By Aminah Muhammad
From rain forest fires to monstrous hurricanes, the planet earth has been through a lot in the past year. Yet, no one seems to realize the planet is dying and we’re a part of the problem.
Climate change strikes have been going on for weeks as numerous groups of people demand people worldwide to pay attention to the harmful effects of it.
According to cbsnews.com, global climate strikes are taking place in more than 150 countries worldwide.
Clearly there is a problem with the current state that the Earth is in; abnormal weather patterns, extinction of wildlife, and rising sea levels are just the tip of the iceberg.
There have been hurricanes back to back to back, forest fires in the Amazon and on the west coast of the U.S.
The question that needs to be asked is what can the world do to help save the Earth before it’s too late?
Conservation.org noted that 11 percent of the world’s population is at risk of being affected by climate change, which is roughly 800 million people.
Droughts, forest fires, melting ice caps, and strange weather are only on the incline and it doesn’t look like it’s stopping anytime soon.
Cameron Herbin, a current sophomore at William Peace University, gave his opinion on how climate change has been affecting the earth and what will come of it in the future.
“I’ll say that we have a little less than 200 years now, because I think our generation coming up, is at least gonna slow it down a little bit. They seem to care more about the planet than we do.” Herbin said.
Protests from middle and high schoolers around the world are demanding that their governments declare the current state of the earth as a climate emergency.
According to expandedramblings.com, over 90 percent of all global disasters are weather related in some shape or fashion.
Of course, we can’t control the weather, but there are ways to help conserve the planet. There’s a bunch of small changes that you can do as an individual to help save the planet before it’s too late.
Infographic of Four Easy Steps to Help our Planet According to NRDC.org
We as a people worldwide, have to take action in preventing the Earth from dying, a few tips to help the planet are listed below.
Reducing water waste, taking shorter showers, turning off the sink when brushing your teeth, which saves a few gallons of water each month.
Try walking places instead of driving, with the lower amount of pollution from cars there’s cleaner air.
Farha Hamdeneel, a current sophomore at NC State University gave her opinion on why she walks instead of drives to get where she needs to go.
“I think that walking reduces my carbon footprint and it helps a lot by not contributing to global warming,” Hamdeneel said.
If walking isn’t for you, there’s planes, trains, bikes and even scooters if you really want to get where you need to go.
Unplug some of the devices you’re not using, there’s no sense in keeping all that energy running when no one’s using it. Buying LED light bulbs save a lot more energy and money in the long run, so why not switch?
We all want to stay on this planet for as long as possible and we can’t do so without making a change ourselves. It’s time we address these problems and what we can do before they turn into obstacles that we can’t face.