SUSTAINABLE FUTURE 

Op-Ed: Will we take our world seriously?

PUBLISHED SUN, MARCH 20 2022 11:24 EDT

Myla Minaya

Demonstrators display signs and a banner during a “No Climate, No Deal” march on the White House, in Washington, DC, June 28, 2021.

Evelyn Hockstein | Reuters

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Have you ever wondered what our world will be like in 50 years? Or what our future generations will have to go through? We are killing our planet and it is all because of us. Climate change will eventually affect our future generations. Our climate crisis magnifies inequality, poverty, and displacement. It is proven that by 2050, a further 24 million children are predicted to be undernourished as a result of the climate crisis. We can prevent this. 

Climate change pertains to the drastic long-term shifts in temperature and weather patterns. Since the 1800s, our human race has been the main cause of climate change due to the process of burning fossil fuels, such as coal, oil and gas. Due to the process of burning fossil fuels, it produces greenhouse heat- trapping gasses that causes global warming. The level of carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere has consistently been increasing for decades. 

Rapid changes in the environment can cause change in mountains, coral reefs and can cause the Arctic species to become extinct or relocate. Day by day, animals are being affected by climate change. Based on the Wild Life Fund, their mission is to face the extinction of one million species in our lifetime. They believe that “The solution to the extinction crisis lies in the expansion of natural habitats in threatened wild places. We must enlarge and protect the spaces devoted to the natural world in order to save the amazing variety of life on our planet – called biodiversity.” To be a part of the solution, the Wild Life Fund has protected, restored and re-wilded over 3,000 acres of land on the banks of the Msinene river in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

Climate change threatens our lives with simple food and water. It can cause an increase in flooding, extreme heat, more disease and economic loss. Ask yourself, would you really want to live without food or water? Would you want to live with having to wear an oxygen mask all the time?

Additionally, both the rapid increase and decrease in weather can cause sicknesses. This can affect the body’s nervous and respiratory systems, or liver and kidney damage. An increased coastal flooding with hurricanes raises the potential risk of indoor mold growth from dampness. This can impact us humans and can cause us to have respiratory disease. It is also possible to gain mental health issues like anxiety, depression, and suicide. Based on the article by Fairfax Media Publications Pty Limited, they state that Harvard Medical School believes kidney stones, malaria, Lyme disease, depression and respiratory illness may increase with global warming. Based on information made by Paul Epstein, a director of Harvard’s Centre for Health and the Global Environment in Boston, states that climate change from the burning of fossil fuels will eventually add risks to public health.

Nasa reveals that a large piece of sea ice in the Larsen B embayment, which is a large body of water bordering the Antarctic Peninsula, has been abruptly crumbling away from the coast. It has been detached since 2011. In addition, the sea ice had been detrimentally affecting the flow of glacial ice causing the flow to slow down. Nasa states that with the sea ice dispersed and shrinking, the process of adding land to the sea, this all contributes a big factor in global sea-level rises. Sea-levels are highly likely to speed up. To add on,

Now you may ask, why should we worry? Climate change is causing sea levels to rise and as a result of melting glaciers and thermal expansion due to rising ocean temperatures, us humans are going to feel the expense. increased coastal flooding and storms also raises the risk of indoor mold growth from excess dampness, with impacts on respiratory disease.

An example of how this is affecting us is the wildfires in California in the United States. In California, 260,000 people and $50 billion in poverty are currently at risk for a 100-year flood. Seriously. This is serious. And we can prevent this. 

Personally, I believe if we set our mind on it we can do it. We can prevent this. We just need major sustainability. This would mean taking action as of right now. We can eliminate waste, prevent pollution, and increase recycling, conserve and protect water and reuse, and increase the use of renewable energy. Additionally, we can also construct high sustainable buildings. We can do many more. All of these methods and ways can prevent the cause of climate change. Our mission is to compromise our planet’s needs, therefore, future generations will have the opportunity to see how beautiful our world is.

Citation:

• “Illness rises with heat.” Sun-Herald [Sydney, Australia], 22 Nov. 2009, p. 43. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A279179042/OVIC?u=cuny_ccny&sid=bookmark-OVIC&xid=0a023130. Accessed 20 Mar. 2022.
• NASA Global Climate Change: Sustainability and Government Resources, https://climate.nasa.gov/solutions/resources/
• Endangered Species Conservation, https://www.worldwildlife.org
• https://www.cnbc.com/2021/09/13/op-ed-we-have-a-final-opportunity-to-respond-to-climate-change.html

Reflection

In my op-ed I wish to reach my own generation and speak to those who are young. This is because we have more time and more of a chance to fight for what is right and prove the fact that our planet is in fact dying. I also choose this audience because personally, older adults wouldn’t really mind. I feel like since they already lived their life they have no point or objective in fighting for our planet. Therefore, because they had it in its prime, they don’t really mind what is happening right now.

The rhetorical situation that I am addressing in my op-ed is purpose. My purpose in this op-ed is to prove to the audience that we are dramatically increasing the levels of greenhouse gasses in our atmosphere and that as a result of global warming, there is an increase in sea levels. I prove it to the audience by stating factual evidence made by credible sources and showing a brief amount of statistics on how global warming affects us and the Earth. I also wanted to propose the context. I wanted to describe the circumstances regarding global warming . 

Some rhetorical strategies that I used to employ given the genre and rhetorical situation, was tone. I wanted to have a strong, harsh tone to prove to the audience that I”m serious about what I am writing about. I wanted to also prove to the audience that they’re being spoken to like this because this is all of our fault. I feel like the tone portrays how the author initially feels while writing their piece and the way that I spoke in my op-ed is how I initially felt. In addition, I also used a specific style in my op-ed. I wanted to ask the audience questions in between the op-ed to keep them thinking and motivated. I also wanted to ask them questions to give them a pause because I knew it was a lot of information being thrown at them. Lastly, I also wanted to ask them questions out of comfort. I wanted it to seem as if I was interacting with them.