Siberia is on fire!
If there is one thing climate change can make us feel, it’s helpless. It’s hard to come to terms with the devastation of our planet mainly because we, as a human race, are the ones that are responsible for the climate crisis. As the consequences of continuous neglect for our environment become more imminent, these topics of alarm need to be addressed. For one, Siberia is literally on fire.
Yes, what is said to be the coldest place on earth has been engulfed in flames due to record warm temperatures.
Scientists expected these changes in the arctic climate to occur decades in the future, certainly not in 2020, meaning global warming is real, it’s here, and it deserves our attention.
Arctic Amplification, when ice melts and turns areas of water into heat-absorbing rather than heat-reflecting, is breaking temperature records that are now being broken year after year, moving three times the rate than the rest of the world. This is one of the many factors responsible for the fires. As snow melts and leaves vegetation dry, smoke arises and greenhouse gases are released. These blazes actually refuse to die and will continue even under snowfall.
The entirety of the world has experienced massively abnormal temperature patterns from these infernos and 16.3 million metric tons of carbon dioxide have been released in June alone, correlating to the devastation in Siberia.
This might seem like a distant issue, as climate change can often appear. However, if we standby ignoring our role in some way or another in these events, the catastrophic emissions will continue to climb beyond the point of human intervention. So what can we do?
Talk about it! Simply bringing up the topic can push someone to take action in their own lives to transition to a low-carbon life. Talk about it louder and to those in charge! Email your elected officials asking them to include these events in their COVID-19 recovery plans, tweet or email news platforms for not addressing this at all or not seriously enough, and vote for candidates that have a climate plan in their agenda.
This is a massive warning sign that we could be beyond repair in regards to the climate crisis.
Let’s take it seriously!
Written by: Molly Brown