Week 8 - Global Warming

Hello, travellers!

My time machine launched me into the year 7018 and it seems I have landed in the heart of the city

of Los Angeles, California. It might just be the clothes I’m wearing, but it feels significantly warmer

than the last time I visited here. Because the sea level has risen so much, the city has invested

millions of dollars into higher and sturdier sea walls. Thermal expansion caused the sea levels to rise

over eight feet the past 5,000 years, as well as the issue of melting ice caps. Precipitation occurs

much more frequently now, as well as evaporation. These problems are considered small and even

natural or expected, however, because a certain amount of greenhouse gas emissions have always

been present in the atmosphere.

Figure 1: Diagram of the greenhouse effect

Photo source: Simple Climate

The real problem, the one that scientists have been focusing all of their research on, involves the excessive burning of fossil fuels - coal, natural gas, and petroleum which introduces increased carbon dioxide levels into the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide, along with water vapor, is largely responsible for the atmosphere’s greenhouse effect, warming that results when the atmosphere traps heat radiating from Earth toward Space. Scientists in collaboration with political world leaders agreed that we humans were “forcing” climate change too aggressively by burning fossil fuels, deforestation, and land use changes. Together they wrote up the Global Climate Conservation Act of 6725, which essentially set limits on activities that speed up climate change. For example, Section 8.2 states that vehicle manufacturers must use safer resources such as electricity or solar power to power their cars. It’s quite rare that you come across a gas station these days and the government is doing everything in its power to wipe them out. Section 10.5 mandates that corporations can only cut down ten acres of forest in order to increase the amount of carbon dioxide being absorbed by plants and trees. These methods are by no means perfect, but as a society we are doing much more than we used to to prevent unnecessary climate change.

So long for now!

Madeline Herr