(Note: I wrote this as my research report for a homeschool project when I was 10 years old. I reported on Exit Glacier and the horrible effects of climate change.)
Glaciers and Climate Change
Climate change is a change in weather patterns over a long period of time. The temperature is getting hotter and hotter and we call it global warming.
The effects of global warming are bad. First, since the earth’s temperature is getting hotter and hotter, glaciers melt which cause water levels to rise. This leads to floods that can destroy houses and crops in coastal areas. People who live near water lose their homes and are forced to move to other cities or even countries. This causes overpopulation and probably more squatters and refugees.
There’s also less freshwater because the glacier water mixes with the salty water from oceans, seas, and rivers. When the glaciers melt, animals that live there will lose their habitat and struggle to survive. When the temperature gets hotter, we then use more appliances that use electricity like air conditioners to keep us cool.
Another effect of global warming is on oceans. Because it’s hotter, more of the heat gets sucked in when the ocean absorbs the heat, and it causes more water vapor that contains greenhouse gases, and that causes more global warming. Also, when the glaciers melt, less light gets reflected from the ice and more heat gets sucked in the water. The last effect is on permafrost, which is land covered in ice. Scientists found out that there are lots of greenhouse gases under it. So, if the permafrost melts, all those greenhouse gases will be released.
The Melting Exit Glacier
One good example of a melting glacier is Exit Glacier. Exit Glacier is part of the Kenai mountains of Alaska and is classified as a receding glacier because of climate change. This means that the glacier is getting smaller and smaller.
Exit Glacier is one of the few glaciers you can hike up to. To reach other glaciers you’ll have to ride a plane or a helicopter to get there. So, if you want to see the glacier, you can go hike up a trail that used to be covered in snow.
Along the highway and the trail, you’ll see signs that show different years. Each year represents where Exit Glacier was up to at that time. As you get closer to the glacier, the years get more recent which shows that Exit Glacier is retreating fast, and that means Exit Glacier is getting smaller and smaller.
When you go there, you will realize how much the glacier has changed and remember how the glacier changed because of global warming. Before, Exit Glacier used to reach until the highway, but now the ice has melted so much that Exit Glacier itself has gotten so much smaller.
The hike to Exit Glacier is only around a 20-minute walk on ground. The trail starts flat but later rocky. Along the trail, there are signs that tell you facts about Exit Glacier. As you go farther, the trail becomes narrower and you will see more trees overhead.
After a while, the hike becomes more exciting because more obstacles will be waiting for you. The first one will be a rocky path with small gaps. Next will be stone steps that lead to a steep slope. The slope will get higher and steeper, and starts having gaps. As you go higher, you’ll be climbing a rigged ground. After that, the trail gets narrower and has more huge rocks surrounding it. That’s the time you’ll see Exit Glacier.
Unlike before, Exit Glacier now looks like an ordinary small mountain. It still looks beautiful because it has lots of trees, but it has very little ice and snow.
So, what caused Exit Glacier to get small so fast? The causes of all this horrible stuff are increasing carbon dioxide and the hotter temperature. In the past, the amount of carbon dioxide has been stable, but in 1950, it has shot up and keeps rising. So, where is all the extra carbon dioxide coming from?
The main cause are fossil fuels. They are dug from the ground and are used to fuel vehicles, burned in factories, and used to make electricity. And because of all these, they produce a lot of smoke. The smoke that comes from the vehicles and factories is released into the atmosphere. That smoke is poisonous, so we have to get rid of it.
The second biggest cause is deforestation. People cut down trees to make room for farming and feeding livestock. If more trees are cut, there will be less oxygen because there won’t be enough trees to take in the CO2s. There will be more soil erosion because nothing will stop the soil from coming.
One last cause are chlorofluorocarbons [CFCs]. Because of them, the ozone layer is forming holes. The ozone layer is a thin layer of gas that protects the earth from too much sunlight. Each time you use your air-conditioners, refrigerator, aerosol spray, or Styrofoam, those CFCs are being released into our ozone layer.
I feel so sad that Exit Glacier and other glaciers are melting, and that wild animals and people are losing their homes.
But there are things I could do to reduce climate change. First, I can use my skills to do something. With my art skills, I can design a poster about the effects of climate change. If I have writing skills I can persuade people to do something to reduce climate change. I can also reduce my use of air conditioners and other appliances, we can plan our trips better, and we can use Uber more. In the future, when they are more common and affordable, we can buy solar panels, electric cars, and new technologies that are friendlier to our planet.
Together, we can stop climate change from ruining our Earth!
