Ice. It’s, well, cold. If you set a bucket of ice into a small room, it will gradually cool down that room by a few degrees. On a larger scale, a large quantity of ice can even cool down something as large as a gymnasium. On a much larger scale, ice can do a pretty good job of keeping the earth cool. For the last few million years, that’s exactly what the big reserves of ice are doing. Ice sheets on Antarctica and Greenland are pulling much of the weight for regulating Earth’s climate and making sure it isn’t too hot on our little pebble. This system has been working very well for some time. Unfortunately, in recent years, we’ve gotten ourselves into a bit of trouble.
Our ice is melting.
Faster than ever.
But just how fast is it melting? I’ll answer that for you. Let’s focus specifically on the ice sheets found in Greenland and Antarctica. In the 1990s, those ice sheets lost 81 billion tons altogether. In the 2010s, only 10 years later, those ice sheets lost 475 billion tons of ice. That’s 33,928,571,428, or just about 34 billion school buses. If you stack that many school buses on top of each other, it’s about 357 billion feet. That’s around 67.6 million miles, which is more than enough to reach all the way from Earth to Mercury.
That’s a lot of ice. But what does it mean on a global scale?
Well, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) says that if this trend of melting continues, then global sea levels will rise by 28 inches as of 2100. That 28 inches matches the “worst-case scenario” prediction from the IPCC. So, lots of very bad news. However, there is some degree of hope.
Most climate scientists will agree that humans have had a huge hand in speeding up climate change, and emissions are largely at the fault of large corporations. A report published in 2017 shows that 100 energy companies are responsible for 71% of all industrial pollution. Unfortunately, many of these companies are after the cash grab rather than the planet. Here’s where you can come in.
If you can vote, be fully aware of the kinds of climate action and restrictions that your candidate wants to take. Be sure to consider that when choosing a candidate.
Ask your state government what they are doing to turn up the heat on big pollution-causing companies.
Gradually change out the disposable products in your household with reusable ones. There’s actually a post about that on this blog site!
Another topic with a post here: do some research on the effects of the meat industry on the climate.
Most importantly: stay informed. If you see eye-grabbing headlines, do some research and make sure you’re getting the facts. Research your trusted sources, and examine what kind of biases it may have.
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