I became interested in penguins after I heard that the penguin is in danger because of global warming. “Over the past 50 years, the population of Antarctic emperor penguins has declined by 50 percent due to global warming” (Roach, 2001, para. 1). Also penguins are losing their habitats because the ice is melting even now. The penguins eat krill or lantern fish, but they are going to die, which means there is not enough food for penguins anymore. According to Eccleston (2007), most krill, which are penguin’s food, are going to die, because of high temperature of the sea. They also must live in colder climates; like penguins, they now face extinction. The penguins need to live in really cold weather but the climate has been changed by global warming to warmer than before. It is a very serious thing for penguins; one author said, “One of the coldest environments in the world is actually seeing some of the fastest rates of global warming, and unless action is taken to reduce global CO2 emissions, the future of many Antarctic species looks bleak” (Aldred, 2007, para. 4). These days, not many people care about global warming, because they do not really feel it is serious. However, this event is going to be more serious, so from now on we need to care about environmental problems.
There have been some problems with penguins, so we need to protect them as soon as possible. What we can do is we should prevent global warming, provide them their food, which is krill, and make their nests.
First, now we should not make global warming worse. In “Global Warming” the author states “Global warming is climate change that causes the average temperature of the Earth's lower atmosphere to increase” (n.d, para. 2). In addition, global warming comes from human activity actually. It means a lot of living organisms are going to die because of us. Many people do not know whether they make pollution. They need to realize quickly what they are doing wrong. Global warming comes because of the greenhouse effect. Many people know that global warming is becoming more serious, but they do not try anything, because if they try, their living will be uncomfortable. Moreover, in “Cars and Global Warming: What's the Link? RFF Scholar Proposes CO2 Emissions Labels on All New Cars” the author says, “The United States is the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases in general, and CO2 in particular. Fully 23 percent of all CO2 emissions come from the United States. One-third of these emissions come from the transportation sector” (2006, para. 7). However they do not really care about CO2 emissions, because car dealers do not tell buyers anything about that. Nowadays, our living style is very comfortable, but it has caused global warming. Actually the greenhouse effect is not bad, because it has made the earth warm enough to live on. However, greenhouse gases absorb too much sunlight, and then it brings global warming. Greenhouse gases come from many things, especially the cars. As a result, we need to reduce greenhouse gases by using our own cars less and using less of things that include carbon dioxide.
Second, I suggest that we should support penguins with their food. They usually eat krill, which is similar to shrimp, but the krill is almost dead because of the high temperature of the sea. The krill cannot live in warmer sea, so just little of krill is surviving. Unfortunately, penguins are not only becoming homeless but also going to starve. According to Aldred’s article, he states “Some colonies of chinstraps have seen reductions in numbers of up to two-thirds because less food has made it more difficult for youngsters to survive” (2007, para 8). So we should help them, because it is our fault. They have never destroyed anything; we made almost everything that is harmful for the earth. So we should have a responsibility about that. I think it is possible to rear krill for them. It also can create jobs for poor countries, and then we can protect the environment, because I have heard that poverty is one of the pollutants in core class. This problem is also one that we made, so everyone should join this project. I do not mean everyone should work to rear krill; I mean we should help in some way that we can do, even if it is a little thing.
Finally, we should make a place which is kept at a low temperature and is at a specific place. Penguins are losing their home now because glaciers are melting now. According to Guodong’s article, “Warmer temperatures and stronger winds mean the penguins had to raise their chicks on increasingly thinner sea ice. For many years, sea ice has broken off early and many eggs and chicks have been blown away before they were ready to survive on their own” (2007, para. 5). It means they cannot take care of their chicks, because sea ice has broken down many places and they need to move to a fine place to live continually. In fact, they are still fine to stay, but they will not have any places to stay in a short time. So we need to help them as soon as we can. It will be expensive to make something such as that thing, but we should keep every living organism as we do human beings, because we have made them like that. Perhaps some people have already tried to make them homes, for example, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), but it could not be done because it cannot be done by minor people. So, if we want to be successful to do that, we need to help them as much as we can. However, one thing we have a problem with is that many people do not know how we can participate. For example, I would like to help them, but I do not know how to help or how to participate to help them. So WWF or an organization like it needs to let us know the way to help them and participate.
Many people think that it is unnecessary to help penguins, because they think it is hard for even them to live now. They just care about their family and friends or someone who is around them. It is absolutely unfair, because penguins also have their lives and their family and they did not destroy the environment. Almost every person thinks that is not their business, so they are becoming selfish now. The most serious thing is that people always think there are a lot of environmentalists, so many people think environmental problems will be solved by the environmentalists. Global warming comes because of all the people; however, why do people just think the environmentalists should do that? The problem has come because of all the people, so everybody should solve the problems together. However they do not want to even try to realize. One thing they do not know is that if other organisms were gone, human also will be gone. In addition, some people know how serious it is but they do not try because they do not feel they need to help penguins. In my opinion a lot of harmful factors are caused by human activities, due to our convenient life, so from now on we should help them and we need to help them live without worrying.
In conclusion, they are going to die due to human activity actually, so I would like to say we have to, but I know it is not going to work, so we ought to help them even with a little thing. I think the government should do something as soon as possible; it is not only my opinion but also Guodong’s opinion that “After such a long march to Bali, ministers must now commit to sharp reductions in carbon emissions for industrialized countries, to protect Antarctica and safeguard the health of the planet” (2007, para. 12). Global warming is becoming more serious, so we should reduce what is causing global warming to get worse, we should start to rear krill as soon as possible, and we need to know how we can help them, and then we should participate to help them.
Reference
Aldred, J. (2007, November 11). Bleak future for Antarctic penguins, report warns. Guardian. Retrieved on June 10, 2008 from http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2007/dec/11/endangeredspecies.conservation
Cars and Global Warming: What's the Link? RFF Scholar Proposes CO2 Emissions Labels on All New Cars. (2006, March 23). WWF Resources. Retrieved on June 18, 2008 from http://www.rff.org/rff/News/Releases/2006Releases/Cars-and-Global-Warming.cfm
Du G. (2007, December 11). WWF: Climate warming threatens Antarctica Penguins.Xinhua. Retrieved on June 19, 2008 from http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-12/11/content_7230273.htm
Eccleston, P. (2007, November 12). Penguins now threatened by global warming. Telegraph. Retrieved on June 10, 2008 from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/core/Content/displayPrintable.jhtml;jsessionid=2PFWTF5YFYOJ5QFIQMFSFGGAVCBQ0IV0?xml=/earth/2007/12/11/eapeng111.xml&site=30&page=0
Global warming . (n.d). Chicagotribune. Retrieved on June 19, 2008 from http://www.chicagotribune.com/topic/environmental-issues/global-warming/06011000.topic
Roach, J. (2004, September 13). Penguin decline due to global warming? NationalGeographic. Retrieved on June 10, 2008 from http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/09/0913_040913_penguins.html
No comments:
Post a Comment