Worldwide Panic, Here We Come!

The burning of fossil fuels and deforestation have lead to a widespread panic in the recent years where humans are now witnessing physical, therefore detrimental changes to our surroundings. Climate change is an environment issue affecting all living organisms in the world today. “Warming temperatures are melting coastal ice shelves
and frozen sub-soils, which act as natural barriers to protect the
village against summer deluges from ocean storm surges.” Global warming
seems to be the main topic of discussion while other harm is being done
to our environment by acid rain and other byproducts of human devastation. In an article I found quite relevant to environmental issues discussed in class,
the people of Alaska in the village of Newtok are being forced out of
their village due to climate change. The indigenous people of Alaska have
endured some of the harshest of environments for thousands of years, but
the flooding due to recent climate changes was unbearable for the Newtok
villagers to bear. “The crisis is unique because its devastating effects
creep up on communities, eating away at their infrastructure, unlike with
sudden natural disasters such as wildfires, earthquakes or hurricanes.”
There were floods which the village was trampled with which forced the
native villagers to relocate 9 miles away from “home”. According to the
article, twenty six other Alaskan villages are in immediate danger of
flooding, which also may result in the abandonment of their villages as
well as the way of life the natives were used to. "We are seeing the
erosion, flooding and sinking of our village right now," said Stanley
Tom, a Yup'ik Eskimo and tribal administrator for the Newtok Traditional
Council. Also, the UN estimates that this severe climate change will
force the displacement of about 150 million people by the year 2050.
Although there are only 320 people in the Newtok village, this may be a
mere preview of what is “in store” for certain groups of people in areas
which are prone to be damaged by flooding due to climate change. I feel
that climate change should be enforced to the people as a more serious issue and this article is just a small
indication of what the people of the Earth have coming if more major
adjustments in human lifestyles aren’t made in the upcoming years and therefore, the near future. People need to be aware of these occurrences where people can have some tangible evidence that climate altering is taking place, thus harming the future of humankind. Like we discussed in class, humans seem to attempt to correct long term problems with short term solutions. Adjustments in our lifestyle need to made as soon as possible because it is wrong for people in this village, as well as
other species affected by human induced climate changes, to be negatively
affected by ways of human industrialism. For example, polar bears are coming closer to extinction day by day because they are losing ice to live on because it is melting, and they have to swim for extended periods of time to find food and land (ice) to habitat. Thus, a long-term lifestyle change would ultimately lead to a step back toward “homeostasis” where humans as well as all living creatures may interact the way nature intended, unaltered by smog and chemical byproducts.
(http://edition.cnn.com/2009/TECH/science/04/24/climate.change.eskimos/index.html

'Climate change' forces Eskimos to abandon village, by Azadeh Ansari on
April 28th, 2009)