Mercy Corps Climate Change - KJ

Climate Change

Every second of every day of every year we, the humans, are polluting the earth. Cars, trucks, buses, trains, factories, companies, and even you are polluting the earth with your actions. To this day, the globe is rising in temperature. Water is evaporating, ice is melting, and deserts are forming. People around the world are suffering from these obvious changes. When you are driving, look at buildings. Is there some sort of smoke-like cloud coming out of it? Probably. Look at cars and trucks, there is always a puff of smoke coming out of the tail pipe. All that gas is polluting the earth causing the dramatic change. Everyday people drive to work. With over 6 billion people in the world and counting , there has to be a lot of pollution. We need to change our lifestyle to save our lives.

What if we could see pollution? Would people recognize the problem and act upon the situation to stop it? I would hope so. Right now, climate change is not affecting my life in any way I can tell. In some parts of the world, people are suffering because of climate change. Not many people stop and think about pollution before they get in the car. It was estimated that by 2015 the oceans will have raised with much that New York will be flooded with a foot of water. All the pollution is causing climate change which is causing the polar ice caps to melt which is, in turn, causing the ocean to drown New York. We wouldn’t want to live in a foot of water. We need to get this picture of what will happen if we continue the way we are today, into people’s minds. They need to be afraid and scared. We need them to want change!

With the climate change people around the globe are being forced to adapt to a new environment. They must learn to conserve water and how to grow foods with what they have. Some people are moving away to a better food source while some are left to die. There are people like you and me who aren’t able to eat nutritiously. They can only eat what they have and hope for a solution. Why must they suffer? because of us, who get to live in luxury and have 10 times what we need? We need to share our health and well being. Why can’t we all be healthy and be able to live? We must change so that others may live.

What can you and I do? In Portland we can ride the MAX, ride bikes and for short distances, walk to help lower pollution. Carpooling and using public transportation helps but doesn’t eliminate the whole problem. Electric cars and even hybrids can help. I know one big problem is money. You may want to help save the earth but you may not have the money for an electric car. You may not notice but many things, such as food, are made and packaged in a factory. Factories produce pollution. We can lower our pollution production to little to zero but we still need food and everyday necessities. We need to change companies and factories to create less pollution. We should aim for no pollution in this world what so ever. It may seem impossible but if everyone tries, i bet it is possible.

Some simple ideas for mitigating climate change and helping others recover from it can be so simple. Wash dishes by hand instead of wasting gallon upon gallon of water with one dishwasher. Wash clothes by hand just like washing dishes by hand, you are saving a lot of water. Take shorter showers. Again to save water. We could use “green” products. We could by our food from a farmers market to skip factory production and packaging. Use human powered transportation or use public transportation. Use only what we absolutely need and nothing else. Entertain ourselves with things like talking to each other or making up games with natural resources.

With all these solutions we would be able to help others in need. We could share our wealth with others and reach out to those suffering from poverty and homelessness. Hopefully someday we can change enough to save lives, nature, and the world.