I am doing research about heat waves. Their impacts are droughts, forest fires. Destroying forests do worsen the climate crisis. This country is critically impacted by this crisis ranging from excessive and oppressive heat waves that are causing horrendous forest fires. One example is in California. The Golden state has long suffered chronic forest fires caused by heat waves. Furthermore, this year, 2022, the Golden state has suffered one of the worst droughts in history. The biggest impacts of climate change in California are pretty much forest fires and drought.
Heat waves caused by climate change affects agriculture drastically. In parts of China, the scorching heat was so bad that the plants wilted and the soil cracked up. As a result, this led to the inflation of goods and other produce. Also, as a Communist nation, Chinese residents stayed underground in order to stay cook. Back in July 2022, Chinese healthcare workers had to still work around the clock to knock out COVID completely even during a brutal heat wave. It was so tormenting that some of the healthcare workers ended up passing out and had to be taken to the emergency room. That’s not even the most revolting part. Their Hazmat suits were literally pooling with sweat.
However, the only good thing about a heat wave is that people can flock to the beaches to stay cool and get a nice suntan. Though my major is Hospitality Management, I still think that this is important, especially for daily life.
The key solution to climate change would be greener buildings. Though I like the idea of electric vehicles, I know for sure it will take some time to build more charging stations and such. If we have eco-friendly buildings, then it would reduce stress on the power grid significantly. The global pandemics and climate change do affect each other.
Heat waves mean more use of air conditioning which consumes high energy. When excessive air conditioning is used, it causes the power grid to wear out over time, thus resulting into horrendous blackouts for days, or even months. What people ought to do is to reduce their use of electricity used for lights and other appliances. Also, try to use light proof shades to prevent sunlight in the house for a more effective air conditioning system. Most importantly, do conserve water usage especially during prolonged droughts.
Back when Joe Biden was elected as the 46th president, he vowed to rejoin the Paris Climate change agreement. America also vowed to get all fossil fuel powered vehicles replaced with 100% electric vehicles by 2050. This happened to be the main goal. Based on Reuters website, “Newly-sworn-in U.S. President Joe Biden has pledged to accelerate the development of carbon capture technology as part of his sweeping plan to tackle climate change. On Thursday, he named Jennifer Wilcox, an expert in carbon removal technologies, as the principal deputy assistant secretary for fossil energy at the U.S. Department of Energy.”
Although heat waves are having a devastating impact worldwide, there are more tangible ways for the average person to help slow the impacts of climate change. One of the easiest and most effective way to slow climate change is to reduce litter and waste.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency solid waste contributes directly to greenhouse gas emissions through the generation of methane from decaying waste in landfills as well as nitrous oxide emissions from solid waste combustion facilities.
This is a super chronic problem. So, the most effective way is to reduce waste and stop the littering.
Finally, I think the climate change legislation passed by Congress in August 2022 will not impact climate change substantially yet. The White House signed the “Inflation Reduction Act”, not really taking too much action on the climate crisis. This is because it’ll take at least a couple of decades to help reduce the impacts of climate change. According to CNN Politics, “It will raise over $700 billion in government revenue over 10 years and spend over $430 billion to reduce carbon emissions and extend subsidies for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act and use the rest of the new revenue to reduce the deficit”. Like, it would be unrealistic to completely stop climate change the same way we can’t achieve the “Zero-COVID strategy” especially since the Omicron variant is quite contagious. More really needs to be done by first reducing waste and litter.
Works Cited
Thomson Reuters. (2021, January 22). Elon Musk to offer $100 million prize for ‘best’ carbon capture tech. Reuters. Retrieved October 18, 2022, from https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-musk-carbon-capture/elon-musk-to-offer-100-million-prize-for-best-carbon-capture-tech-idUSKBN29R024
Vazquez, M., & Judd, D. (2022, August 17). Biden signs inflation reduction act into law | CNN politics. CNN. Retrieved October 18, 2022, from https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/16/politics/biden-inflation-reduction-act-signing
