Our climate is changing rapidly. Sea levels are rising, the parts per million of CO2 are growing at alarming rates in the atmosphere, and major flooding is occurring in the United States and around the world. There are many issues that arise from climate change, but sea level rise is among the most important. Sea levels are projected to rise 3 feet by 2100, which may not seem like much, but just this amount will submerge almost all of the state of Florida. Boston will be under water, and lower Manhattan would be devastated.

If people don’t know how climate change and global warming is going to affect us, nothing will ever change. Our generation must learn about the devastating outcomes of the warming climate and find solutions to either slow the effects of climate change, or better yet, stop it completely. If this issue is just ignored, then terrible consequences are bound to happen to the current state of our environment, which we should strive to protect for future generations.

We have to reduce the amount of non-renewable resources we use and produce; currently, we use 20 percent of all energy produced in the world. As more energy is used, the sea levels continue to rise at alarming levels.

As carbon is released into the atmosphere, it absorbs heat by the sun and destroys the ozone layer. This, in return, allows more heat to be absorbed into Earth’s oceans and less to be reflected away. Therefore, the ice caps are melting in the poles, rising the sea levels.

According to National Geographic’s “Sea Level Rise”, “Recently, persistently higher temperatures caused by global warming have led to greater-than average summer melting as well as diminished snowfall due to later winters and early springs.” Higher temperatures and sea level rise are leading to natural disasters like hurricanes and floods, which become progressively worse as the climate warms. The intensity of these disasters isn’t the only factor, but the intervals between them as well.

Since more heat is constantly being absorbed into the atmosphere and oceans due to climate change, hurricanes are occurring more often. This is exceedingly threatening to the safety and well-being of innocent Americans, and especially Southeast Asia. As a result of climate change, natural disasters like hurricanes are rapidly increasing in intensity.

When asked about which aspect of climate change  produces the most damage, iSchool parent Lisa Kyle responded, “ Severe weather. It puts people’s lives in danger, and it costs a lot of money to the areas affected by the storm.”  

Hurricanes are especially harmful to people on the coast. Storm surge is when a large amount of water gets pushed onto land by a major storm over the sea. Not only is storm surge caused by hurricanes, but higher sea levels result in higher storm surges. This brings us into our next issue: flooding.

A flood is an overflow of water that submerges land. They are usually caused by large amounts of heavy rainfall when bodies of water have no space to salvage excess water. Flooding occurs mainly along rivers. If there is a high amount of rain or snowfall on a mountain range in which the river originates, there is a change of the river overflowing.

Flooding can be related to the sea level as well. If a town is next to a riverbank that leads into the ocean, and the sea on a given day is abnormally high, it can overflow and flood the town. Since the sea level fluctuates along a coast from tides, the higher the sea, the more often this event will occur.

Climate change is a well known issue among Americans. iSchool parent Caroline Stern stated, “The elimination of climate change is becoming more and more of a top priority because seemingly, nothing is ever done about it. Significant amounts of carbon dioxide are being absorbed by oceans throughout the world, causing them to heat up and   gradually but surely melt our polar ice caps.”                                                          

Climate change is clearly a problem, but what are the solutions? This is up to different nations contributing to the problem, but it doesn’t mean it’s on the top of every nation’s to-do list.

Ms. Mangano, an English teacher teacher at iSchool stated, “We can provide more solar energy and decrease carbon emissions. A lot of homes are now installing solar panels, and a tax credit is being offered. If I was a homeowner, I would look into that as well.”           

Easton Brashares, a senior at the iSchool says, “We can limit carbon dioxide output and limit oil use. And we should sort of try to focus more on reliable energy sources that don’t produce any waste.”

When asked the question if politicians are placing this issue on a high enough priority, Mr. Laurro, paraprofessional at the iSchool, “I don’t think they are making this a top priority at all. It hasn’t been mentioned in any one of the debates; maybe Clinton has mentioned it very few times, but Trump doesn’t even believe that climate change is a real issue. That is unbelievable.”

Lisa Kyle’s response to the same issue was, “No! I think that there are still too many people in governments who think climate change    doesn’t exist, which is very frightening to me. And if my generation and your generation don’t find a way to slow it down, then future generations will be living in a much different world.”

Our environment and generation are in danger. The fact that there are people who adamantly deny that climate change exists is repugnant. The effects of climate change are destroying innocent American’s lives. Houses are being destroyed by flooding, and hurricanes are causing storm surges. If something is not done to stop climate change, future generations will be living in a world of destruction.