the one about climate change

This is a little different than I would usually write about, but due to events of this past week, (for example, it was really f@#^&*$ cold outside and the fact that our lovely president took to twitter to discuss) I figured I could throw my two cents in.

Firstly, let's talk about what climate change really is, shall we?

(Thanks NASA for this lovely information).

Climate is the usual, or average, weather of a certain area - maybe one year it rains way more than the one before, or maybe it gets hotter every year. The Earth's climate is all the climates from around the world combined.

Okay, so now we sorta know what it is, what is causing it?

There is no way I could ever write about all the things that are contributing to this global warming situation, but here are a few...

"The current warming trend is of particular significance because most of it is extremely likely (greater than 95 percent probability) to be the result of human activity" (Thanks for that uplifting quote, NASA)

Major greenhouse gasses, like CO2 and methane, are major causes. CO2 comes from the fossil fuels usually used to operate cars, train, etc., electricity production, the handling of waste, agriculture, and more.

"Every year in the United States, landfills emit over 426 million metric tons of CO2" (Waste 360). (Thats 469584618.454 US tons, which is quite a lot.)

You get the gist.

So what?

Alright, so we stood by and watched the climate change and as a result the sea levels have risen and the oceans are acidic. Some areas are flooded, others are in a drought. Animals are going extinct left and right, and the air is so dirty that we are next in line.

SO WILL SOMEONE PLEASE TELL ME WHY OUR PRESIDENT IS BEGGING FOR GLOBAL WARMING TO "COME BACK"

Sorry sis, it never left.

Then what the heck happened in the midwest this past week?

NBC asked David Kanter, an assistant professor at NYU, and he says:

"The polar vortex is a low-pressure mass of cold air that swirls perpetually above Earth's polar regions. There's one in the Northern Hemisphere — the one responsible for the recent cold spell across the U.S. — and another in the Southern Hemisphere.

It's normal for the Arctic polar vortex to expand in winter, bringing colder air to lower latitudes. But sometimes the polar vortex weakens, and the fast-moving current of air known as the jet stream shifts, allowing the vortex to drift southward to cause unusually cold temperatures in those areas."

If it's really cold, that means that global warming isn't happening?

"Paradoxically, extreme cold spells could become more frequent as the Arctic warms along with the rest of the planet." (Thanks again, Kanter)

Awesome.

What do we do now?

I am a pretty strong believer that one person can make a difference, and all the small things can add up to one big change. (That's pretty much what this whole blog is about) For so many things this is true, but an issue like this needs action on a large scale too.

Trump pulled out of the Paris agreement in 2015, but that doesn't have to stay that way. Local action leads to state, state leads to nation, and nation leads to global.

Send a letter to encourage your governor to be a climate leader here.

I will continue to post about the things that I try to do to take action and work towards a healthy world, and there are so many people out there who know way more than I do that you can follow as well. But I can only say "stop using plastic" or "eat locally" so many times.

I don't know about you, but I would love to live on this planet for more than the next 12 years...but that won't happen unless we make a change.

xoxo