Climate change, also known as global warming, is the long term rise of the average temperature of the Earth's climate system. This is caused by greenhouse gases, which have been increasing exponentially in the past century. Carbon dioxide, which comes from the burning of oil, coal, or natural gases, is the primary cause of global warming. Every time we use electricity, we are basically emitting more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Human activities are changing the natural greenhouse that Earth is. What is supposed to happen is after sunlight reaches Earth, some of the energy is reflected back to space but, because of excess of greenhouse gases, most of the extra heat is absorbed or reflected back to Earth.

In addition, the ozone layer is becoming thinner. It's like a filter; it makes sure that the dangerous energy or radiation from the sun does not reach the Earth (or at least very little reaches the Earth). Because of chemicals called chlorofluorocarbons, which are used mostly in plastics and refrigerants, the molecules in the ozone layer are slowly getting destroyed. The thinning ozone layer is another reason why the climate is getting hotter.

Another thing that affects climate change is also caused by it. The ice at the geographic poles of the Earth is melting. Ice and snow is white in color and helps reflect extra heat back into space. Since the ice caps are getting smaller, there is a smaller surface that can help reflect heat.

There is so much garbage in the ocean. According to oceanconservacy.org, there are around 150 million tons of garbage in the oceans. That's 30 million more tons than the weight of the total estimated number of cars in the US (if one car weighs one ton). Most of the garbage is plastic items because plastic takes about 1,000 years to decompose. Even if there doesn't seem like there is plastic in the ocean, there are micro-plastics which can be eaten by fish and end up in your stomach. Also, if you enjoy eating fish, it is estimated that by 2050, there will be more plastic than fish.

One reason that plastic is harmful to the environment is, as I mentioned already, organisms might eat them and choke. Countless of sea turtles have eaten plastic bags, which look like jellyfish, and choke and died. Even more seafaring birds have starved to death because they can't fly with the amount of plastic they have eaten. It is estimated that nine out of ten birds in the world have ingested some form of plastic and most of it comes from fish eating plastic. Even more creatures also die from plastic entanglement. People have found over 100,000 dead sea creatures stuck in plastic. Plastic is a huge problem in the marine ecosystem that seems like it's everywhere.

Oil and runoff is another problem. When diving birds have oil on their wings, it gets rid of the waterproof quality on their feathers and they won't be able to fly anymore. This will eventually lead them to starve to death. Oil also affects mammals, fish, and shellfish. Runoff brings harmful chemicals from the city or fertilizers or scat from farms and carries it to sea. The chemicals poison parts the ocean and the farm residue helps algae growth. Too much algae growth will upset the balance of the food chain and may cause coral bleaching.