Global Warming: A Problem Today

Sonia Sachar , 5th Grade
Fremont CA
Weibel Elementary School

Many people in our world think we can’t help global warming. However, they are outright wrong. There are so many simple things that we humans can do, working together, to reduce global warming. In each and every state, in each and every country, and in each of every continent, we the people can make a difference and protect our planet.

I, as an Indian American kid, can walk, or ride my bike rather than have my parents drive me to school. If every kid in my neighborhood could make an effort to do this, it would immensely reduce carbon emissions. Another way to reduce these deadly emissions would be to carpool with neighbors to drive to school and work. To support clean ways of transportation, my friends and I have launched The Green Squad. The Green Squad is a local group whose members are 70 percent Asian Americans. We tell and educate other kids on how to safely bike ride, as well as educate the parents about benefits and simplicity of carpooling and in buying fuel-efficient cars.

The biggest cause of global warming is the burning of fossil fuels (coal, petroleum, and natural gas) to produce energy such as electricity. At home we can do many simple things to save energy. We can replace our most used incandescent light bulbs with the fluorescent bulbs, which use less energy. If everyone avoids 15 miles of driving a week, it will reduce the emissions of carbon dioxide by about 900 pounds a year. By just shutting down your computer every night not only saves electricity, but also 100 pounds of carbon dioxide a year. The most significant action we can do is to replace our appliances with more new efficient ones and recycling everything made of plastic.

Businesses can become green businesses. In Fremont, Sam’s Best Food Market stands out as the green store, Mr. Singh, an Asian American, owns this store. He agreed to install energy efficient light bulbs in his store, and commits to recycling; as a result it has won tremendous support in our green community. Our green squads, educates people to shop at such minority owned business. which embrace such practices and become role models for other businesses. These undemanding actions require no major change or investment; just to simply change our habits in favor of a cleaner planet. In a bad economy, it helps support local businesses, in fact help us save money now and in the future.

America is one proud country because it has eighteen states that have made a commitment of having different ways of making clean energy. These states have invested in solar energy, waterpower, and wind power. If we keep up the work and add more states we could have 20 percent and more of our electricity from clean sources by 2020. Every nation can help stop global warming for the whole world. Americans should be the new role models in the world, as we are already one of the largest consumers of fossil fuels.

When I go to my home country India and visit the major cities like Delhi and Mumbai, there is so much pollution from carbon emissions that one can feel the air pollution with every breath they take. Asian cities are over populated and as a result, face even greater problems. There are severe traffic congestion and no control on how many cars can be on the road. There is very little that the government is doing by banning the unclean carbon vehicles and other machines. I provide all the information about global warming to my peers in India and ask them to start taking actions.

America has advantage of having smarter green technology, and we can offer these smarter technologies to populated countries such as India and China. They can use solar energy and green technologies in factories, and preserve their national forests and natural resources. In poor countries, wood chopping is the fastest way of solving immediate survival needs. However, by chopping trees, they are reducing the number of plants that can absorb the carbon dioxide.

We the kids are going to inherit the planet and its problems. We, as neighborhood green squads, need to put forth our priorities for the health of our planet. We need to challenge the city, state governments, and adults to modify their behavior and habits. They have enjoyed the beauty of our planet, we would also like to see the white snow on our Mountain peaks, pristine water in our rivers, and the diverse species of this planet. As an ancient proverb goes- Treat the earth well: it was not given to you by your parents, it was loaned to you by your own children.