Over the past 10 years, Alaskan wildfires have grown more intense. They last longer and burn bigger, destroying precious habitats. Who's to blame? According to the New York Times the culprit is none other than global warming. The fires are burning deeper into the soil and have begun igniting the peat, which acts as a carbon sink. When the peat burns, it releases massive amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere. Nearly twice as much carbon dioxide has been released by wildfires as a result. Another issue that will arise is that the peat can no longer act as a carbon sink if it is gone. All across the globe, the amount of CO2 in our atmosphere is equally stored in the peat of soil. We need to reduce our carbon use so not as much is reaching the atmosphere. The problem with this solution is that many people are stubborn and are adamant about not changing their lifestyles.
Americans will not change their way of life because we have gotten so lazy. All of this carbon that is being released into the atomosphere causing bad air quality. The alaskan fires prove that global warming is real and will affect us in future generations.
ReplyDeleteThis is just frustrating to look at because like Mr. LaFave said, unless something direct affects people instantly the usually don’t care enough to do something. It's not fair to the rest of us; there are so many different ways to help. I agree with Kelly that people are stubborn, and I would go as far as to say that if we were all (especially Americans) were more open minded about these sort of things, perhaps the world would be a better place.
ReplyDeleteI agree that we all read this and see how terrible it is and everyone thinks to themselves that they really need to change. But then, most of us never do. I think people need to be more informed of the simple things we can do to prevent things like this happening in the futute. I know at least for me I didnt know most of the simple ways to help the environment, besides recycling, before this class.
ReplyDeletePeople need to stop and realize the effects that their actions have on the environment. This is also a scary thought that global warming is igniting fires around the country. We need to slow our carbon emissions drastically. What's next? Are we going to start spontaneously combusting?
ReplyDeleteWow. This disgusts me. How can people just sit back and not want to try and stop global warming? It's ridiculous. Do you know if there is anything that people can do to help this? or is it just something we have to wait for it to end..? I agree with Stephen, if people were more open minded about these problems instead of denying their existence, more help could be done.
ReplyDeleteGlobal Warming is a scary issues. Habitats are being destroyed, We need to do our part for this. Its really an issue
ReplyDeleteThis really is a horrible issue over all. The New York Times should also blame the people that live on this planet because we are the ones that are letting the CO2 into our atmosphere and its causing these horrible fires in a beautiful land. The United States really needs to come up with a plan that will help this issue out and try their hardest to convince the American people.
ReplyDeleteThere's nothing more they can really do than try to control the fires to the best of their abilities. The trouble is that the fires are so much more intense than normal. The only thing to do is lower CO2 emissions and make people aware.
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