Background of the Global Warming issue
The awareness of global warming has skyrocketed and has become an issue that the media desperately wants us to pay more attention to. Addressing the issue of global warming is tricky because there are many who believe that it is happening in our world today, and then there are those who aren’t as convinced. Scientists have come to a strong consensus that our world is warming. Many factors contribute to this result such as fossil fuel combustion, excessive greenhouse gases from the use of people, and deforestation to name a few. Regardless of your belief in global warming, it is essential to continue to protect our environment and do what we know how to do to make sure it does not get any worse.
Impact on Water
Because of this heightened awareness, Americans wonder if not only the supply of their drinking water will be affected, but also the quality of the water. We all know that we can be environmentally friendly and do our best to protect our planet, but how do we control the purity of our drinking water? According to Wikipedia, positive eustasy, which simply means the rise and fall of the sea level, may contaminate groundwater. Salt water may contaminate the water that coastal cities depend upon. An increase in sea levels would mean that the ocean would make its way inland because the soil is drying up, allowing salt water to invade the dropped levels of rivers and streams. This has an impact on the drinking water systems, especially those along the coasts. When contaminants invade our drinking water, we need to do what we can to make sure they do not stay there. There are plenty of options to make sure we get good quality water which include, water filters, reverse osmosis systems, etc.
Who is affected?
The countries that have coastlines along the Indian and Pacific Oceans and also sub-Saharan Africa would suffer the most if global warming came into full effect. Malnutrition and diarrhea are the most significant health issues in poor countries. These issues would increase because they are highly sensitive to climate. Not only are countries with high temperatures in danger, but those countries that rely on mountains for their water would be most affected as well.
How we can help
As mentioned earlier, even if all of us are not totally convinced that global warming is in effect, we still can help protect our environment to keep it clean and safe. One way is to improve vehicle fuel-efficiency. We can practice fuel-efficient driving, buy a fuel-efficient car, and simply drive less. This would help because motor vehicles are responsible for about one third of carbon dioxide emissions in the U.S and Canada. Another way we can help is to reduce the electricity usage around your home. Electric power generation is the largest contributing source of the greenhouse gases. The average home contributes more to global warming than the average car. We can help by switching to energy-efficient lighting, improve the efficiency of home appliances, and buying energy-efficient appliances when shopping for new ones. There are many more ways a person can help reduce the problem of global warming such as recycling, buying your groceries from your local whole food retailers, and choosing clean energy options. Even if you do a few of these steps to help, it will save a significant amount of energy.
References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effects_of_global_warming
http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/1997/global.warming/signs/
http://www.pewclimate.org/global-warming-basics/
http://www.eartheasy.com/article_global_warming.htm
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