Climate change has always been a subtle, yet natural change in the natural environment. Emphasis on natural. For Earth has many variables in how it changes, including living things, gases, chemical reactions, and others. All chemicals change. But lately, humans have decided to speed up this process. Consequences to actions. Fossil fuels began to burn in the late 1880’s, and ever since then we have seen exponential growth in the emissions of fossil fuels. Just in the past 20 years, according Climate.gov, the global temperature has risen 0.32% every year since 1981. That signifies that just in the past 20 years alone, the global atmosphere has risen by 6.4 degrees. And the trend will continue, the more and more we ignore this problem. And the more and more we ignore this critical and probably detrimental issue, the less awareness will be spread about it. See the issue? 

Mrs. Sieber, head of the Environmental Action Club, voiced her opinions on this current issue, stating that the main contribution to climate change are “convenience and overpopulation,” which is rational to assume. Many of our products in our day to day lives can only be used once, and most of the time cannot even be reused or recycled. The average person produced roughly close to 4.4 lbs. of garbage per day. Per day. Of course, that number varies. But multiply it by 365, and that’s 1,606 lbs. Multiply that by 7.7 billion… And well… that’s not a very pretty number.  

Additionally, climate change impacts those who do not leave that much of a carbon footprint, “Climate change will have a greater effect on people without a voice (those who are poor) because they cannot pay for things…” This is very ironic to me. We are the ones impacting the environment, yet those who are innocent get the brunt of it. Scare weather conditions, pollution, littering, it will tend to cluster around poorer countries, the countries who cannot afford to implement large factories powered by fossil fuel.  

“I believe that with the rate at which the population is increasing, the demand of convenience from the modern world, and the increase in severe weather occurrences makes climate change the biggest issue of the younger generations,” Sieber says. According to Climatechange.Chicago.gov, climate change is projected to progress in the next century, including shifting ecosystem characteristics, raising the acidity of the oceans, and influencing the patterns of precipitation, which will all in turn impact human health for the worse. And disregarding human health for a moment, moreover, it will impact the health of the ecosystem and the animals living in it. More than 10,000 species have gone extinct, and there is a direct correlation between extinction and climate change.  

Well, what can we do to reverse climate change? “According to Drawdown, which is an internal coalition of researchers, scientists, and policymakers,” Sieber adds, “the top 3 ways to reduce climate change are the following: reduce food waste, educate and empower women, and turn to a more plant-based diet.”