COVID-19 is deadly, scary, and it is a global crisis. I can't even go into depth about it because it's really sad. People are passing away and it's devastating. The economy is really struggling right now. Everyone is struggling with COVID-19 in different ways (social isolation, loss of jobs, having their non-essential medical procedures postponed, and more). This article is not trying to diminish how awful this current situation is.

But climate change is much worse than COVID-19... And we've done nothing substantial to stop it yet.

I know that's a really controversial thing to say, but it's true. Based on facts from scientists and from experts in the World Health Organization, I believe climate change will be more deadly and more scary than COVID-19. I am especially scared about climate change because no substantial measures have been taken on a global scale to stop this looming problem.

You probably already know fact-wise how bad climate change is. Emissions of fossil fuels since the Industrial Revolution have caused our world to be warmer by inserting a lot of carbon dioxide into the earth's atmosphere. Climate change is causing the world to be warmer, which in turn causes sea-levels to rise, excessive heat waves, and for superstorms to become our new normal.

Climate change is already prematurely killing a predicted 4.6 million people every year from respiratory difficulties directly linked to air pollution. This is a fact from the World Health Organization. And air pollution is caused by excessive greenhouse emissions from cars and other human activities.

Climate change is a human-created problem with dire consequences the world is already experiencing.

The World Health Organization has more information about how deadly and scary the climate change crisis will be in the next 50 to 75 years. One example is that the World Health Organization predicts between 2030 and 2050, climate change is "expected to cause approximately 250,000 additional deaths per year, from malnutrition, malaria, diarrhea and heat stress."

That's one of the main reasons why I think we need to take climate change more seriously. Deaths will happen on a large scale. The animal kingdom is already experiencing a lot of death - did you know the world is experiencing its sixth mass extinction right now? The world is losing its biodiversity due to climate change. Did you know that also affects the economy and how food grows? ALSO forest fires and floods cause human and animal deaths, too.

But the majority of humanity isn't worried about the dire consequences of climate change because we think we have plenty of time to fix it.

Perhaps, if more media covered the climate crisis like a dangerous disease, governments would take it just as seriously as this pandemic needed to be taken."

- quote from the Ecosia video "Why Coronavirus won't save the environment"

I personally think we have been misled into being relaxed about the climate change crisis, just like how Americans were misled into thinking COVID-19 wasn't going to impact us like it impacted China.

We really don't want to be wrong about how we address climate change.

Many scientists predict we have until the end of the decade - until 2030 - to dramatically change our activities and offset the worst consequences of climate change.

The United States of America burns the second highest amount of fossil fuels out of all the countries in the world.

Since America contributes a lot to climate change by burning so many fossil fuels, America needs to lead the charge in transitioning to clean energy sources instead of relying on fossil fuels (oil, coal, natural gas).

How you can help solve the climate change crisis:

1. Educate yourselves about this crisis.

Learn how scientists suggest we fix it. Learn who is leading the battle cry for real climate change reforms, like these 19 youth activists.

2. Actually care about climate change.

Our planet is our ONLY home. Look up a documentary or check out NASA pictures to remember how beautiful our world is. Then watch a video of the Amazon forests being cut down, Australia's wildfire situation, Superstorms in India, and/or how ocean levels rising will submerge parts of NYC, parts of Florida, parts of California AND MORE COOL CITIES in the future. Imagine never seeing these places again because the world decided it wanted to keep supporting fossil fuels instead of clean energy.

3. Take action steps.

A) Talk to people you know about this. Encourage them to be advocates for real change, too.

B) Call your local representatives about climate change and what you want the government to do. Use this link to find your elected officials.

If things are never going to be the same again after COVID-19, why not make it a better world?

There are no good excuses anymore. If we can stop the world to fight COVID-19, which is a very real and deadly threat, then we can stop the world to actually stop the climate change crisis before it is too late.

I consider climate change a real and deadly threat worth addressing ASAP, don't you?

Actually care. Be an advocate for a better future.