In the last few years, we have seen many environmental events that have happened to our country. Just a couple of months ago, we witnessed the states of California, Oregon and Washington having severe wildfires that were so powerful, it would turn the skies to blood-red covered with clouds of smoke. While the fires were still happening, there were many droughts that dry up the atmosphere, making it difficult to have fresh air. Since these fires were during the summer, high temperatures were bound to affect the path of the wildfires, causing high pollution rates and the transmissions of dangerous fumes. Residents were urged to stay inside their homes as this situation could cause major damage to their health, especially with a pandemic still put into place.

This isn’t the first time we have seen environment events like this. We have seen an increase in drastic hurricanes throughout the United States. As I am writing this article in the beginning of October, we are closing in on another hurricane that has majorly hit the state of Louisiana this past Friday. Each year, these storms get more effective and terrifying, causing weather stations to run out of hurricane names quicker every single season. With North Carolina being along the coast and in the south, it is one of the top states where hurricanes hit most often, with heavy rainfall and wind records going up every year.

This is a major issue, along with all these environmental events, we see temperatures rising to record high levels. According to the NC Climate Report revised in June 2019, it was declared that 2019 was one of the hottest years for North Carolina within the past ten years and has continuously passed average temperature since the 1990s. North Carolina’s annual average temperature has increased by about 1.0°F since 1895. Due to this, we have seen crops dying out quicker than usual, ponds and lakes absorbing moisture faster and other examples caused by the planet’s atmosphere getting warmer. We’ve also seen sea levels rising along the coast in response to increased warming and melting of ice blocks causing an expansion of water in the ocean. With all of this information, the bottom line is that we must pay attention is how climate change is affecting a majority of these events.

Climate change is how the Earth responds to how activity continuously affects the Earth’s resources. Oftentimes, people tend to disregard how important this topic is but believe it or not, it makes a huge difference with how we live our lives. You would think that with all the amazing resources put on this earth, we would take better care of it, rather than tear it down. Besides, without nature, we wouldn’t have a very intriguing physical world to call home. The reason I believe many people have uncertainty with climate change and don’t act on it more quickly is that we think that the planet will just sort itself out in the future. However, for thinking ahead to the future, we must be effective in the present to make that possible.

This leads me to the question of what causes climate change to be affected in our area? Climate change is not created but rather fueled by human activity, the use of electricity, greenhouse emissions and fossil fuels cause shifts in our environment. Each year, we see more levels of carbon dioxide being put out into the air which leads to the pollution of plants, produce, animals and humans. This can also cause the Earth’s atmosphere to heat up and have temperature alterations which start to cause environmental emergencies. Even though this is a huge problem for our country, it will be difficult to cut back on gas and oil admissions since our country depends on those qualities for money, but it’s not impossible. Luckily thanks to social media, more individuals have spoken on this issue and try to spread awareness about protecting our planet. I believe these newer generations truly want to see a change in our world and help preserve it for what is to come. Even if you feel like you can only do a little bit, it can pay off over time. Whether that’s investing in energy-saving appliances or participating in beach clean-ups, there are ways teens can help conserve energy in their own city.

If we see how much climate change affects our world and not push it to the side, we may see those long-term effects start to be less damaging over time. It’s not too late to start caring about our planet.