From the twentieth century, the United States has been heralded as the leader of progressive ideas and working for the right of all countries, but America falls flat when it comes to climate control. For far too long America has been the consumer of more gas per capita and producing more carbon emission than any other country (Lefton, Rebecca, and Weiss, Daniel). For a country that is known for being the technological center of the world, it is far behind most countries on this topic. It is time Americans take control of this problem at every level to ensure that future generations will live in the same healthy ecosystem as today. Global warming is the current buzz word to describe the climate change currently experienced by the world today,
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Since the beginning of the twentieth century, the average temperature has increased by 1.6 degrees Fahrenheit. While this may seem insignificant, the smallest of fluctuation of global temperature can bring dramatic damage to the environment of the world including changing sea levels. In the small Pacific nation of Kiribati and Palau, the crisis of water levels rising has already begun. Merely twelve years ago people were living on some of the islands that compose these nations, but now water levels have risen so high that they are forced to move(Before the Flood). The citizens of these countries are now migrating to other Pacific island nations but this movement can only be temporary as the sea levels rise to the new island and the cycle begins anew. Global warming also affects living organisms as well as their environment. The Coral reefs of today are extremely sensitive to the pH in which they live, a slight fall of the pH …show more content…
Americans are the leading consumers of electricity per household. Today, a single household in America consumes 1.5 times as much as the French, 2.2 times as much as the Japanese, and 2.6 times as much as the German family (Before the Flood). These numbers are staggering when it takes into account how much coal it takes to power a single household in America and the amount of damage burning that coal has. Another factor in the production of carbon emissions into the atmosphere is the beef industry. Beef is the principal reason for deforestation in the current world, thousands of acres of forest are cut down daily to create grazing lands for cattle, this lowers the amount plant life to absorb carbon and fix back into organic matter. Cows are also the leading producers of methane, which is a far more destructive than carbon dioxide, and yet Americans are the primary consumers of cattle in the world. The citizens of the United States are not the only ones that are wasteful and produce high amounts of greenhouse gas. Massive fracking oil companies are creating huge amounts of emissions by digging down and dragging the oil out; this causes irreversible damage to the land and the global climate. Although it is true that China has taken over as the largest emissions producer, it is more important to look at the whole picture. Since 1850 the United States has
Since the beginning of the twentieth century, the average temperature has increased by 1.6 degrees Fahrenheit. While this may seem insignificant, the smallest of fluctuation of global temperature can bring dramatic damage to the environment of the world including changing sea levels. In the small Pacific nation of Kiribati and Palau, the crisis of water levels rising has already begun. Merely twelve years ago people were living on some of the islands that compose these nations, but now water levels have risen so high that they are forced to move(Before the Flood). The citizens of these countries are now migrating to other Pacific island nations but this movement can only be temporary as the sea levels rise to the new island and the cycle begins anew. Global warming also affects living organisms as well as their environment. The Coral reefs of today are extremely sensitive to the pH in which they live, a slight fall of the pH …show more content…
Americans are the leading consumers of electricity per household. Today, a single household in America consumes 1.5 times as much as the French, 2.2 times as much as the Japanese, and 2.6 times as much as the German family (Before the Flood). These numbers are staggering when it takes into account how much coal it takes to power a single household in America and the amount of damage burning that coal has. Another factor in the production of carbon emissions into the atmosphere is the beef industry. Beef is the principal reason for deforestation in the current world, thousands of acres of forest are cut down daily to create grazing lands for cattle, this lowers the amount plant life to absorb carbon and fix back into organic matter. Cows are also the leading producers of methane, which is a far more destructive than carbon dioxide, and yet Americans are the primary consumers of cattle in the world. The citizens of the United States are not the only ones that are wasteful and produce high amounts of greenhouse gas. Massive fracking oil companies are creating huge amounts of emissions by digging down and dragging the oil out; this causes irreversible damage to the land and the global climate. Although it is true that China has taken over as the largest emissions producer, it is more important to look at the whole picture. Since 1850 the United States has