Climate Change

Climate change is the most important thing for us to address in the situation involving wildlife conservation. If we do not begin efforts to clean up our act then the wildlife around us will be the first to suffer follow by humans. Every living being is interconnected to one another whether we want them to be or not, we all rely on each other. The grass growing in the backyard of your home feeds a rabbit, who later feeds a wolf and it's family. If one of these in the chain disappears the other suffers for it. Areas that were once lush with life are now starting to become barren and uninhabitable for the animals that call them home. It is becoming a harsh reality that the balance of nature is spiraling out of control. If it continues entire species will be wiped off the face of the earth which in turn will cause others to follow with it.

But how does climate change affect this and what is some of the evidence of it happening? Over the past 50 years a trend of increasing carbon dioxide levels has caused our o-zone layer (the protective shielding that protects us from harmful UV rays from the sun) to become breaking down and disappearing.

                                         Chart found on:https://climate.nasa.gov/evidence/

The chart above shows how carbon dioxide levels have increased dramatically since the 1950's.Shows how carbon dioxide levels have been at an all-time high since the 50's. This is mainly due to the fossil fuel and coal companies who use factories to burn extremely high levels of the gas into the atmosphere which in turn causes it to evaporate. In turn, with the o-zone layer evaporating, the temperatures on our planet have begun to rise. Areas that were once cold like Antarctica have begun to melt. Polar ice caps are melting at an alarming rate which is causing another issue, rising sea levels. If the caps continue to melt much of the world we use to know will be sunk under an ocean of water.

This map shows what could happen to North America if the ice caps are left to melt. (Source: http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2013/09/an-interactive-map-of-rising-sea-levels.html#.WKxgCDsrLIU)
As you can see Florida and many other areas will cease to exist. Not only will it affect us at home but the animals that call Antarctica their home, polar bears, seals, penguins and other wildlife will either have to find new homes or most likely will die out. These species are at home in the arctic and thrive there off each other and the rare animals that inhabit it. If one ceases to the exist the others will also die out.

One final issue I will talk about is the acidification of oceans. Since the industrial revolution we as humans have put a lot of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. In turn this has caused a 30% increase in ocean acidity on the surface. Fish and other mammals that inhabit the oceans are being killed by rising ocean acidity levels. Fish are an important part of our society as we use them for food and other medicinal purposes like fish oil, which has omega-3's used to treat heart disease. Without our oceans and the fish who inhabit them we will have to find new ways to combat these problems.