M12.9 Blog: Climate Change

1.    What do you personally find most troubling about climate change?

Global warming is affecting our planet every single day. Glaciers are melting at a rapid rate, rivers are shrinking, and fires are starting from such dry temperatures. What I find most troubling about global warming is the future effect it will have. This is upsetting to me because I have to fear how my children and grandchildren will be spending their life on Earth. Should global warming continue, the temperatures will keep rising. It is estimated to increase each year by an average of 2 degrees Celsius. This will result in more heat waves and wild fires that are beyond anyone’s control. When the temperature rises, it means that the oceans floor gets warmer. This will result in hurricanes and heavier winds. It can also result in heavier storm surges and flooding.

2.    As a public health professional, what do you think needs the greatest attention right now?

Something that I feel needs such great attention at the moment are all of the wild fires in California. The campfire in Northern California has now spread to 130,000 acres and only 35 percent of it is contained. 48 bodies have been found dead while 228 are unaccounted. This fire has destroyed 8,817 homes. In addition to this fire, there also is one in Los Angeles. The Woolsey Fire has burned 97,114 acres while being 40 percent contained. This fire has destroyed many mansions, beach homes, track homes, and ranches in the Ventura County. Knowing that a state I have been born and raised in is suffering so brutally is absolutely devastating.  

If you were visiting with a long-lost relative who had never heard about climate change, how would you describe it and its attendant human health and ecological threat?

One way I would describe climate change to my long-lost relative would be when the planets climate is always switching between different temperatures. As years are increasing, our summers keep extending. Since climate change causes extreme cases of the weather, there has been a shocking increase in natural disasters. There has been a 30 percent increase across the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans with a combined of 23 different storms. In the last 2 years, Hurricanes West, Irma, Katie, Harvey, and Maria devastated the Caribbean lands and Florida.