Why We Should Take Care of Our Earth
Protect animals before they go extinct!
Global warming can do many bad things to animals’ environments: alter migration routes, affect their food availability, and increase the risk of disease outbreaks.
Do you think we need to care more about our earth? Well, I think we should because without the animals and resources of the earth we would be dead. So shouldn’t we be at least helping the environment. Well then, what are you doing right now? Go study about how you can help the environment by doing simple things each day, like not littering or using less electricity.
Animals are worth saving because they have incredible superpowers. I first learned about some of them on my way to school while listening to a podcast about amazing animals. As we pulled out of our driveway and I saw my dog Teddy looking at me from the window, I learned about the Axolotl which can regenerate new body parts if eaten or cut off. Wouldn't you want that superpower too? Imagine walking on the sidewalk and a car runs over your leg. Instead of panicking just grow another one and walk away!
Just when I thought animals couldn’t get any cooler, we start driving onto the highway and that's when an awesome fact comes on about the Peregrine Falcon! The Peregrine Falcon is the fastest animal on earth reaching 240 mph during hunting dives. If I could go that fast I would be in school in about 2 seconds! Imagine just being able to go so fast that people will probably not be able to see you! Every minute I get more facts and I get more interested and I then realize about climate change and I think what will happen to these amazing animals if we don't care for them.
Global warming can do many bad things to their environments: alter migration routes, affect their food availability, and increase the risk of disease outbreaks. There are many animals in danger that I don’t think I can list all of them. Some of the endangered ones are the polar bear and the adelie penguin. Reporter Sophia Schmidt states, “I’ve actually witnessed the receding of all the glaciers, the appearance of all these new islands coming up,” The melting ice is rising temperatures causing Arctic sea ice to melt earlier in the spring and refreeze later in the fall, shortening the period polar bears can hunt and forcing them to swim longer distances in search of food. The food scarcity of sea ice is crucial for polar bears as it's where they hunt seals, their primary food source. Reduced ice means fewer hunting opportunities, leading to starvation and malnutrition. Sea ice provides platforms for polar bears to mate and give birth. As ice melts, these activities are disrupted, impacting reproduction rates. Melting ice can separate polar bear populations, leading to reduced genetic diversity and increased competition within smaller groups.
Another example of a highly endangered species is the Adélie penguin, which relies on sea ice for foraging, breeding, and resting.Their main source of food is krill but it’s depleting. What’s causing krill to decline so rapidly? Scientist Lohmhann answers, “The simple answer is that the climate is warming, the average amount of sea ice is going down, and both are bad for primary production in this region.” As Antarctica gets warmer, ice melts, which affects the penguins' food sources and space to live. For example, more rain can affect young penguins' health and they have a greater chance of dying which will affect the population. Researchers have suggested that Adélie penguins can adapt to different breeding locations, but they cannot change locations much.
I know it seems impossible to save these animals on your own. However, one particularly impactful step you can start today is to focus on reducing and reusing, especially when it comes to single-use items like plastic bags, bottles, cups, and food containers. I know how you feel about doing this since the other day I was with my friends and I just finished my snack. I still had my wrapper and I was really tempted to just throw it behind my back. I said, “I gotta throw this away” to my friends and threw it in a trash can that was really far away, but it was worth it since I knew it was helping the environment.
Do you want polar bears and Adélie penguins and many more species to be taken from the face of the earth? If you don't want that then, let's all work together to save all of the animals in danger.
Links
https://interactive.carbonbrief.org/polar-bears-climate-change-what-does-science-say/index.html
https://whyy.org/segments/penguins-climate-change-adelie-antarctic-temple-delaware-researchers/
