Global Warming to Impact NC Coast: Action Needed Now! - Essay Sample

Introduction

Due to global warming, our state and its coast are expected to take a large hit if nothing is done to change the way we treat our environment. Global warming is expected to have significant bearings on North Carolina coastal resources as ocean level increases and hurricanes become more powerful. Extensive development in the coastal zone in recent decades has put more people and property at risk for these impacts. Although Charlotte and North Carolina areas may generally have more environmental issues, the following essay specifically reviews the article Climate Crisis in North Carolina. In it, I explain the experience with the global challenge as it relates to the local problems in Charlotte and North Carolina areas. The end-goal of this article is to create a better comprehension of the issues people are dealing with in those areas.

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The earth's climate is ever changing regardless of the fact that our lives have always been connected to the climate since time immemorial. Human societies have adapted to the relatively stable climate we have enjoyed since the last ice age which ended several thousand years ago. A warming climate will bring changes that can affect our water supplies, agriculture, power and transportation systems, the natural environment, and even our own health and safety. And even with the climate changing sporadically, only natural causes cannot explain the reason or cause of all these changes. Man-made activities are also contributing factors to climate change, primarily by releasing billions of tons of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases, known as greenhouse gases, into the atmosphere every year.

The greatest environmental challenge facing Charlotte is its fast growth of the population. Environmental pollution is constantly on the rise as more people keep settling in the area. Nature's ecosystem even becomes constrained. The issue shows itself in form of increased use of the overflow of water and sewage. This water carries with it a lot of unfiltered and hazardous waste such as cigarettes, trash, among others. Moreover, the excess water and sewage eventually causes floods and soil erosion sequences. Previously forested areas in Charlotte are then forced to undergo deforestation in an attempt to create more space for affordable housing for its populace. With all these happenings, why shouldn't the contending environmental issue at hand not worsen? That is not all. Every year there are reports of both clogged and burst sewer lines in Charlotte in the already poor and failing infrastructure. This waste drains into a basin creek somewhere in the city which will then be purified to be used for human consumption and some of it is used to generate power. In my opinion, such cases pose great risk on the public health.

Non-value Added (Waste or Muda) Activities and Their Characteristics

Globally, there are a range of local problems that depict the extent that climate crisis is a serious matter. The oceans have absorbed much of this increased heat, with the top 700 meters (about 2,300 feet) of ocean showing warming of more than 0.4 degrees Fahrenheit since 1969. Global sea level risen 8 inches in the last century. The rate in the last two decades is nearly double that of the last century and is accelerating slightly every year.

An example is the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets that have decreased in mass. Data from NASA's Gravity Recovery/Climate Experiment show Greenland lost an average of 286 billion tons of ice per year between 1993 and 2016, while Antarctica lost about 127 billion tons of ice per year during the same time period. To that effect, in my opinion, I believe that carbon sequestration might be the answer to our devastating environmental issues. Carbon sequestration is the process in which carbon is captured and stored long-term as carbon dioxide. Carbon sequestration has long-term storage of carbon dioxide and other forms of carbon to defer the overall effects of global warming (Bulla, Craig & Steelman, 2017).

It is the same case for Charlotte, which is an inland state and does not have to put up with the ever-rising sea levels, climate change accompanied by destructive hurricanes and coastal floods, climate change remains a contending environmental issue in the area. The North Carolina coast is mainly exposed to sea-level escalation for numerous reasons: the land doesn't have much of a slope, meaning that even small increases in sea level result in a widespread of coastal land being flooded and lost. Besides, while sea level is rising worldwide because of climate-changing, the coastal land in this area is gradually plummeting due to tectonic forces, so the relative sea-level rise is larger here than in places where the coastline is stable or rising.

The local impact of that poses a threat to the public health sector and the economy at large (Kearney, et al, 2018). Case in point, during the recent summer, the dangerously high temperatures put everyone including children, adults, outdoor workers and even the homeless at the threat of getting heat stroke among other heat-related illness. Such hot summer and even more to come means that there more atmospheric pollution is likely. It is no surprise that Charlotte is at the verge of meeting the standard for the ground-level ozone pollution. Up until now, a large part of state has warmed in the last century or so, and the sea is continuously rising about one inch every ten years.

Higher water levels are eroding beaches, submerging low lands, exacerbating coastal flooding, and increasing the salinity of inlets and aquifers. (Kearney, et al, 2018). The effect of climate-related floods and drought will be so severe to the Carolinians that practice both commercial and subsistence farming. The reason being that the floods will drain away the farm produce and at the same time, the drought will dry them out. Evidently, a threat has been posed on the food security for many of the Charlotte and North Carolina residents (Lawson, et al, 2019).

Scientists report that as a result of the climate change in the areas, the air has become warmer enabling it to hold more water. The reports show that the atmosphere retains 7 percent more water for every degree Celsius increase in temperature. Eventually, all that water retained in the air falls down as precipitation. With the worsening changes in the climate, it is said that the rains are 50 percent worse than they would have been without the rising temperatures resulting into powerful hurricanes and storms.

The powerful rainstorms are said to continue even in the near future and while some areas in the region rain often, at the same time, others are experiencing drought for longer as due to the heavy hurricanes. As counterintuitive as it may sound, the changing weather arrangements are the real cause of drought in some areas of the same region. It explains why there is an increased number of forest fires in Charlotte and North Carolina. The forests are drying up, making them conducive to fires. Altogether, the dangerously high temperatures, the floods and drought increase the chances of infectious diseases spreading (Kearney, et al, 2018). The floods result into still-standing pools of water that encourage the breeding of mosquitoes that are carriers of life-threatening diseases such as Zika.

Apart from the deterioration of the tourism sector as a result of the climate crisis, fresh water is also at risk of contamination. With the rising levels of the sea water, the salty water potentially can mix with the fresh water aquifers and everglades (Allen, Longo & Shriver, 2018). In the event of such happenings, the salt water ends up contaminating the drinking water in North Carolina and the natural bionetworks become susceptible to this bearing. Several species of the fish and the birds depend on water from the marshlands and once these areas are polluted, their lives are endangered and cannot survive in such places for very long. The shrimps, crabs, sea trout, oysters and other aquatic animals found in river creeks are treasured food trades for Charlotte and North Carolina, thus adding on to the economic threats posed by the engorging sea levels.

The experience with global challenges helps me better understand the problems that people are facing across the world. I get to comprehend that an effort to save the city under construction, initiatives must be taken to protect the people at risk as a result of the high temperatures by setting up cooling shelters for the homeless, and provide air conditioners for the needy families to keep up with its groundwork which is worsened every other time by the adverse climate-related weather occurrences such as power grid stresses and transportations (Lawson, et al, 2019).

Reflection

I have accomplished some of the goals in this course through a lot of research and curiosity to knowing more explanation to some of the global challenges. I have developed skills related to these goals throughout the educational courses by holding discussions with other members to share views and be better at learning from what their learning. I would say it is now an important topic to me because it will affect our future generations around the world. I believe climate change has become a very controversial topic due to the political views behind it.

I anticipate applying what I have learnt in the course by teaching other people who have no knowledge of how to deal with climate change. Passing such knowledge will help know the importance of preserving the climate for the future. As I think about finishing my degree, I wish to have experienced a change among people where there are many of them ready to see positive impacts of policies towards preserving climate. I would recommend other students to join hands in availing knowledge to those who do not yet have it and supporting preservation of climate.

References

Bulla, B. R., Craig, E. A., & Steelman, T. A. (2017). Climate change and adaptive decision making: Responses from North Carolina coastal officials. Ocean & Coastal Management, 135, 25-33.

Kearney, G. D., Jones, K., Bell, R. A., Swinker, M., & Allen, T. R. (2018). Climate change and public health through the lens of rural, eastern North Carolina. North Carolina medical journal, 79(5), 270-277.

Lawson, D. F., Stevenson, K. T., Peterson, M. N., Carrier, S. J., Seekamp, E., & Strnad, R. (2019). Evaluating climate change behaviors and concern in the family context. Environmental Education Research, 25(5), 678-690.

Allen, J. S., Longo, S. B., & Shriver, T. E. (2018). Politics, the state, and sea level rise: The treadmill of production and structural selectivity in North Carolina's coastal resource commission. The Sociological Quarterly, 59(2), 320-337.

White, M. C. (2019). Is there a solution to climate change? East Carolina University.