Global Warming in New Jersey

By Amanda Valenti

Global warming is taking place all over the globe; New Jersey is no exception. The recent weather conditions in the tri-state area has the residents in a panic believing that the end in the year 2012 is nearing.

The snow storms breaking records and rain collapsing homes and trees has not stifled these worries, to say the least.

As a nation we do not care for the earth properly, so it is only natural she would react in such harsh ways. New Jersey, however, has plans to try and fix the immense amount of greenhouse gases being emitted.

According to www.state.nj.us, “The New Jersey Global Warming Response Act adopted statewide limits on greenhouse gas emissions in July 2007. The law mandates the statewide reduction of greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020, approximately a 20 percent reduction, followed by a further reduction of emissions to 80 percent below 2006 levels by 2050.”

The recent extreme change from cold to severely hot so early in the month of April also has people sweating a little more than usual, and not just physically.

People are starting to see the damage they have caused along with ancestors past who were not concerned with the ozone layer and ensuring the earth was healthy.

Everyone is always on the go grabbing water bottles, throwing out recyclables, and filling the landfills. Though people have become healthier the earth has become very sick. What good is a healthy population if their home is being destroyed?

The rain storms have already condemned many homes and destroyed whatever was in its path; but the hotter weather will bring on harsher rain storms with wind speeds increasing over time. Can we really afford worse weather than has already come our way?

“In New Jersey, long-term data document a significant increase in average temperature, and a significant rise in sea level that is consistent with observed and predicted global trends,” according to www.state.nj.us.

The rising sea level will surely affect New York, which is expected to eventually sink below sea level in Manhattan. The large numbers of people who live there will be forced out or possibly die if they do not get out fast enough.

What is happening to this earth is scary and it could all have been prevented if the population would have reacted sooner. Generations before us should have started thinking about these issues since now; in 2010 we are really starting to see the effects this mysterious global warming is starting to have.
We have never had such terrible snow and rain storms. To be fair, the population was warned that something like this would happen if we did not do something about it.

Al Gore even tried to get peoples’ attention with “An Inconvenient Truth” and though it did catch some attention, it was not enough to make a big difference. Instead, plans were enacted and we can only hope they are what we need to undo the damage we have so selfishly inlicted upon our planet.