Photography by left – Mike McMillan/USFS, center – Tomas Castelazo / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0, right – NASA

By: Roselin Cano 

Ms. Cano is a freshman at The City College Of New York; majoring in anthropology. 

It’s 2025, yet people don’t believe in climate change or global warming. This is causing our planet to die rapidly. Take for a fact that in 2020, it was announced by NASA scientists, that the ice in Antarctica was melting six times faster than in the 1990s. Or that our planet is getting hotter every year, which leads to more wildfires, hurricanes, and more.

 

According to National Geographic, Global Warming, by Bayan Atari, “Natural processes have always affected Earth’s temperature and climate, but more recently, the planet’s temperature and climate have changed at a higher pace than nature alone can explain. These rapid changes are due to human activities and the widespread use of fossil fuels for energy.”

 

 Global warming is real and it is caused by human activities such as burning fossil fuels. If we continue to use greenhouse gases it will worsen our environment throughout the years. Climate change deniers believe that greenhouse gases affect our environment because human activities lead to storing up the heat in the Earth’s atmosphere, to maintain a suitable temperature for our planet. So, greenhouse gases must have a positive impact on our planet. WRONG! This is the exact reason that it’s hurting our planet. Many scientists and researchers state and have gathered information that greenhouse gases are shattering the natural balance of our planet’s temperature. They are over-releasing gasses, such as carbon dioxide, and methane, into the atmosphere which leads to the rise in global temperature. And, as the greenhouse gases escalate it leads to global warming. And, global warming causes climate change. 

 

Anne McClain, a NASA astronaut from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, states, “The scientific evidence is unequivocal: climate change is a threat to human well-being and the health of the planet. Any further delay in concerted global action will miss the brief, rapidly closing window to secure a liveable future.” 

 

Climate change is an issue we are currently facing and will turn into a bigger catastrophe in the future.  There are many life-threatening effects when it comes to climate change such as intense drought, wildfires, and altering in ecosystem due to higher temperatures. Temperature is rising every year, melting ice and glaciers, sea levels rising, extreme weather will be frequent, etc. Rebecca Lindsey and LuAnn Dahlman, in Climate Change: Global Temperature, state, that [Earth’s temperature has risen by 0.11 Fahrenheit since the 1850s, and 2023 has been recorded as the warmest year. In 1980, Earth’s temperature was 0.29 C and in 2023, Earth’s temperature was 1.18 C.]  We are currently experiencing some of these effects today and people are turning a blind eye to this situation. An example of people turning a blind eye to climate change is wildfire. People in California are mostly to experience wildfires, however, when there are wildfires, climate change deniers don’t believe that it has anything to do with global warming and that it’s just nature doing its thing. But, these wildfires are impacted by climate change, if there isn’t a change there will be many catastrophes happening on this planet. 

 

According to a NASA article, “However, if we stopped emitting greenhouse gases today, the rise in global temperatures would begin to flatten within a few years. Temperatures would then plateau but remain well-elevated for many, many centuries.” 

 

Although climate change can’t be stopped, it can be slowed down. However, it’s not just something a single person can stop. Countries need to change their way of producing and consuming electricity, such as using renewable solar energy.  Deforestation needs to be stopped. Deforestation is harmful to the environment because it messes up the ecosystem, contributes to climate change, and destroys animal habits which can lead to extinction, soil erosion and so much more.  

 

It’s frustrating to know some people don’t care and don’t believe that global warming or climate change is real. Some movies show what could happen if we don’t take action. For example, The Day After Tomorrow is a movie about global warming, and it shows a threat that can affect everyone in the world. According to Stefan Rahmstorf, THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW, he states, “The film shows a disastrous and abrupt climate change.” Some people say ‘People won’t care till it starts affecting them’ but the thing is that it already has and they still don’t care. As stated before, the fire in California is an example of climate change and people who lost their homes don’t see that and all they care about is insurance. Climate change does impact our economy because it will affect agriculture, human mortality, and labor. According to Climate Change and the U.S Economic Future, Amir Jane, states, “Overall, climate change will harm the U.S. economy, even with modest amounts of warming. The U.S. economy would stand to lose between about 1 percent to 4 percent of GDP annually by the end of the century through effects to mortality, labor, and the energy sector alone under a high emissions scenario.” Climate change can end our world if we don’t do something about it and yet money is more important. Money won’t matter anymore if we are all dead.  How big does a threat have to be to get the people’s attention? ‘

 

There are many ways we can help our planet, we can use renewable energy, such as solar power, wind energy, geothermal energy, and more. Instead of using a car which releases gas, we can walk or ride a bike. Throw away less food, and reduce, reuse, and recycle. These little things matter more than people think. Speak up about global warming and climate change. Even if you don’t care about it, do it for the future generation because they deserve a chance to live in a healthy environment. 

 

                                                          Works Cited 

Atari, Bayan. “Global Warming” National Geographic, 3 March 2025.

https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/global-warming/ 

 

Hmshaftel. “Is it too late to prevent climate change?” Science NASA, 23 October 2024

https://science.nasa.gov/climate-change/faq/is-it-too-late-to-prevent-climate-change/ 

Jina, Amir. “Climate Change and the U.S. Economic Future” The University of Chicago EPIC, 

https://epic.uchicago.edu/area-of-focus/climate-change-and-the-us-economic-future/ 

Rahmstorf, Stefan. “THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW – some comments on the movie” Potsdam Instution For Climate Impact Research, 

https://www.pik-potsdam.de/~stefan/tdat_review.html 

Lindsey, Rebecca & Dahlman, LuAnn. “ Climate Change: Global Temperature” Climate.gov, 18 January 2024.

https://www.climate.gov/news-features/understanding-climate/climate-change-global-temperature 

Velev, Kalina.  “The Effects of Climate Change” Science NASA, 23 October, 2024.

https://science.nasa.gov/climate-change/effects/