Climate change has been affecting the world for many years now, and its effects are being seen and studied more and more every year. With this research, there is a greater understanding of how much climate change varies around the world and the classification that most of the effects of climate change are due to global warming has proved to be wrong. According to University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR), “Much of the increase in precipitation is expected to occur at high latitudes. Increased snowfall near both poles may offset some of the melting of glaciers and ice sheets in these regions by adding fresh ice to the tops of these features. Some places in Antarctica are even gaining more snow via increased precipitation than they are losing to melting caused by rising temperatures.” The effects of climate change have been unpredictable and can even cause an increase in water instead of drought that would be caused by global warming. These differences can be determined by many factors. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration states that “temperature trends across the entire globe aren’t uniform because of the diverse geography on our planet—oceans versus continents, lowlands versus mountains, forests versus deserts versus ice sheets—as well as natural climate variability. When you’re zoomed in on a particular place, you may not be able to see the overall trend.” These diverse climates directly relate to the effects of climate change and should be taken into account when trying to prevent it. If these differences are not acknowledged, there will be drastic consequences to not only the environment but also for human health and safety.
The United States Environmental Protection Agency states that “changes in climate could have significant impacts on food production around the world. Heat stress, droughts, and flooding events may lead to reductions in crop yields and livestock productivity. Areas that are already affected by drought, such as Australia and the Sahel in Africa, will likely experience reductions in water available for irrigation.” The understanding of these effects is what is going to become increasingly important as they are going to start to become more prevalent as more time passes. Junior Declan Lewis states, “I’ve noticed that it’s getting much hotter during the summer and made Lake Sammamish much lower.” This can be directly connected to the increased heat levels that come with climate change. This heat could also have other effects other than on irrigation. According to the UCAR, “Dry conditions are already making it difficult to grow crops in Africa, which is causing more food scarcity. In some areas of Asia, clean freshwater is projected to become more scarce, and illness caused by unclean water is projected to increase.” The loss of safe drinking water, especially to a densely populated areas in Asia like China, could lead to the suffering of many people. This combined with the loss of growable crops has very severe consequences for human health. These negative effects on human health have started to become noticeable due to the increase in climate change every year.
As the effects of climate change become more noticeable, so do the negative changes that have been altering many lives around the world. The World Health Organization states, “The people whose health is being harmed first and worst by the climate crisis are the people who contribute least to its causes, and who are least able to protect themselves and their families against it: people in low-income and disadvantaged countries and communities.” These communities, who are mostly low-income, are some of the most vulnerable people, as they do not have enough money to either buy necessities that would be lost due to climate change or enough money to improve their own living conditions enough where the effects of climate change would not be a threat to their well-being. The lack of these options leads to increased health complications other than just the lack of water or food. The pollution itself could be poisoning the air, freshmen Samantha Krebs states “Human health is going to be lowered as the air could be unsafe to breathe due to all the air pollution.” Climate change does not only have environmental effects but it also changes the course of many people’s lives. These changes vary around the world due to the variety of effects climate change has, either due to the environment or due to increased level of pollution, and it has been just as important to track and study for the safety of human life and not just the global climate.
With such a big threat, to not only human life but the world itself, many believe that the public should have more power in determining the safety of our own lives, like senior Liam Henry, who says that “I think that the public does not have enough influence.” This lack of influence could be detrimental to society. Sophomore Emlilia Kettmen says that “climate change should be considered a crisis.” There has been some action that is being taken to try to stop climate change, but the understanding of how much it varies around the world is a fundamental step to combat it.
