By: Megan Fabry
Global climate change has already had an impact on the environment. The ice caps are melting, homes where animals used to reside have become increasingly smaller and coral reefs that were once teeming with color and life are now uninhabitable.
Scientists say human activity began noticeably affecting the climate during the Industrial Revolution, which took place between the late 18th century to the mid-1800s. When society began to industrialize, it led to a change in the air chemistry by adding CO2 to the atmosphere.
Sarah Burke is the sustainability coordinator at UNO and believes that climate change is a real phenomenon that must be acknowledged.
“Data show that the planet is warming leading the changes to our climate, like more extreme weather – both extreme cold and extreme heat– and increases in severity of weather occurrence – prolonged droughts, prolonged rains and snows, stronger and larger hurricanes,” Burke said. “Additionally, sea levels are rising around the planet leading to the submersion of coastlines and some islands.”
President Donald Trump has been outspoken his entire presidency about his belief that climate change isn’t real, calling it a “hoax” that was created by the Chinese, though he later backed off this claim, saying he was merely making a joke.
President Trump solidified his stance on climate change when he announced in 2018 that the United States would be pulling out of the Paris Agreement, which is an agreement within the Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, dealing with greenhouse-gas-emissions mitigation, adaptation and finance.
“With the United States pulling out of the Paris Agreement the United States is not only showing to the world that climate change is not a big deal to our country,” Burke said. “We are also hurting our economy by not investing money in new and emerging technologies addressing climate change, like clean and renewable energy infrastructure and battery storage, and being on the forefront of innovations. Regardless if our country views climate change as a real threat caused by human activity, we should be investing money into the technology to be a leader in the industry.”
Burke said there are steps that individuals can take to help slow down climate change, such as using public transportation for commuting to school (UNO shuttles are free), lowering the thermostat in the winter and increasing the air conditioning in the summer and calling local representatives to encourage them to vote for legislation supporting climate change initiatives.
While many simply think that they will be gone before climate change becomes an actual problem, they need to think further than that. Think of the grandchildren and great-grandchildren that will undoubtedly be facing much worse than these next thirty years. Invest in their futures and keep their planet clean.
