More and more aquatic creatures are dying off in the northern pacific waters during the previous five years. Ice caps are melting, and the food chain supporting billions of arctic animals is fracturing. The implications of these ecological transformations go much further than the Arctic, and they might have devastating global repercussions in the coming years and decades.

Despite these warning signs, people’s attitudes against global warming haven’t changed much over time. The discovery of global warming was made in 1896, and the media has mostly focused on the subject in the last decade.

People need to start changing and making a difference for the Earth’s environment. If global warming is reversed, not only will humans and animals benefit from a better climate, but so will those living at the north pole.

Firstly, the oceans will eventually absorb 90% of the extra heat trapped in the atmosphere by greenhouse gasses. Because of the vastness of the oceans, even a tiny increase in the temperature of the sea surface layer during the previous century may appear insignificant.

As climate change continues to accelerate this will be enough to create major disruptions. In the end, reducing emissions of carbon dioxide and hence the world average temperature are both effective methods of reducing the amount of additional heat trapped in the atmosphere.

Second, especially along the coast of the Pacific, the ocean ecosystem has been changed greatly by global warming; millions of seabirds perished on the west coast of the United States as a result of “The Blob,” a marine heatwave that lingered across the northern Pacific from 2013 to 2015. As a result of climate change, the northern Pacific is experiencing major shifts, which might lead to the extinction of some species if the situation continues to worsen.

Thirdly, many climate experts anticipate that enormous ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica will melt and collapse as a result of continuing climate change, resulting in global sea levels rising by several meters.

Sea levels are expected to rise to a point where they threaten the safety of millions of people, largely in Asia. In the end, making a change for global warming will also save the lives of others who are threatened by the rising sea level.

Ultimately, climate change will affect all corners of the globe, therefore, it is the responsibility of every person to avoid causing any more global warming when everything comes to an end. Mainly because significant changes have been going on to the environment that is caused by global warming, including trapped greenhouse gasses, cause of marine heatwave, and rising sea level.

<Mark Zhang Crean Lutheran 11th Grade>