Mozelack 1
Anna Mozelack
Professor Brock-Cancellieri
English 109
9 May 2019
Are You Part of The Problem or Will You Be Part of The Solution?
Greenhouse gases emitted by humans are slowly, but surely killing the earth. Believe it or
not, we only have about 12 years to change our bad habits and attitudes towards our environment
before it is too late, according to many news channels such as CNN news. The greenhouse effect
is the trapping of the sun’s warmth in the planet’s lower atmosphere, which makes temperatures
rise above what they normally would be without its atmosphere. Greenhouse gases are also gases
that contribute to the greenhouse effect by absorbing infrared radiation (like carbon dioxide), and
it is extremely notorious for changing the climate drastically. We (humans) produce these gases
by simply driving our cars when we don’t necessarily need to, by eating too much livestock/red
meat (cows, burgers, etc.), electricity, by burning waste and much more. Types of greenhouse
gases can be carbon dioxide, methane, water vapor and nitrous oxide, and these gases are solely
produced by human activity. If we stop burning fossils fuels (which causes C02 emissions),
emitting methane (from agriculture) and nitrous oxide (from industries), as well as many other
harmful greenhouse gases, we could make a positive impact on earths future.
Climate change typically derives from humans living on Earth, however, with that being
said there can also be certain natural causes that would lead to minor climate change over long
periods of time, such as changes in the sun’s energy, changes in reflectivity, and earth’s orbit and
tilt. Some people believe this theory, that earth naturally changes over time and that is why we
are experiencing these intense and peculiar weather patterns. Yet, it is true that earth naturally
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changes every couple of thousand years, but that theory does not explain the rapid change and
rise in pollution, global warming and greenhouse gases over the past 50 years. This trend for
Earth has been growing for the past century and continues to progress daily. Regardless of Earths
ability to naturally change over time, humans have still made an enormous impact on the climate
and they are fully to blame for the rapid changes and the greenhouse effect we have been
experiencing.
To start off, the usage of our nonrenewable resources is an increasing issue that connects
to the greenhouse effect. One academic journal stated that “Growing human populations have
exploited earth’s resources increasingly over several centuries with resultant cumulative effects.
This usage has resulted in global challenges for sustainable resource development”. (Tandon and
Mallik, 2018) The use of our nonrenewable resources is what leads to these carbon dioxide
emissions, such as burning fossil fuels, natural gas, and/or coal. CO2 emissions ultimately lead to
constant fluctuations in global temperature, our heat waves rise as these gases are being
produced, and as a result our environment and weather patterns are affected. For instance,
Southern California has experienced (for the first time in 60 plus years) an actual cold winter, as
well as the hottest summer. Author Oruganti explained that “This February has been the coldest
in nearly 60 years, with the average temperature in LA this month falling five degrees lower than
the normal average”. (Oruganti, 2019) These are completely abnormal weather patterns for
California, especially Southern California, and it is alarming. Us humans use nonrenewable
resources like they are renewable, when they are obviously quite the opposite. Not only are all
the gases being emitted a problem to our environment, but we also are at stake for depleting our
important nonrenewable resources, meaning we will never be able to use them for our own
purposes when we need them, ever again. We as humans need to implement more efficient
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energy sources- like solar power and wind power- and need to strictly use renewable resources
only, that way we can conserve our resources for future generations, while also putting a stop to
the large amounts of carbon dioxide emissions being put into the atmosphere. One case study
explains that “To ensure sustainable social development, switching to low-carbon fuels is a
global trend in the recent decades, because various benefits such as climate change mitigation,
energy security, more employment opportunities, and improvement of economic growth may be
accompanied with renewable energy development”. (Wind Power. Kung, Chen, Lee, Jiang, Lin.,
2) This is a current case study being worked on in Taiwan, and if the United States could switch
to greener options like this, such as solar powered homes, solar power heating, low-carbon fuels
(for cars, motor bikes, tractors, etc.) and wind power, we could make a significant difference.
Using these resources rather than fossil fuels, oil and coal could decrease the carbon dioxide and
