Dr. James McClintock, Antarctica, and Climate Change

Dr. James McClintock recently came to speak to us about climate change and his time in Antarctica. He spoke to us about what happens in Antarctica and how it effects the entire world. The effect of climate change is largely caused by the humans—by factories, schools, restaurants and anything else that emits co2 into the air.

As a positive, he discussed the ozone hole above Antarctica.  There is a tear in the earth’s ozone, and it is so large that it covers much of New Zealand.  This increases the chance of people that live or have visited New Zealand of getting skin cancer. This is because of more unfiltered sunlight coming through the atmosphere. The hole in ozone has also effected the ice caps, which are starting to melt. When the ice caps melt, the sea level rises, and that will start to affect cities that are located near the oceans. He is hopeful, thought, because several decades ago most nations agreed to eliminate the chemicals that cause the whole.  The tear is slowly retracting, and in the next 30 years, it could close.  This gives him hope that we can make other changes that might reverse global climate change. 

This made me think a lot more about how we can conserve energy and stop the ice caps from melting and even decreasing the amount of people get skin cancer. If many schools, homes, factories, etc. stop burning and emitting as much CO2 into the air, we can help stop rising sea levels. This was a big topic for me because my favorite place, besides Birmingham, New Orleans, could be partially under water in the next 50 years. If we do not do anything about this, many amazing cities and towns could be completely submerged in the near future.  

Brady, 6th Grade