Reports showcase that the widespread injury ensued by environmental damage is at a record high, but with an economic crisis and political nonpartisan the public simply doesn’t care; they have more “important” things to handle. However, it is time for that to change.
In the last century, it is believed that sea levels have risen by eight inches and will increase by another one to four feet in the next 100 years. According to the U.S. Global Change Research Program, the overall temperature in the United States has increased by two degrees in the last 50 years and a five percent precipitation increase, which may not seem like much, but the recent heat waves seen throughout the past few months are a noticeable difference. Last year set a century old record for the hottest year in the United States.
“Sea level is rising, oceans are becoming more acidic, and glacier and Arctic Sea ice are melting,” a draft of the third federal Climate Assessment Report said, compromised by over 240 scientists for a federal advisory committee. “These changes are part of the pattern of global climate change, which is primarily driven by human activity.”
It’s now the time more than ever to react to these alarming statistics. The world as a whole is pushing away one of the most dangerous and imminent problems of our time.
I praise President Obama for finally bringing the environment to the table in both his inauguration speech and continuing the discussion in his State of the Union. Calling on Congress to enact laws that would cut carbon pollution and increase clean energy production, he implicated a no-nonsense policy.
“But if Congress won’t act soon to protect future generations, I will,” Obama said. “I will direct my cabinet to come up with executive actions we can take now and in the future to reduce pollution, prepare our communities for the consequences of climate change, and speed the transition to more sustainable sources of energy.”
Well it’s time he acts on that very promise.
But it’s not just the United States that needs to come aboard this new initiative. The majority of the globe has turned a blind eye.
It is appalling to me, that latest reports conducted by The Chinese Academy of Science have put the total amount of pollutants suspending over the city of Beijing at over 4,000 tons. A visible smog spread throughout the Chinese capital, and instead of looking for a solution, a majority simply wear protective face masks and go on their day.
And in Australia, the country started to the new year with a record-breaking heat-wave for more than two weeks, with temperatures regularly going above 108 degrees. The wave is accredited a delayed start of the Australian monsoon season, and a slow weather system moving over the continent.
All these occurrences are not a coincidence.
As Mother Nature reveals her anger towards our society for ignoring the incessant problems concerning our environment, now is the time for America, and the entire world, to step up and do something about it.
