Climate Change

Dear Future President, My name is Meriem Cherif, and I live in California. I am writing to you because America is a powerful and glorious country and I believe it can be so much greater if we address some important issues and solve them. When you are president, I hope that you will help Americans by doing more things that will aide in making our environment a cleaner, healthier area. It is unquestionable that our environment has been slowly deteriorating as well as our animal species due to things we have done just for our benefit. Climate change is an important issue in America and everywhere because it is effecting our planet very negatively and can result to deadly consequences. Our world is beautiful and to have it and its animals to be destroyed by deforestation, burning fossil fuels, and oil getting dumped in the ocean would be dreadful. Unfortunately, this could be the reality in as little as 40 years if we don’t act fast and solve this issue. I believe climate change is real because according to the Department of Ecology of Washington, “...rising levels of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere have warmed the Earth and are causing wide-ranging impacts, including rising sea levels; melting snow and ice; more extreme heat events, fires and drought; and more extreme storms, rainfall and floods.” In fact, According to Dr Dirk Notz of the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology and Dr Julienne Stroeve of the US National Snow and Ice Data Center , it is estimated that all Arctic sea ice would diminish by around 2045. This means that animal species that depend on the ice to live like polar bears could go extinct and the Earth would heat up very fast “...water absorbs much more heat than ice.” Based on research, climate change is highly caused by the burning fossil fuels, because they release greenhouse gasses in the air and these gases trap heat, making the Earth warmer. Take Part draws attention to the fact that this could have very harmful effects, such as rising sea levels that add to more storm damage, more rainfall that leads to flooding, and an increase of the chance of wildfires, destroying lives and habitats. Considering how many things have already been negatively affected by climate change, there is still some hope. Here are some ways we could help reduce the amount of climate change. First of all, we must stay in the Paris Climate accord. Secondly, we should ban offshore drilling because it has devastating effects on the environment like having oil spills and the seismic waves causing the beaching of hundreds of whales. Lastly, we should use renewable energy as a source. Since it has unlimited supply and doesn’t emit to greenhouse gases, it is the most reliable energy provider. In conclusion, I think that environmental issues should be at the top on the list to try to improve on. When you are president, I hope that you will support laws in the US that reduce our carbon footprint. Thank you for taking my opinion into consideration. Sincerely, Meriem Cherif