By Ana Barajas
On November 5th, 2009, two students from Willamette University (Peter and Keiko) came to Waldo Middle School to teach students about how Global Warming is affecting places they have lived or been to. Mr. Jones' 12th period Language Arts class and Ms. Sasaki's 12th period Language Arts class met in the school library to watch the students' presentations. Students learned several things about how Ecuador and Japan are affected by Global Warming. Most of the information that was told is explained below. The point of the presentations was to let Waldo students know how certain places are affected by something that can easily be spread across the world.
WHAT IS GLOBAL WARMING?
Global warming is when the earth heats up (the temperature rises). It happens when greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide, water vapor, nitrous oxide, and methane) trap heat and light from the sun in the earth's atmosphere, which increases the temperature. This hurts many people, animals, and plants. Many cannot take the change, so they die.
WHAT IS THE GREENHOUSE EFFECT?
The greenhouse effect is when the temperature rises because the sun's heat and light is trapped in the earth's atmosphere. It's kinda like when heat is trapped in a car. On a very hot day, the car gets hotter when it is out in the parking lot. This is because the heat and light from the sun can get into the car, by going through the windows, but it can't get back out. This is what the greenhouse effect does to the earth. The heat and light can get through the atmosphere, but it can't get out. Therefore, the temperature rises.
WHAT CAN IT DO?
In the future, it can cause water shortages, flooding, large-scale food, bad effects on wildlife, and increase of deaths.
Information supporting this from research:
* Average temperatures have gotten to 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit (0.8 degree Celsius) around the world since 1880, according to NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies.
* The rate of warming is increasing. The 20th century's last two decades were the hottest in 400 years and possibly the warmest for several millennia, according to a number of climate studies taken. And the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports that 11 of the past 12 years are among the dozen warmest since 1850.
* The Arctic is dealing with the effects the most. Average temperatures in Alaska, western Canada, and eastern Russia have risen at twice the global average, according to the multinational Arctic Climate Impact Assessment report gathered between 2000 and 2004.
* Arctic ice is rapidly disappearing, and the region may have its first ice-free summer by 2040, or earlier. Polar Bears and Indigenous cultures are already suffering from the sea-ice loss.
* Glaciers are melting commonly--for example, Montana's Glacier National Park now has only 27 glaciers, compared to 150 in 1910. In the Northern Hemisphere, ice is thawing a week earlier in spring and freezing begins a week later.
* Coral reefs, which are really sensitive to small changes in water temperature, suffered the worst "bleaching" recorded in 1998, with some areas seeing bleach rates of 70%. Experts expect these sorts of events to increase in frequency and intensity in the next 50 years as the sea temperatures rise.
* An upsurge in the amount of extreme weather events, such as wildfires, heat waves, and strong tropical storms, is also attributed in part to climate change by some experts.
HOW DOES IT AFFECT JAPAN'S AGRICULTURE?
Global Warming will seriously affect Japan's agriculture. Some species of agricultural crops will be adversely affected by higher temperatures, increased number of weeds and harmful insects. This could possibly lead to global food shortages.
Global Warming is messing up the production of rice, the country's stable food, and wheat. Even though rice harvests are expected to increase in the Hokkaido and Tohoku regions, wheat production is likely to decrease in all regions. It is also possible that global warming will trigger frequent natural disasters, including accelerated activity of weeds and harmful insects, allowing harmful insects from the tropical and subtropical zones to spread to the temperate zone and damage harvests.
HOW DOES IT AFFECT JAPAN'S PEOPLE?
Climatic change affects human health in many different ways, which most are adverse; it is anticipated that climatic change will lead to the loss of many lives. Direct causes of death will include incredible heat waves and diseases. Indirect causes will include expanded geographical sphere of activity of organisms carrying contagious diseases, and their extended period of activity, resulting in an increase in contagious diseases, including malaria, dengue fever and yellow fever. Higher atmospheric temperatures and more frequent flooding are expected to result in higher rates of salmonella poisoning and cholera.
The negative impact of hot summer weather on the elderly is also worrisome. It is reported that the death rate increases, especially among those who are 65 and above, when the daily maximum temperature exceeds 33 . Very young children are affected by Global Warming, too.
HOW DOES IT AFFECT JAPAN'S NATIVE ANIMALS AND PLANTS?
Global warming will cause animals and plants to change their habitats to more northern and mountainous areas. It is anticipated that some will become extinct if they can't migrate due to topographical obstacles, urbanization or habitat changes much slower than climatic changes. It is predicted that alpine flora growing near mountain summits will become extinct, and that many beech forests will disappear and be replaced by oak forests, which are widely distributed in warm regions. As a result, not only wild animals that live in or eat these trees, but also fruit cultivation and forestry will be seriously affected. Protected zones of flora and fauna demarcated by today's environmental conditions will become inappropriate following climatic changes, and can even increase extinction.
HOW DOES IT AFFECT JAPAN'S CITIES?
Even though winter heating consumption will be decreased due to Global Warming, it will increase during the summer for air conditioning. Water and energy use for cooling will largely increase.
HOW DOES IT AFFECT ECUADOR'S AGRICULTURE?
• The agricultural sector can play a large role in water and forest conservation. A major source of deforestation in Ecuador is the clearing of forests to plant monocultures such as corn or cotton, which are also energy and water intensive crops.
• An example of a viable option is sustainably growing coffee. Coffee is a high-value crop with a global market. Sustainable coffee agriculture requires only the removal of the lower level of plants on the tropical or temperate forest floor, replacing these with coffee bushes.
• Ecuador faces tough challenges due to climate change and global warming. The most immediate threat is the loss of adequate water supplies for drinking, irrigation, and hydroelectric power. The loss of water for agriculture poses another risk to the country as it threatens national food security.
HOW DOES IT AFFECT ECUADOR'S ANIMALS AND PLANTS?
• Climate change could endanger the unique wildlife of the Galapagos Islands, and scientists are trying to figure out how to protect vulnerable species
• The volcanic archipelago, about 600 miles west of the Ecuadorean coast, is home to scores of "endemic" species that closely depend on one another for survival.
• The coral reefs create a habitat; they are like a forest, like the Amazon. They are home to scores of species. ... If the corals die they lose thousands of species that are associated to the coral.
HOW DOES IT AFFECT ECUADOR'S CITIES?
It could threaten the drinking water supply to Ecuador's main cities such as capital Quito, which depends on snow-covered mountains for 80 percent of its water source.
If everyone knows how to help the earth and indeed help break down global warming's negative effects, it can benefit everyone, even saving places from what could be done by global warming if not stopped. As you might know, we import many things from different cities, countries, and continents. If global warming is not stopped in its tracks, it will do more damage to the import-export cycle than it is doing now. Other things can happen if everyone does not contribute, but it all comes down to the biggest fear: death.
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