Issues in Science

One of the largest issues today is the effect of global warming. We are drastically changing the environment we live in today by burning fossil fuel like coal and oil. In addition to its effects on climate, the coal and oil burning facilities link their effects to climate change that kills tens of thousands of Americans, poisons our air and water, and makes the world's children sick. Our world is hotter today than it has been in two thousand years and if we stay on our current trajectory, temperatures could climb so high that the weather patterns could become drastically different if not catastrophic in its entirety. Since humans are the direct cause of the escalation of pollution, it is our responsibility to help protect the environment so that our future generations can continue to enjoy the beauty of the earth for years to come. Morally, this is the correct thing to do, and we must take responsibility for our past actions. By not doing so not only would we be leading to the demise of the earth but also the demise of everything that can be held dear about the earth including Human life. Clearly, addressing the issue is one of mass proportions. Not only do our governments need to take action but also, so does every individual walking the face of this earth. Locally in our communities, every one of us needs to do our part to ensure that we minimize our contributions to the demise of the earth. The biggest area that I see where we can directly affect change is by the modification of our habits so we can consume less. Doing so will enable our leaders to reduce more of our dependency on the fossil fuels. Turning off lights and recycling are two major ways that each individual can contribute but more so, additional pressure needs to be placed on our local and national governments to do more. Additional awareness about issues that plague our communities need to be reported upon so that the small issues can be dealt with while they are small and not become the bigger issues that are anticipated should we not do anything. There seems to be a lack of complete awareness. Most people don't consider the environment to be an issue that they should be concerned with. Until a person is directly affected by the effects, change will continue to be something that we struggle with. More needs to be done to educate the population and companies responsible for influencing consumerism and

greater efforts need to be made to help the community change in the right direction.

www.environment.nationalgeographi.com Retrieved April 8, 2012

www.abcnews.go.com Retrieved April 8, 2012