Do you own a car?
This might seem to be a silly question, but if you answered yes, you are helping most of the rest of the human race pollute the environment, which can harm habitats, such as the ice caps. Yeah, I thought I should mention that the world’s two largest holders of water are melting. “So what?” you might ask. “How am I melting polar ice caps?”

Here’s how: when you drive your car, it releases carbon dioxide, and other toxic gasses into the atmosphere. These and other gases (all released by human activity) create what is called the greenhouse effect. Because the gases trap heat and light energy from the sun like a greenhouse, they are known as greenhouse gasses. The most common of these gases are carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide. It is a somewhat complicated process, but the point is, the more greenhouse gasses there are in the air, the hotter a planet gets. What happens to ice when it heats up? It melts. That’s what’s happening to the polar ice caps. They’re melting. And what happens when they melt completely? The world’s coasts follow the same fate as the lost city of Atlantis.

According to the EPA, there are four main types of greenhouse gasses. The most common is carbon dioxide, or CO2. CO2 is a by-product of many power plants, and along with carbon monoxide, it comes out of a car’s exhaust pipe. CO2 can spend anywhere from 50 to 200 years in the atmosphere, trapping heat all the while. The second most common is methane, or CH4. Methane spends only about 12 years in the atmosphere, but it traps 21 times more heat than carbon dioxide. Methane is most commonly released by mining oil and natural gas. It is also commonly produced during enteric fermentation. Third, is nitrous oxide, or N2O. Nitrous oxide emissions are most commonly a result of the agricultural industry, and is a very powerful greenhouse effect contributor. Once released into the atmosphere, this gas spends about 150 years in the atmosphere, and traps 310 times more heat than carbon dioxide. Lastly, there are fluorinated gases. There are three types of fluorinated gases: hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs, perfluorocarbons, or PFCs, and sulfur hexafluoride, or SF6. Fluorinated gases are most commonly used as a replacement substance for ozone depleting chemicals such as chlorofluorocarbons and hydrochlorofluorocarbons. HFCs can spend 1 to 270 years in the atmosphere, and trap anywhere from 140 times to 11,700 times as much heat as carbon dioxide. PFCs spend anywhere from 800 to 50,000 years in the atmosphere, and trap 6,500 to 9,200 times as much heat as carbon dioxide. SF6 tends to spend 3,200 years in the atmosphere, and trap 23,900 times as much heat as carbon dioxide. We are all releasing these gases in large amounts (thousands to millions of tons) every year.

According to Edward Rice, a middle school science teacher and marine biologist at Rindge Avenue Upper Campus Middle School, these facts are part of the evidence that global warming is in fact taking place. He remembers that as a child, there was more snow and colder temperatures, more freezing days during the winter. Now, either you get snow, or you don’t. Either it is cold, or just above freezing. Also, Mr. Rice noticed a type of lichen that grows on trees. It tends to live in warmer climates, and grows faster in warmer climates. There used to just be a little here and there, but now, it is everywhere, and spreading north. This can only mean that the global climate is increasing.

Despite the fact that there is overwhelming evidence that global warming is caused by humans, some stubborn Republican government officials still refuse to believe that global warming is caused by humans. The argument used to be over whether or not it was happening, but chart after chart of scientific data denied Republicans a victory. So, they took up a new position: Global warming is a natural process that the Earth is going through, and we are not effecting the planet’s climate in any way shape or form. The Earth has had many ups and downs in its climate over the years, which means theoretically Republicans might be right. However, this natural planetary cycle of changing climates matches up perfectly with human activity, starting with the industrial revolution, through to the present day.

Unfortunately for Republicans, there is virtually no chance that a natural planet cycle would line up perfectly with human activity. That is just not a coincidence that could happen. On top of that, Republicans have no scientific data to support their claims.

The majority of the public seems to agree that global warming really is taking place. “The cause of global warming is humans putting too much crap into the atmosphere.” said one interviewee. That seemed to be the baseline for most of what was said. However, there was one person who said “Climate change is caused by Obama, Al Qaeda, and the people who build Ford.” Fortunately, there seems to be a consensus on whether or not global warming can be reversed. “ Yes, I do think we can stop Global warming, but we have to start conserving energy, and stop polluting.” Another interviewee agreed that yes, it can be stopped, humans just have to become more aware of the fact, and act in numbers to stop it. One person, seemed to have a different opinion as to how to stop global warming. “First, we need a new president. Get Mitt Romney in the White House, that’s step one. Then, we gotta kill Osama again, gotta kill him a second time. See, that‘ll stop the source, where it’s comin’ from. Then, to reverse the climate, to cool the climate, everybody has to turn on their air conditioners, see that’ll cool the climate.”

Edward Rice, a scientist and marine Biologist at the Rindge Ave Upper Campus Middle School in Cambridge MA. agrees with the majority of the population that global warming is caused by people dumping too many greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, and can back that idea up with facts, charts, and testimonials. “Yes, global warming is definitely being caused by humans, if you look at the temperature charts, you see that climate change lines up perfectly with the Industrial Revolution.” He also has some insight as to how climate change might be stopped. “There is no one silver bullet,” he said. “A lot of things all have to happen at once. You can’t just shut off coal plants, there needs to be a replacement. Also, we need to stop our addiction to fossil fuels. If we invest in using the sun to split water into hydrogen and oxygen, we would have enormous amounts of clean energy.

Fortunately, global warming can be stopped. Although there have been massive amounts of emissions, we can turn things around by using less energy, cutting down fewer trees, investing in green technology, such as recyclable materials, and green energy, such as solar and wind power. Unfortunately, we have brought the planet to the point where suddenly everyone would have to massively cut back on their energy use. Some people say global warming isn’t happening, they say we haven’t been affected. Those are dreamers, cowards who refuse to face the truth, even as it stares them in the eye. We have not yet been affected on a massive scale, but soon the Greenland ice sheets will melt, and coastal cities around the globe will follow the fate of Atlantis.