The Student News Site of Souderton Area High School

The Arrowhead

The Arrowhead

The Student News Site of Souderton Area High School

The Arrowhead

The Student News Site of Souderton Area High School

The Arrowhead

The Arrowhead

2020 natural disasters are a result of climate change

Climate change has upended normal weather cycles on the planet and created a new level of natural disasters that are even more destructive and severe than their predecessors.

As a result of severe pollution, the world is experiencing unprecedented natural disasters that are changing ways of life and the surface of the planet.
This year alone, the United States is dealing with a record-breaking hurricane season and wildfires across the west coast.
For the second time in history, the hurricane season has progressed past its list of storm names and onto the Greek alphabet. According to CNN, the most current storm, Hurricane Epsilon, is setting a record for the earliest the letter has been used.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), this 2020 hurricane season is on track to be the worst in recorded history. This is not shocking news to climate scientists.
Scientists have been able to directly link this hurricane season, and the previous record breaking seasons, to climate change. The warming of the oceans has created intense storms and more active oceans (CNBC).
Predictions state that the hurricane season will only continue to get worse if climate change does not start to improve. NOAA has stated that tropical storms will increase in intensity, which means that there will most likely be more category four and five hurricanes.
These intense storms are not isolated events. They leave a path of destruction when they make landfall, leaving people without food, power and homes.
The root of the problem is that hurricane season should not be this intense. A record-breaking hurricane season every year should not be the norm.
Another event directly influenced by climate change is the California wildfires. The fires have covered so much area, they have been upgraded from a simple ‘megafire’ to a ‘gigafire.’ According to The Guardian, the acreage covered by the fires is larger than Rhode Island.
Climate scientists have determined that the severity of the fires is caused by the rising temperatures, meaning that moisture has been sucked out of the forests, making it easier to burn.
According to fire ecologist Jennifer Balch’s interview with The Guardian, theories of a dramatic wildfire season were predicted last year, so the fires do not come as a shock to scientists.
As of October 6, firefighters in California were responding to as many as 35 new fires. According to the California Government, 95% of all wildfires are caused by human activity, and are only worsened by what humans pollute their environment with.
The California wildfires also affect more than just the west coast. Smoke from the west coast has traveled across the entire country and is creating hazy skies on the east coast.
Climate change is not a hoax. It has been proven time and time again by scientists who are well-versed in their field and who rely on hard facts and not their personal beliefs.
In fact, for the planet to become hotter, something needs to change its atmosphere. Climate change is also not the result of the sun being hotter than normal (because it is not). Climate change is not just Earth naturally ‘warming up,’ it is a direct result of human action.

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