My opinion about recent changes in the environment

Richard Belezekin

My opinion about recent changes in the environment.

In recent years we all have been hearing about global warming. It seems that the issue has been decided and we can’t do anything to stop it. Polar ice is shrinking at higher rate every year and environmentalists haven’t achieved any significant results in their fight against it. 
But do we all agree that global warming is the thing to worry about? Does it have any certain negative effects or is it just a false impression of what is happening?

On the one hand, negative effects are quite obvious. The retreat of sea ice in the Arctic is forcing polar bear population into an unnatural fast, which threatens the species with extinction. The earlier break-up of sea ice is cutting short the spring hunting season for the bears, which rely on floating banks of ice to reach their prey. Because of that, hungry bears are forced to spend longer on land and encroach on human settlements in search of food, giving a false impression that their numbers are increasing. 
What is more, spring hunting season was being reduced by nearly three weeks in some places and female bears can’t build the fat reserves needed to see them through the summer months. As females become thinner, they are more susceptible to diseases and their ability to reproduce and the survival chances of their cubs decline significantly. 
A joint study by the Canadian Wildlife Service and Nasa published that climate warming is having a significant and negative effect on a primary species reliant on the sea ice for survival.

On the other hand, there are still many people who do not accept the theory about “global warming”. Some scientists believe that the world is going to get cold again soon according to the ‘cycle’ theory and others argue that there is not enough evidence over a long period of time. Moreover, large countries with strong economies and “interested” industries spend millions of dollars to disprove the global warming theory. They say it is going to be much colder – this is the “Arctic Stream” theory. There is more and more rain because of shrinking ice, so streams with warm salt water get cooler and Northern Europe may get a rather frigid climate, while the rest of us may get our sun cream out.

All in all, a lot of factors have to be taken into consideration to get credible evidence. In fact, that’s true but if we wait for a longer period, it may be too late to do anything about global warming!