After nine grueling days, on Oct. 16, 2018, Hurricane Michael ceased its destruction of the Florida Panhandle. Hurricane Michael was the strongest storm to ever make landfall in Florida, reaching wind speeds of 180 miles per hour.
Over the past few years, there has been a noticeable uptick in strong hurricanes such as Hurricane Michael, including Hurricanes Irma last year and Katrina in 2005. Why is this?
Since the Industrial Revolution, humans have been mass producing objects. This has opened up a whole new field of labor and products, but it has also marked the beginning of the unbalance of greenhouse gases. Greenhouse gases are any gas that contributes to the greenhouse effect.
“The greenhouse effect is a natural process that warms the Earth’s surface. When the Sun’s energy reaches the Earth’s atmosphere, some of it is reflected back to space and the rest is absorbed and re-radiated by greenhouse gases,” according to the Department of the Environment and Energy of Australia. As humans add more greenhouse gases to the air, they increase the total potential chemical energy that can be held in the air, making the blanket thicker every day.
Since the 1950 ’s, there has been a sharp increase in greenhouse gas emissions. Many products from that era endure for years, such as microwaves and refrigerators, lasting upwards of 20 years. Another product from that era that was sturdier and more dependable that parts these days were cars.
One common cooling element in many cars and refrigerators from the 50’s were chlorofluorocarbon cooling coils. They utilized the aforementioned particles to cool down something quickly, faster than cars nowadays. Scientists eventually found out that chlorofluorocarbons were detrimental greenhouse gases and as such, they were no longer legal to use. This is why many people have come to believe that “things aren’t made like they used to be.”
Despite the decrease in more obvious and preventable greenhouse gas emissions, the overall effect has increased. According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, “Human activities are altering the carbon cycle–both by adding more CO2 to the atmosphere and by influencing the ability of natural sinks, like forests, to remove CO2 from the atmosphere.” With electricity and transportation accounting for 68 percent of carbon emissions and the increase in demand for each due to population increase, carbon emissions have skyrocketed.
Many claim that climate change is merely a hoax, but senior and member of Pleasant Valley’s Environmental Club Solange Bulger thinks otherwise. “We live in a generally less informed part of the United States. Some people justify climate change with another warming of Earth, but if that was so right now the Earth is warming up at about ten times the rate of warming at the end of the ice age.” Earth science teacher Zachary Marotta also commented on the issue, “The biggest thing people can do it to get educated and actually do things.”
