Letter to the Future, Actions on Climate Change

Dear future,

     Climate change is a growing issue that is bound to cause major effects in the near future. I have done extensive research that supports the fact that action needs to be taken in order for our environment to continue to thrive and stay intact.

    Climate change may not have an impact on our daily lives in Huntsville, AL, but it definitely is already having major impacts of those around the world. Communities are already having to evacuate areas because of rising sea levels that are caused by the intense climate changes around the world[1.] Women from an organization called "Climate Wise Women" describe their experiences with climate change in a heart wrenching way in order to illustrate to others that climate change is already effecting area of the world today. Ursula Rakova, a writer from climate wise women, says "We are being forced from our homelands and having to start new lives. I would say to anyone who believes climate change is not happening, if you have the heart to feel your flesh and blood, start to think about those who struggle with this everyday."[2]

     There are countless things that we can do everyday in order to take action and help the growing climate change issue to stop. Simple actions such as reducing energy use, changing transportation habits, insulating our homes, conserving water, line drying clothes, recycling, and reusing items for different purposes around the house[3.]These may seem like little actions, but if every house hold took a few of these into consideration, it would make a difference.

    If action is not taken, the consequences are seemingly endless. There are everyday impacts such as higher food pricing, food processing and storage, and less availability to clean water[4.] There are also many effects that are of greater concern such as, increasingly warmer temperatures, sea level rise, drought, coastal erosion, and increased severity and frequency of storms[1.]

    Even though all of these impacts of climate change are relevant, the most important impact that is predicted to come in the near future is the concern with refugees. If there is no serious action being taken there is a very high chance of us being in a refugee crisis in the near future. There is already places in the world that this issue applies to. There are hundreds of millions of people across the globe that are already exposed to major environmental risk. If no action is taken, these numbers will only continue to grow. The sad part is that if there were to be an emergency caused by these environmental risks, most of the people in these areas lack the physical, financial, or social resources to be able to move or migrate. These people could be trapped in these hazardous places because of the lack of action being taken to prevent climate change from affecting the communities we inhabit. One of the major issues here is that refugees caused by the effects of climate change is being viewed as a future problem, even though it is happening today. Since 2008, one person per second has been displaced by weather. These statistics somehow get over looked and it needs to stop[5.]

     The United States is one of the countries that are least likely to get affected by climate change in the near future, so we seem to ignore it. If we take a look around to what is happening in other countries because of the climate change.. that will be us in the future if no action is taken. So, climate change should be viewed as just as much of a problem as it is for other countries in order to help prevent it from effecting us as severely. This being said, the US should also be worried about the effects if climate change and doing everything they can to begin to take action on this issue. The reason I say this is because if refugees begin to be considered a serious issue, many people from other countries will begin to relocate, causing over populated areas. These over populated areas could cause serious economic struggles, lack of employment, troubles with housing, and many other serious issues[5.]

     Climate change is happening, and if we don't begin to take action, even in our everyday lives, this issue is going to begin to effect us in ways we may not even understand yet.
   
Foot Notes:

[1] http://hir.harvard.edu/climate-change-indigenous-peoples-and-mobility-in-the-arctic/ This website is aimed to inform people of the dangers and effects of the global rising temperatures.
[2] http://climatewisewomen.org/ This is the site of an organization that is dedicated to hearing the women that deal with the trauma that comes with their daily climate change issues.
[3] http://www.climatechange.gc.ca/default.asp?lang=En&n=D27052CE-1 This page is dedicated to informing communities of actions they could be taking to help the issue of climate change.
[4] http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/01/pictures/130115-climate-change-superstorm-atmosphere-science/ This site is dedicated to informing others on how climate change could effect their everyday lives, including how they spend their money.
[5] https://newrepublic.com/article/125073/climate-change-will-cause-next-refugee-crisis This page is aimed at informing people about the refugee issue that could turn into a crisis if action is not taken to help the climate change issues.

PS:

http://billmoyers.com/2014/02/07/five-groups-leading-the-charge-to-halt-climate-change/
http://www.greenbeltmovement.org/ I used both of these websites to get background information on what actions are being taken currently and how these organizations are helping the climate change issues we face today.

http://0-www.pbs.org.librus.hccs.edu/wgbh/nova/next/earth/crowdsourcing-climate-change-solutions/
I used this webpage to gather background information about how much communication is happening currently on how to reduce the risks climate change causes.