The Guardian published an intriguing article today regarding climate change and the huge impact it is having on our planet. More specifically, the impact it is having near the North Pole. It describes the rising temperatures and rising sea levels and the impact that this has on people residing in this area. The scariest part? Those impacted aren’t foreigners: they’re Americans. “This winter, both January and February brought record low coverage of arctic sea ice” the article states.
The article tells the story of Mr. Wilson Andrew, a resident of Atmautluak Alaska, who’s house is close to being underwater as a result of rising sea levels. This winter has been particularly warm, in fact the warmest January and February on record.
As we learned in Chapter 10, climate change and global warming are a result of our human actions. We emit billions of tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, and greenhouse gases hold hot air low in our atmosphere rather than letting it be released. Moreover, our actions have caused damage to the ozone layer, allowing more UV radiation to reach us here on earth. While the Ozone layer has been improving, global temperatures have still been rising at a significant rate.
