Glaciers are melting, sea levels are rising, forests are dying and wildlife is scrambling to keep pace. It has become clear that humans have caused most of the past century’s warming by releasing heat trapping gases, such as carbon dioxide as we power our lives.
Climate change encompasses not only raising average temperature but also extreme weather conditions, shifting wildlife populations and habitats, rising seas and a range of other impacts. What will we do? What can we do to slow global warming?
Nature is a balanced system. When humans destroy that balance by emitting greenhouse gases, the suffering effects just begin. At the rate greenhouse gases are rising, earth’s remaining ice sheets, such as Greenland and Antarctica are starting to melt too. In order to prevent this catastrophe, we have to start using an alternative to fossil fuels in order to produce energy. The carbon dioxide produced by burning fossil fuels is the main reason behind this catastrophe. Solar energy is the best alternative. If we don’t act now, the effects of our generation’s tardiness will be irreversible.
Global warming is everywhere, leaving us no place anywhere. We have only one planet. If we don’t act now to save our planet, human extinction will not be too far.
M.K. Janithya Risadi,
Grade 11,
Gothami Balika Vidyalaya,
Colombo.