmer temperatures allow insects to survive and thrive. For example, mosquitos thrive in warm climates and spread diseases. The warmer it is, the more mosquitos, and the more disease they can spread. Viruses, too, spread more quickly in warm climates, so we could see more pandemics in the future.

Harmful algal blooms are when algae grow out of control. Some can produce toxins that are harmful to fish, mammals, and birds. But even non-toxic algae depletes oxygen as they decay, creating dead zones in waters. Life cannot survive in places depleted of oxygen. Algae can also clog fish gills, and smother corals and plants. While algal blooms do occur naturally, their increase in occurrence and intensity results from human activities, such as human-induced global warming.

Wildlife suffers from climate change, too. Not only do they lose habitats from deforestation, pollution, wildfires, and storm damage, but they also have to adapt to changing temperatures and access to food and water. If we lose biodiversity, the health of our own habitat will suffer too. This will lead to a decrease in food and clean water for us.

Drought and severe flooding threaten our access to freshwater sources. Additionally, pathogens and waterborne diseases from extreme rain or snow melt flow could threaten drinking water supplies.

“The truth is: the natural world is changing. And we are totally dependent on that world. It provides our food, water and air. It is the most precious thing we have and we need to defend it.” -Sir David Attenborough

We Must Change

Person in a polar bear costume with a white t-shirt that says "Save Humans Too" from Oxfam International.
Photo by Oxfam International on Flickr, Creative Commons license (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0).

Our population is increasing exponentially. This is the elephant in the room that no one wants to talk about. Our population will keep increasing, putting stress on the land, food, water, wildlife, and other natural resources. The garbage we create and put in landfills releases methane and carbon dioxide into the air. The more people, the more waste we create.

Our lifestyles, especially in the western world, are not sustainable. We have to change and consume less – of everything. As filmmaker and environmental activist Rob Stewart wrote, “Our species has been here on this earth for 200,000 years, and in the last thousand, we’ve grown from 100 million people, to more than seven billion. We’ve created enormous advances, and lifted our species higher than anyone dreamed possible. But in the next hundred years, we face a problem so large it threatens our species as well as every other.”6

The solution to saving ourselves is to come together, as a globe, and make great changes. We have to set aside politics, commit to change, and put policies and procedures in place as soon as possible. We cannot keep setting far-off dates for goals and new practices. Waiting until 2035 or 2050 to worry about the climate change crisis isn’t going to help. We just don’t have that kind of time before it spirals out of control.

We need to consume less of everything – all of us. Save the humans! Thanks for reading, please share and subscribe!

Footnotes: