Our biggest challenge- Climate change

Here is a writing text using the LEER structure that we did as a class.

L- Lead sentence

E- Explain 

E- Example

R- Relevance

 Our biggest challenge

One miserable aspect of cc is global warming.Greenhouse gases get trapped in the atmosphere causing the global temperature to rise. Carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide are the three main greenhouse gases that pollute our world.Solar energy heat/light gets trapped in the atmosphere - this is the natural process of global warming. Humans are making this global warming process worse by emitting lots of greenhouse gases from factories. Global temperatures are rising - causing the melting of glaciers in Antarctica and more natural disasters. In the 1800’s, humans began the industrial revolution, resulting in many factories being built all over the world, these factories being built all over the world, these factories emitting carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. Humans rely on factories and transport (E.g. cars, buses) which all burns fossil fuels. In the last century, the global temperature has risen by 1*C. There are lots of human actions that are increasing global warming, which need to be stopped before we get to the point of no return.     

Another devastating component of climate change is deforestation.

Deforestation is caused when trees such as confires are milled for temper. When forests are culled less oxygen is produced (as less trees exist) and more carbon dioxide (CO2) is absorbed. This excess CO2 is then released into the atmosphere contributing to the greenhouse effect. A famous example of deforestation is the culling of trees in the Amazon rainforest. The amazon rainforest is the biggest in the world, home to 390 billion trees. People are cutting the native trees to plant palm oil and other food sources. The immediate result of this is that animals' habitat is destroyed. The plight of the orangutan is known around the world. They are a symbol of fighting against climate change. The longer term effect is that certain species have become endangered and even extinct. Damage to the land caused by agriculture is often permanent. Saving the rainforest would help minimise the long term impact of global warming.

A third factor contributing to climate change is agriculture. Agriculture is farming with animals. Cows produce a lot of methane through farting and belching which is a greenhouse gas. Agriculture requires huge amounts of land which could be used for forests/rainforests and as habitats for native species. Another damaging part of agriculture is the damage done to local waterways (E.g. rivers and streams) through the fecal matter and urine of those animals. The water gets polluted and fish who live there die. In New Zealand, there are 26.6 million sheep and 10.1 million cattle. If people ate less meat, we wouldn’t need so much land for agriculture and we wouldn’t be damaging local waterways as well.

Global warming is causing rising sea levels through the melting of the arctic and antarctica. The largest concentration of ice on the earth is in the Arctic ( Northern Hemisphere ) and Antarctica ( Southern Hemisphere). These places have glaciers and ice sheets which hol vast amounts of water. Ice sheets are massive flat platforms that move on ice, glaciers form over land.   A small island in the pacific which is directly impacted is Kiribati. Kiribati is a low-lying island experiencing unprecedented levels of flooding, high tides and coastal erosion. Kiribati is trying to save their island by building new sea levels out of coral. Kiribati citizens are now becoming climate change refugees- seeking asylum in neighborhooding countries such as Australia and New Zealand. Kiribati land, culture and native wildlife will be lost forever. While a global warming seems like a big picture problem, for the people of Kiribati, it is a matter of life death.

There are many actions that can be taken to reduce the impact of climate change. Some of these can be done by individual people, such as not using plastic bags, putting your rubbish in the bin and recycling any plastics you use. Actions that every community should take is to have lots of rubbish bins available, plant lots of trees and native bushlands, use wind farms and solar panels where you can. At a national level, actions New Zealand can take are planting more trees, conservation programmes for native species, introducing laws and policies that limit overfishing and monitors the deforestation of native timbers. Both individuals and countries should be responsible for the rubbish they let into their oceans and waterways. Every country should actively be trying to increase of bees they have  in their land. The biggest change would be globally, companies stopped burning fossil fuels as this would minimize the greenhouse gases that are entering the atmosphere. One scientific study found that only 100 companies are responsible for 71% of the worlds carbon emissions. There are four petrol companies (Exxonmobil, Shell, BP and Chevron) that are the highest emitters in the world. Another thing consumers can look for is what products they buy-some products use palm oil which is the reason for a lot a of deforestation. People should buy palm-oil free products. There are lots of ways both individuals, groups and governments can make a difference to reducing climate change.

In conclusion, climate change is a terrible problem that is the #1 concern facing our planet. If we do not take the actions discussed, within a century our planet will have irreversible damage and our children and grandchildren will not enjoy the world in the way we did. It is upto every person to make change.