One Degree Change In The Arctic

Just one degree of warming would be able to cause the Arctic to become ice free for half the year, endangering many of the animals who depend on the ice and also creating a rise in the sea level. This wasn’t at all what I was expecting considering the fact that that’s only one degree; a one degree change that has the power to melt all of the ice in the Arctic for half a year and change the whole Earth as we know it. When there’s a one degree change in temperature, I usually never really notice it nor feel it. So, when I think of a one degree change in the global temperature, I would probably end up thinking the same thing… until I heard about this. The melting of all the ice in the Arctic would not only lead to the extinction of many animals such as polar bears and penguins, but also an incredible rise in sea levels. Such rises in sea levels would lead to the flooding of multiple coastal cities in addition to the flooding of many islands which in turn would lead to many, many deaths. When I see how close we are to this one degree change in global temperature, it makes me …show more content…
As the ocean absorbs more and more CO₂, the amount it will be able to absorb in the future decreases; if this happens, then more CO₂ will be left in the atmosphere that will contribute to global warming and the effects it’ll have on our Earth. This is actually what probably not only shocked me the most, but impacted my view on global warming and the amount of CO₂ we’ve been releasing. Learning about this allowed me to truly realize the gravity of our human footprints and how much it’s impacting systems and natural resources that we’ve had or that have been working for centuries. Even though there are many things that we can do to try and fix this situation we’ve brought ourselves into, not many people are doing