The Change in Climate; Little Did You Know It Was You

By Nova Deitering

We are gifted with the lands of deserts, oceans, lakes, rivers, streams, mountains, valleys and forests that cover millions of acres. However, we often find ourselves mining and scraping the earth, polluting it with our cars and machines. Yet we then think back to many quotes such as this one; “There is only one Earth and we must work together to protect her”, said by Dylan McKeon. If this is our only Earth then we must protect her. Why, each day, do we put 96 million barrels of oil world-wide into our vehicles? That comes out as pollution and on top of that, 14 billion pounds of garbage is dumped into the ocean, every year. For every 1 million barrels of oil shipped around the world, 1 ton of that oil is spilled, whether that is in the oceans or streets. Not only does this affect us, it affects all of those animals within a one mile radius of oil spills, and garbage dumps at minimum. Not only does oil pollute when burning off in your car engine, it also pollutes when mining and drilling it from the ocean. Recent studies have shown that when drilling oil, some oil misses the pipe that pulls the oil up above sea level. Then the oil goes off to just float and stay in the ocean. This is harmful for many things such as the animals in a one mile radius, the air, which also gets polluted, and our beautiful oceans. Not only that, it also shakes the ground underneath the oceans, and causes unnatural trenches. So if oil is so bad for climate change, what keeps the oil industry alive? YOU! You may not see it right away, but it actually is you. When you drive your car, you need gas. Gas has oil in it. Of course, you have to pay for that gas. On average 2 to 3 dollars per gallon, depending on where you live, that money then goes to many people, such as a refinery where the oil is turned to gas. Next the refinery sends some of that money to oil companies. So then think about this; it all started with you getting gas once a week every morning. What are some ways that you can help with climate change? There are many options. Some that cost $0 dollars, to others that cost $50,000 dollars. If you are not interested in buying an electric car, you can turn off your lights once you leave the room to save energy. You can bike or walk somewhere instead of driving. Take the bus instead of your own car, and/or carpool. We need to save our planet, our animals, oceans, streams, rivers, lakes, deserts, mountains, valleys, canyons, and forests. For if we don’t, there will be a day where we wake up and there is nothing but a black sky and pavement.