Environmental Genocide: Regretting Today, Saving Tomorrow

Environmental genocide is exactly what awaits our globe as the levels of bad air in our atmosphere accrue over the years. According to Kenneth Mankoff, a computer scientist of Columbia Centre for Climate Research, the population of Earth will increase to 9.2 billion by the year 2050. If his hypothesis becomes factual and the CO2 emissions do not decrease, the global warming process will cause nothing less of genocide. The United States government does all that it can to ensure the safety of its people. However, Professor of Geosciences, Michael Oppenheimer of Princeton University, believes the global warming crisis is not on the government’s top priority list. Although nothing may be done to prevent what has already happened in the world as far as natural disasters, the predictions of our future can be changed. As the leading generation of young professionals, it is our mission to help “save tomorrow”, to ensure that the future generations live long and fulfilling lives just as we have. We must save our lands from being destroyed by rising sea levels. According to Mankoff, the globe can expect to lose many highly populated cities such as Shanghai of China, the lower part of Manhattan in New York City including what would be the World Trade Center Memorial, and thousands of various island chains, due to the rapid amounts of ice caps melting in the Sub Arctic region. Antarctica and Greenland are two of the biggest ice caps in the world and both are on the verge of rapid melting. Mankoff says carbon dioxide emissions trap heat which rises the temperature of the atmosphere and then eventually starts to melt the ice caps. Mankoff also added that if Greenland were to melt completely, it would send the ocean sea level rising over 25 feet. That alone will cause catastrophe to the world. Education is the key to reducing the amounts of carbon dioxide emissions. According to Oppenheimer, the government has not done a very good job of alerting its people on this crisis. Ambassador Prasad Kariyawasam, Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations, says the public should be educated properly and it is the young people that can make the difference. The young generations have very close ties together and as they speak amongst themselves, they can strive to come up with solutions to save the world. If we can come together on a global standpoint, global warming can be a thing of yesterday. As a young adult, I am very sensitive as to what will happen in the near future. Will there be hell? Will there be mayhem? The young professionals have already started addressing the United Nations; we have already started to address Congress; and we have already started to address the young people. Global Warming has been recognized as a problem; however, we need to stop talking about the problem, put our pride aside, and start doing something about it.