Dear Future President,

Whoever you are, congratulations. You’ve worked hard to get elected, and now you’ll have to deal with an endless stream of mail (this letter included). I am concerned about climate change and I feel you need to be part of bringing about the solution: clean energy! Switching our energy use from fossil fuels would reduce the amount of fossil fuels burned, which would in turn reduce our pollution and carbon output. Our country needs to invest in more clean energy to eliminate climate change. If you want our precious earth (and in particular, our country) to be habitable, you should stand up for this issue.

I know you will be very busy when you become president, but maybe a year or two into your presidency you could take action on this issue? Some people believe that climate change is a hoax, but if you believe that, I strongly urge you to change your mind, and NASA agrees with me.

The NASA official website says that for the past 400,000 years, atmospheric carbon dioxide was always under 300 parts per million. Since 1950, though, it has risen almost straight up to 400 and counting every day. Too much carbon in the atmosphere is trapping heat and making the earth hotter and hotter and making us more and more uncomfortable. By 2100, some places on the earth will already be too hot for us to live in. Also, global sea levels rose about 6.7 inches in the last century. The rate in the last decade, though, is nearly double that of the last century. This means that big cities like NY (which I LIVE in), LA and Boston will all be underwater in less than 50 years, unless you take big steps. All of this means that if we don’t act soon, the earth will turn into a big fireball with very little land on it, and I’m sure nobody wants that.

Representative Lamar Smith wrote on the website The Hill, “Population growth, especially in the developing world, will account for even more global carbon emissions. Carbon emissions from developing countries are projected to increase by over 125% by 2040. And world population is expected to surge by over 2 billion people by 2050, an increase of more than 30%.” Although this issue is currently affecting us, it is only bound to get worse unless we do something. Population growth will only make this issue worse.

Burning fuel creates greenhouse gases, which make the earth hotter… You probably know this, but if you don’t, click the link above. We need more clean energy, and we need it very soon. People have said that windmills harm the environment, but there are other sources of clean energy, (hydrothermal, geothermal, solar…) and they don’t kill birds OR make as much noise. So you could try to implement any of these clean energy sources into your plan. This would also create new jobs and help our country be technological leaders.

Global warming also accounts for bigger and more frequent natural disasters. Randy Lee Loftis from National Geographic said, “From a deadly snowstorm in Nepal to a heat wave in Argentina that crashed power supplies, at least 14 extreme weather events last year bore the fingerprints of human-induced climate change, an international team of scientists reported Thursday. Researchers examined 28 weather extremes on all seven continents to see if they were influenced by climate change or were just normal weather. Their conclusion: Half of them showed some role of climate change.” This means that if we don’t want another Hurricane Sandy, or another Blizzard of ‘78, then we need to reduce our fossil fuel output as much as we can, as fast as we can, because more hurricanes like Matthew are bound to come if we don’t.

My hometown, New York, will be one of the first cities to drown underwater, so this issue really scares me. I need a place to live, and I don’t want my house to be swept away in a hurricane, or blown away by a blizzard. We need your help to save the environment.

Whoever you are, please take a stand against climate change by making clean energy a priority in our country and around the world.

Thank you for considering my opinions,

-Elijah M.

Sources Used:

"Climate Change: How Do We Know?" NASA. NASA, n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2016.

Loftis, Randy Lee. "Half of Weather Disasters Linked to Climate Change." National Geographic. National Geographic Society, 5 Nov. 2015. Web. 14 Nov. 2016.

Smith, Rep. Lamar. "Climate Change: Seven Indisputable Facts." TheHill. CAPITOL HILL PUBLISHING CORP., 8 Sept. 2015. Web. 14 Nov. 2016.

Withnall, Adam. "The Countries That Will Be so Hot by 2100 Humans Won’t Be Able to Go outside." The Independent. Independent Digital News and Media, 27 Oct. 2015. Web. 14 Nov. 2016.