Climate Crisis

Climate change is right now. Glaciers are melting, sea levels are rising and there are shorter periods between winter and summer. Global change is shown to be happening. The US Global Change Research Program says since 1906, the global average surface temperature has increased by more than 1.6 degrees Fahrenheit. Skynews reports a global temperature increase can cause glaciers to melt and mountainous regions to have an increase in landslides. As global warming becomes more relevant, the climate change movement has begun to unfold.
Greta Thunberg, a 16-year-old girl from Sweden is an outspoken activist on climate change. She has taken the lead on school strikes in an effort to elicit change in the world today. She spoke at the 2019 United Nations Climate Action Summit, where she advocated for Generation Z and how the older generations need to take action or problems may arise for the future generations.
Senior Molly Myers finds Thunberg’s actions to be directly increasing awareness and creating a cause for change.
“I think one thing that’s unfortunate is that although people get involved on social media, that’s where it ends,” Myers said. “I think when you look at someone like Greta — who’s really taken it far beyond just retweeting things, making cute signs and posting pictures — she is really taking it to the level of meeting with people who will make change and making it impactful.”

All those things are important when it comes to be more environmentally friendly. It’s really important where you buy your clothes, how you buy food and what other activities you participate in.”[/pullquote]
On Oct. 1, 2019, the temperature in Troy reached 85 degrees Fahrenheit. On Oct. 1, 2015, the high temperature was 59 degrees Fahrenheit. As reviewed on the Old Farmer’s Almanac, the temperature on Oct. 1 between the years 2008 through 2018 did not exceed 70.2 degrees Fahrenheit in Troy.
As temperatures continue to rise, many fear what the future will hold for them.
“Americans are not proactive, they are reactive and I think we are just gonna be too late,” Robert Zynda, Environmental Science Teacher said. “We are gonna see shoreline issues, crazy storm issues. We are gonna see crop failures and then you’ll hear ‘Oh, maybe there was something, what are we going to do now?…Oh well, it’s a little late.’ It’s just the way we operate, we don’t like to think for the future, we are living for the day.”
As of 2019, climate change has become a mainstream trend. The anti-straw movement began when a photo spread of a turtle with a plastic straw stuck in his nose, which caused many to switch to metal straws. This created a popular choice for people to purchase reusable water bottles and make them look pretty with stickers.
The small changes started from the trend, but big changes still had to be done. Although the small changes that people are making reflect good intentions, many call for action from big corporations. As stated in Scientific American, scientists project fossil fuel related carbon dioxide emissions will hit a record high of 37.1 billion metric tons by the end of this year. As for the average citizen, there are other things that can be done if one wants to help with change.
“I think environmental change is a lot more than anti-straw movements and a lot more than just not using plastic water bottles,” Myers said. “All those things are important when it comes to be more environmentally friendly. It’s really important where you buy your clothes, how you buy food and what other activities you participate in.”
To keep the future of our Earth intact, the facts show that issues of global warming needs to be handled now. The debate in the United States on whether climate change is real, isn’t a debate in other countries. Temperatures continue to rise without change, ice caps continue to melt and crops continue to fail, as some did in Michigan this year.
The movement for change is elicting some change, but if something isn’t done soon, the future looks to be different.
“We are liberating all this carbon that has been stored for millions of years underground and we don’t like to think about it because we are living for the day and not living for tomorrow,” Zynda said. “But, it is our carbon footprint and we are altering the environment. Storms are going to get worse, precipitation patterns will change, species are going extinct and we can do better. It’s all about us, it’s an anthropogenic situation and that’s climate change.”