Global Warming and New Possible Viruses

Global Warming throughout the years has become one of the most serious problems that the world is facing today and unfortunately, people are not treating it with the seriousness that should be expected.

Global warming occurs when there is an excessive amount of carbon dioxide and other air contaminators absorbing sunlight that was supposed to be released to space producing higher temperatures than usual. The main causes of global warming are fossil fuels and the machines that humans use on a daily basis and deforestation rising all over the world. Since more greenhouse gasses being produced and fewer trees to take that carbon dioxide the levels are getting to a path to become extreme.

Humans are not the only ones contributing to the pollution in the air there is also volcanic activity and natural long-lasting weather patterns like El Niño. However, scientists use climate models that take into account natural phenomena, and the levels of carbon dioxide produced by human activity are the ones affecting them. The consequences brought by climate change is affecting every single species on this earth and its ecosystems. Climate change is a problem that is rapidly progressing. For example, due to high temperatures the poles are melting, generating higher sea levels, and if it continues to go this way there would be more risks to have wetland flooding damaging habitats for many animals in it. Aside from this terrible possibility, it can bring even worse living conditions like the possibilities of new deadly viruses awakening and rapidly spreading to the world. It is very essential to create awareness about this because if we all cooperate together we can be in time to stop this from damaging our world. We should be worried and scared about this to have a passion to create a positive change.

The greenhouse effect is an important term to understand when trying to create solutions to global warming because this is what is causing it. Gases in the atmosphere like carbon dioxide, water vapor, methane, and choro-Fluro carbons allow the sunlight to get in providing light and sources of energy to the world but they accumulate some heat that should be released and human activity is not contributing to the improvement of these figures. Contamination levels have raised so much and the numbers that were expected to be happening in hundreds of years are happening now.

Consequences are affecting many aspects of life for the people living in this world. (Nunez) Sea levels are rising flooding coastal regions, there are extreme weather changes creating warmer temperatures and also longer lasting and colder winters. The extreme changes in temperature and the high weather make crops very difficult to grow probably making agriculture one of the most valuable jobs in upcoming years. Health also seems very compromised with global warming because of the high emissions of carbon dioxide and other contaminants that can bring lung infections, heart diseases, and even lung cancer. Multiple viruses are trapped in the permafrost which is ground layers that are still completely frozen and those viruses have stayed frozen throughout the years but with global warming, the particles of those viruses would be possibly spreading in the air. One example of this is in 2016. A 12-year-old boy died of an infection and then another 20 people got infected by Anthrax, a disease transmitted by a bacteria which mostly affects animals but can also affect humans. The hypothesis that scientists have is that 75 years ago a deer got this infection and then died from it. The permafrost covered it and maintained it from spreading until the heatwave raised during this year creating about 2,000 cases of Anthrax in deers and some human cases. (Fox-Skelly) Frozen surfaces are places where viruses can live for a very long time because there is no oxygen and it is very dark. Viruses can be evolving in the frozen surfaces and when they melt they could be triple as dangerous as they were when they were frostbitten. We are experimenting with a deadly pandemic. The ones that could come from global warming could be even more dangerous that is why we have to take action in global warming and stop this to progress.

Humans are the major cause of global warming existing and progressing so rapidly. We are the ones responsible for the greenhouse gasses and the raised levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Because of human activity during everyday species are extinguishing and whale ecosystems are collapsing. Humans are the reason for this unfortunate event occurring. We, also are the only ones who can change the path our world is taking. Using different sources of energy that does not involve fossil fuels and instead use solar and wind energy that does not produce greenhouse gasses. This is something that we as humans can do to improve these alarming figures. Climate change is real and it is happening right now increasing incredibly fast so we have to act now. Start by yourself save more energy and minimize the garbage you create. We should not treat this topic as something that might happen or that would happen in a very long time we should be aware of it and start to do something before it's too late.

Citations:

Nunez, Christina. “What Is Global Warming?” Nationalgeographic.com, National Geographic, 30 Jan. 2018, www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/global-warming-overview/.

Fox-Skelly, Jasmin. “There Are Diseases Hidden in Ice, and They Are Waking Up.” Bbc.com, 2017, www.bbc.com/earth/story/20170504-there-are-diseases-hidden-in-ice-and-they-are-waking-up.