Letters to the Next President

Our Fervent World

Mr. President, America is currently facing many consequential issues that you will be solely held accountable for. Citizens look at the future with uncertainty and skepticism because our economy is greatly suffering and we are unaware to look for answers. A new leader will present change and hopefully address the issues at hand. To begin, one of the most concerning predicament is global warming. Already the effects of it are staggering, and if drastic changes are not made soon, our world will greatly suffer. Global warming is a fairly new concern that deals with the unnatural heating of the planet due to burning fossil fuels that trap heat in the atmosphere. One of the effects is floods, storms and droughts as a result of excess water from melting oceans. In fact, global warming is so massive that if something is not done about it, we will not have a planet anymore. This particular issue is extremely important because it involves the whole world, not just the Unites States. If this is not taken control of now, the consequences are disastrous.

Some evidence of global warming is in the deep oceans. The Antarctic ice shelves are already breaking up. In 1998, A piece fell off that was the size of Connecticut on the Larsen Ice Shelf (Ross Gelbspan, “Global Warming Is a Serious Environmental Threat”). In North Korea, many suffered from malnutrition due to flash floods that destroyed crops. In 1997, heavy rains wiped out half of Bolivia’s crops. A typhoon in Vietnam caused 2,500 people dead or missing. The devastating list goes on of how global warming is already causing chaos.

Believe it or not, global warming affects health. According to “Global Warming Will Severely Harm Human Health” the stressed climates bring heat-waves and extreme winters which cause “death from stroke, various cardiovascular illnesses, heat-stroke, hypothermia and influenza” (Paul Kingsnorth). An increase in temperature will also increase the amount of insects and small creatures. They may carry “vector-borne illnesses” which can be terribly harmful. Also, a new disease called Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome (a rodent-borne disease) has recently spread. In addition, “malaria will spread from affecting 45 percent of the population, as it does today, to affecting 60 percent by the latter half of the 21^st century”.

Statistics like “40 percent of the world’s forests have been destroyed” are eye-opening and discomforting. Because we are not taking care of the world, and improperly using its natural resources, then something like global warming was bound to happen sooner or later. If this problem is not fixed quickly, continuing droughts, floods and disease will ruin the steps we take to rebuilding our economy. An economic boom will result in renewable energy sources and climate-friendly products. Living in a world that has been taken for granted affects my generation. We have to pay the consequences of neglect for so many years. We can get active in helping global warming if alternative energy sources are used, gas emissions are decreased and being aware of nature are steps taken. If we can keep our planet healthy where global warming is not longer a issue, than we have accomplished a great amount.