By ARMAAN SOORMA, age 12
Temperatures all around the world are slowly rising every year due to climate change. While these rising temperatures may not seem to be harmful, they are not only creating problems in everyday life, but are killing thousands of people per year.
High temperatures in New Jersey recently caused electronics in trains to malfunction, delaying trains and suspending some service. While all this might not seem major, hundreds of thousands of people take the New Jersey Transit not just to visit places, but to travel to their jobs. Further, to try and resolve this trouble, New Jersey Transit increased commuter fares to bring in more labor, which caused mass frustration among daily commuters.
Beyond generating daily inconveniences, rising temperatures can be lethal. According to a recent Associated Press analysis of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data, just last year around 2,300 people died due to extreme heat in the United States during the summer months. While people might not realize the risks of high temperatures, Andrea Thompson writes in Scientific American that “heat waves are the deadliest extreme weather events in the U.S., killing more people than hurricanes, tornadoes and floods combined.” With how temperatures are rising, this could get worse.
Temperatures are on the rise, but, with everyone’s help, we can decrease the problems caused by high temperatures. Small actions can have big results, such as how closing a light or taking shorter showers can definitely help slow down climate change. As more people become aware of the threat climate change is posing, we could hopefully have a greener Earth.
