There are little things in this world that one would consider a “shared interest” for everyone. There is one problem, that many can agree on, and it will take the unison of all the governments in the world to solve. That issue, is global climate change and if we don’t start to do something soon, our future looks very dire.

I believe the first two things we should do when looking at global warming is get rid of the two myths that it doesn’t matter and it isn’t real. First off, it is important to keep the earth at a constant temperature because it is necessary to provide a livable environment for humans and animals. With warmer temperatures, many organisms are not able to adapt and go extinct, causing ripple effects of negative consequences in the food web. To top it off, global warming causes heat waves, severe tropical storms, and melting of ice habitats which causes sea levels to rise which are all also detrimental to humans and animals. Secondly, many say “global warming” is not real, however, science proves otherwise.  Today, there is more carbon dioxide in the air than there has been in the last 800,000 years. This is due largely to the burning of fossil fuels for energy and cutting down of trees that remove carbon dioxide from the air.

Global warming is so important for everyone because it affects everyone and everyone’s actions are affected by it. Let me clarify. It is pretty clear that it affects everyone, because the temperatures are rising for the whole earth, knocking the climate out of equilibrium and causing detrimental effects in different regions ranging from hurricanes, wildfires, melting of ice, storms, and droughts just to name a few. Now to address how our actions affect global warming. It is clear to scientists that global warming has occurred largely due to anthropocentric causes. As humans have become more advanced, they have needed more energy to supply all their ever-increasing demands, this has led to a tremendous increase in the burning of fossil fuels and cutting down trees. Now, you may say, I’ve never cut down a tree nor have I ever burned a fossil fuel. How can my actions affect global warming? Well, basically everything you do does! When you wake up in the morning and turn on your light and get on your phone, you are using energy that requires the burning of fossil fuels. When you don’t recycle your plastics or paper, you are increasing the amount of plastics that need to be produced and guess what, that requires energy too! Oh and when you drive every day to work or school, that’s releasing greenhouse gases too.

Most of this has been very bleak. But there is hope. It’s the little things we do that can make a big difference. Recycling, car-pooling, turning off all your electronics when not in use, are only a few of the many things you can do. If we all choose to live more sustainably, we can turn our bleak future into a bright one.