Cade

Senior

Billings, MT

November 2, 2016

Future President

The White House

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW

Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr./Mrs. President,

Global warming is something that is affecting our generation, and will definitely have major effects on the generations to come. I care about what world my children will live in and how global warming is changing the environment. According to National Geographic, the earth’s temperature has risen an average of 1.5 degrees Fahrenheit, while the ocean’s temperature has risen 0.18 degrees Fahrenheit, which seems insignificant to us, but that change has the power to wipe out entire ecosystems. Major effects of rising temperatures can be observed both on land and in our oceans.

The rising temperatures of global warming are causing many problems such as rising sea levels, ocean ecosystem shut-down, and sever storms. National Geographic lists these and more as side effects. Rising sea levels from the expansion of water molecules and melting of the ice caps, could devastate close to or below sea level communities such as New Orleans, if the water was to ever overtake the banks and flood the area. The ocean ecosystems are very sensitive to rise in temperature; krill, one of the base foods in the food chain, reproduce less and coral “bleaches” allowing disease to spread and less food to be found. Warmer surface temperatures of the ocean help fuel stronger storms like hurricanes.

The United States needs to take action to limit greenhouse gas emissions. According to NASA, most climate scientists agree that the greenhouse effect is what is causing the warming trend in the world. The greenhouse effect is when greenhouse gases trap heat being reflected by the earth, which warms the lower atmosphere and the earth’s surface. Limiting our output of greenhouse gases would hopefully help allow the earth’s atmosphere to flow back to normal and eventually cool to sustainable healthy temperatures. To do so, investing in renewable resources such as solar power is our best bet. As our technology increases so too does efficiency of the solar power production, which could eventually take place of some of our fossil fuel use and shrink emission of greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere.

If the temperature change less than a fifth of a degree can change the oceans so drastically, then we should prevent further temperature change, if possible. If a change of 1.5 degrees Fahrenheit can cause sever storms such as hurricanes to become stronger, then we should find a way to stop the change. As the ice caps melt, polar bears are losing their habitat and their hunting grounds. The National Wildlife Federation estimates that the Hudson Bay polar bear population is down twenty percent, and of those that are left, the average weight is down fifteen percent. The decrease in population is not only a polar bear problem, but many other arctic animals, as well as animals across the world, both on land and in the oceans. To save the animals and prevent worse tropical storms, the United States of America needs to step in and work with renewable resources.

Sincerely,

Cade B.

Works Cited

Kunzig, Rob. "Fresh Hope for Combating Climate Change." National Geographic. Web. 01 Nov. 2016.

Society, National Geographic. "Sea Temperature Rise -- Pristine Seas -- National Geographic." National Geographic. Web. 01 Nov. 2016.

@nwf. "Global Warming and Polar Bears - National Wildlife Federation." Global Warming and Polar Bears - National Wildlife Federation. Web. 02 Nov. 2016.