Climate Change

Zachary Thornburg
Geography-1000-007

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Climate change or more commonly referred to as global warming has worked
its way up to be amongst the top concerns regarding the future of our planet or
more accurately the future of the human existence. Whats interesting is how over
time you are seeing the reality of the situation unfold to becoming more accurate
about the problems that are being created. Initially when one was to hear about the
talk of global warming it was a concern of the planet, that the planet is suffering, we
need to save the planet, etc. In more recent years the fact who is really suffering or
will be suffering has had some more light shed on it, and that is the people who
inhabit this planet. The earth has been around for billions of years and survived
multiple mass extinctions. So the problem isnt really about saving the earth, the
earth will be here for quite some time. The real problem is saving the human race
that lives on the earth. We havent been around for billions of years and are far
more fragile than the earth. The topic has gotten more traction over time now that
much more supporting evidence has come out but also since humans stopped
beating around the bush and addressed the real issue at hand, the survival of the
human race, the earth will be just fine, it always has been.
At first thought I never really gave the idea of global warming much thought,
mostly due to ignorance on the subject and thinking it doesnt affect my day to day
life so it should be taken with much seriousness. Also, it seems to be happening so
slowly that it really wasnt an issue. I figured we would adapt as a species or it
would correct its self over time and there would nothing to worry about. The thing to
think about is the difference between slow given the humans perception of time
and slow given earths actuality of time. Humans definition of slow or fast is surely
off by at least a couple million years given the earths definition. If I were to look at it
with a different perspective I would be blown away with how fast the climate has

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changed without a doubt. For example I have lived in Salt Lake now going on five
years. Within those five years Ive hardly seen snow accumulate on the ground and
experienced very dry summers where drought and water bans to use as little as
water as possible were common. I simply thought this was the norm, it doesnt snow
much and summers are hot and dry, this is what I expected given the valley is a
dessert for the most part. However after talking about it with my wife who was born
and raised in the valley this isnt normal. Apparently when she was growing about
and going to school throughout the 90s and early 2000s it snowed more, a lot
more. Snow days were common and guaranteed almost every year it seemed and
she couldnt pin point a winter that was a mild as it has been over the past four
years. So given just here observation yes the climate has changed in the valley at
least. I then thought about winter when we would go to northern Indiana for the
holidays, the winters there are far milder than what I remembered when I was
younger. There would always be a least a foot of snow on the ground for Christmas
and now there is hardly any snow, if snow at all. So, with just simply observing the
weather over the past couple of years it would be hard to deny that climate isnt
changing. To me given my skewed perception of time to earths I would say this is
slow when in a reality a couple years is no time at all not even seconds if compared
to the life of the entire earth.
Why is the climate changing? It obvious there has been a decline over the
past couple of years. The hottest days of the summer are colder and the coldest
days of the winter arent as cold. So earth most certainly seems to be getting
warmer. If I were to take a shot it the dark as to why this is think it could easy have
to do with number of people on the earth today. One hundred years ago in 1915 the
earths population was 1.5 billion people versus todays 7 billion with a projected

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population of more than 9 million in 2015 (Becker, 2015). The earths population
has remarkably more than quadrupled in one hundred years, which is mind blowing.
The significance in this relating to climate change is the amount of carbon dioxide
being put into the atmosphere as a result. Carbon dioxide increases the earths
greenhouse gases which is reasonable for a heating planet. Humans exhale carbon
dioxide so it would be easy to believe that all of the seven billion people breathing
would be reasonable for a warmer climate let alone a climate change. This is not to
mention all the other things people do that emit CO2 such as driving and burning
fossil fuels. Planet earth has natural defense to recycle carbon dioxide the problem
is humans are creating too much to fast which is resulting in a worldwide climate
change. The planet is warming as a result. Not necessarily bad news for the planet
who has seen this amount of carbon dioxide before but for the species inhabiting
the planet it is pushing the limits towards extinction.
The statistics to support the climate is changing is growing rapidly along with
the development of technology. It has evolved from opinion to fact over time with
this newly developed information, the concern for people to be more conscious
about how they treat the planet has never been so high because the equation is
simple how we treat the planet equals how the planet will treat us that easily
decides our fate as humans residing on it. With just simply living and observing one
doesnt need to do extensive research on the fact that the climate is changing. For
some this simply means on missing out on the opportunity to go sledding due to no
snow but the reality is missing out on the human species being able to live and
thrive on this planet. The conversation has grown from if in fact the earths climate
is changing to what humans can and should do about it to ensure the survival of our
race.

Works Cited
Becker, R. (2015, July 31). Earths Population Boom . Retrieved from National
Geographic: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/07/world-populationexpected-to-reach-9-7-billion-by-2050/