Author: Alexander Schatzberg Humans have been affecting the the planet in a drastic way. In 2018, 37.1 billion metric tons of CO2 was released into the atmosphere. To put this in perspective, that is almost five tons (10,000 pounds) of carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere per person. In the U.S. the average is much higher, at 17.5 tons per person. The vast majority (roughly 87 percent) of this waste comes from the burning of fossil fuels. This includes coal, oil, petrol, and natural gas. The U.S. and China are the worlds two worst perpetrators. In China, this is mostly due to large factories and energy supply. The United States is a different story. Factories are part of it, but it is mostly due to large houses and private petrol cars. Despite having less than 5 percent of the global population, the U.S.A. produces more than 25 percent of global CO2 emissions. China produces 28.5 percent of global emissions, but they have a much greater population than the United States. While climate change is natural, it has never changed this rapidly before. Climate change has become a political issue, which is shouldn't be. The movement for a better, healthier planet should not be a two-sided thing. As the U.S. government is having a political battle over helping our planet, CO2 emissions are wreaking havoc upon our planet. Some people may call this "natural change", every year a new record temp is recorded. Every year, there are more intense storms. Every year, the polar ice caps are melting, leaving hundreds of species to go extinct. Now, the light that is being reflected by the ice is heating the water. This heated water circulates throughout the globe, and can raise water temperatures by a few fargenheight degrees. While this might not seem like a lot, some very sensitive fish and corals can be wiped out by this "minor" change. While fossil-fuels might seem convenient at the moment, that will not go on forever. You see, we don't know how much oil is left in the earth's crust. We do know that it is not an unlimited supply, and that civilization will need some new way to power itself. Some alternatives to fossil include solar, wind, hydro, geothermal, and wave power. All of these are good, diverse, alternatives. This being said, they have one thing in common. They are all extremely expensive compared to fossil fuels. It will be hard to convert the world to clean, renewable energy, but it can (and hopefully will) be done. You can help by installing solar on your house, and buying an electric the next time you are in that market. Sources https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/co2-emissions-reached-an-all-time-high-in-2018/ https://www.ecocivilization.info/three-tons-carbon-dioxide-per-person-per-year.html#:~:text=The%20global%20average%20is%20now,That's%20it%20for%20climate%20change. https://whatsyourimpact.org/greenhouse-gases/carbon-dioxide-emissions https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fossil_fuel#Limits_and_alternatives https://chinapower.csis.org/china-greenhouse-gas-emissions/#:~:text=Greenhouse%20gas%20emissions%20from%20human,carbon%20dioxide%20emissions%20in%202018.
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