I just finished watching an amazing documentary called How to Let Go of the World and Love All the Things Climate Can’t Change by Josh Fox. This was not your usual documentary, it was made by average people like you and me who were only trying to understand the awkward climate situation we have found ourselves to be in. I was so moved by it. Climate Change has been singled out by scientists and politicians alike as the number one threat to human existence. Although the threat is real the world seems to be dragging its feet on the subject of what should be done about it. This indecision is hurting the world. People are watching our leader’s inaction and thinking that Climate Change is not something they should worry about. If our leaders don’t care, then why should we? Well here are a few reasons you should.

1. Warmer Seas Equal Bigger Storms. We all remember that fateful October in 2012 when the northeastern coast of the United States was hit by the largest Hurricane ever documented in the Atlantic Ocean. Hurricane Sandy was a monster who left nothing in her wake. Since then Monster storms have become just another normal factor in our daily lives. The years following Sandy the Midwestern states have been hit continuously with awful storms, producing unimaginable amounts of powerful tornados, and creating floods that left millions homeless. Just last week in the South China Sea the biggest cyclone in recorded history made landfall on the Island nation of Taiwan. Each year the storms only get worse as more and more of our icecaps melt.

2. The endless heat wave, and change in temperature patterns. If you have even once stepped outside this summer then you know from experience just how hot it is. Living in a western nation where air-conditioning is everywhere the heat doesn't seem that noticeable. Sadly that isn't the case in many other nations around the world. The heat is deadly. In the past two years we have seen epidemics spread faster than they ever have before, Ebola and Zika being the two that had the most attention. It isn't just human based diseases, but plant ones also. It is a commonly known fact that the cold kills almost everything. Well in the past few years we have had only one really cold winter. This is nice for us southerners who don’t like the cold too much, but it’s bad for everyone else because parasites and bacteria are surviving the short frosts. Insects that carry disease such as Zika are traveling farther before reaching an area too cold to survive in. Plant parasites are moving north and destroying the forests that have always been there. If the trees die, then the entire ecosystem that we thrive on will follow shortly.

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3. The Climate wars have already begun. Can you imagine waking up one day and realizing it hasn't rained in a very long time? The next day you do the same, and the day after until five years have gone by with not a single drop of rain to be had. This is the reality facing many people in Syria. They are experiencing the longest drought in their recorded history. Resources are scarce, and have been so for quite some time now. The rain has been gone for five years, and the country has been in civil unrest since then. The desperation of these people made Syria the perfect breeding ground for what in now understood to be the worst terrorist group to be created. So many countries and cities close to home have been attacked by them, Orlando being the once that hit us in America the hardest. Wars are also breaking out in Africa over access to vital rivers. The conflicts have gotten so bad that people have been fleeing their homes, creating the largest refuge migration since the discovery of the new world. These people are fleeing to western nations, to our nation, in the belief that we can keep them safe. The issue with this logic is that we are the ones fueling Climate Change, and we are also the one mostly ignoring it.

4. Your favorite vacation spot is slowly sinking. Scientist are predicting that by the year 2036 the sea levels will rise by seven meters…in other words bye bye Florida, Fiji, Venice and so many more beautiful places. Many Islands in the Pacific Ocean have already started losing land to the sea. The Marshall Islands for example have refugees moving inland after their ancestral homelands were taken by rising sea levels. Can you imagine never once being able to return to you home because it no longer exists? If you live in or near a coastal city then this is a fear you must bear because at this point the seven meter rise will irreversible by this time next year unless we do something about it. If you don’t live near a coastal city, then think of all the adventures you are being robbed of. The greatest cities in the world are on the coast, and if nothing is done to save them then our own greatness might just be taken away with them.

5.The pollution we create is slowly killing all the life on the planet. We are slowly poisoning the most beautiful creation in the entire Universe. In the past few years there have been three major oil spill in the ocean. The first was the Spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the Next over the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, and the third in the part of Brazil where the Amazon river meets the Atlantic Ocean. Oil spills devastate the environment. They kill a countless number of animals, and poison those who survive. The Amazon is also being chopped down one acre at a time. The one place on earth with the most diverse and unique ecosystem is being destroyed because it is more profitable that way. The way this effects the climate is that trees breath in Carbon Dioxide, which happens to be the largest emissiond gas that we release into our atmosphere. The less trees there are to filter the air, the worse the pollution will get. We will be living in a world eerily reminiscent of the Dr. Seuss book The Lorax, where fresh air is a luxury you will have to buy. In 2008 there was a large earthquake that rocked the shores of Japan, destroying everything within sight. Fukashima, the nuclear power plant had a melt down and began to leak radioactive materials into the ocean. They stopped the meltdown but failed to stop the radiation from leaking into to the ocean. It is still occurring to this day. There was a study done that shows that fish caught in the Pacific Ocean were indeed beginning to show the signs of radiation poisoning. These fish are still being caught and sold to consumers around the world. Lets also not forget about the constant coal burning, and smog producing activities that each and everyone of us have been guilty of doing. Our mind numbing ignorance to all we have done is heartbreaking. We only have this one planet, and when our capacity to live on it is gone we will have nothing left but regret.

Our world is dying as a direct result of what we are doing, and news flash: we are dying with it. I know how overwhelming this can all seem but there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Although we might not be able to reverse climate change completely, we still have a chance to save this planet and all those who call it home. Use alternate energies, carpool when you can, plant a tree, don’t buy anything produced in major coal producing countries (ex. China), don’t buy anything that comes from deforestation (ex. palm oil), and fight every day for your right to clean a planet you can live on. Be the change you want to see in the world, because if we want things to change then we need to be the ones doing the changing.