Saving The Environment

          As we all know (or should know), global warming is a big issue in our environment.  This is caused by the release of carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane gas that we release into the air.  When you run your car, order something online, or use an electrical appliance (assuming that your electicity comes from some fossil fuel, like coal or oil), you contribute to the release of CO2 in the air.  This is bad because of the effect against our atmosphere that it causes.  Normally, the sunlight that hits Earth will mostly reflect back off of the earth, and a little is left over, helping with plant photosynthesis and other things.  But, the CO2 that’s in the air blocks the sunlight from exiting the earth, and as a result, warms up the earth

          Now some of you might be thinking, “Animals release CO2 into the air regularly; isn’t this just the same?”  The answer is no.  Studies have shown that cars and factories and other fossil-fuel-burning devices all eject a lot more CO2 into the air than animals do, and the plants that normally convert all of this CO2 cannot handle all of the new CO2 that our devices are emitting.  As a result, global temperatures have increased by 1 degree from past years.

          This may seem to be only a little impact, but in fact this is cause enough to affect animal habitats and lifestyles drastically.  Take for instance, polar bears.  Our global warming has been slowly melting away at the ice caps way up north, disrupting their habatat.  And according to the studies, this is only the effect of many years ago.  We haven’t even started to feel what’s happening to the world because of our current actions.  Scientists say we have about 10 years to clean up our act before our world overheats.

          However, of course, we do have ways to fix this global dilema.  One example is to lower your transportation output.  Ride a bike or walk to places, and if you can’t, take public transportation.  When eating, use reusable plates and silverwear, instead of using paper plates and plastic silverwear that you would normally throw out.  If you do use disposable plates and silverwear, make sure that you recycle what you can of it.  At home, make sure that you turn off all electical appliances that you can.  You should also take advantage of natural light when possible.  And of course, look around for the environmentally-friendly products that are (hopefully) everywhere.