With everything going on in our world regarding politics, it is important to recognize all of the other things going on, specifically in the scientific world. For instance, the Artemis II space mission just made major advancements by sending humans into space and safely returning them to Earth for the first time in over 50 years! Not only that, but this mission logged the furthest distance since Apollo 13, as the crew managed to travel further from Earth than any other humans! Let’s not forget this historic mission featured the first woman, the first Canadian, AND the first person of color to travel this far into space! Heck yeah, that’s what I call a scientific win!
Despite all of the good news and scientific breakthroughs that the space mission brought, it is equally as important to bring light to one of the most urgent challenges we are facing around the globe today: global warming. The term global warming and climate change are often used interchangeably, however they describe different concepts in regards to explaining our ecosystem. According to DiscoverWildlife, (https://www.discoverwildlife.com/environment/global-warming-vs-climate-change) the term Global Warming is used when describing the specific surface temperature of our planet– one that has been continuing to rapidly rise since the 1970s. When it comes to climate change, that is a term used when talking about every level of the Earth’s climate, on a multi-surface scale.
Without even doing a deep dive on research, it is very clear that global warming, as well as human life and lack of conservation, has influenced the decline of the Earth’s biodiversity. But for the sake of raising much need awareness about this growing concern, I did a slight research deep dive.
According to the IUCN Red List, (https://www.iucnredlist.org/about/background-history) there are over 48,000 species that are threatened and at risk for extinction. Two of the most recent additions include the Emperor Penguin and Antarctic Fur Seal. Both of these animals have been added to the endangered list in April of 2026 due to the rapid decline of both species, with continued decrease predicted over the next couple of decades. There is a huge link to global warming and the rapid decline in these species: rapidly warming ocean waters, loss of sea ice, and a direct impact on food sources.
Fur seals rely heavily on Antarctic Krill for food; however, the Krill are moving deeper and shifting south due to the ocean temperatures and becoming less available. In comparison, Emperor Penguins use sea ice as a lifeline– the platform is used for mate courtship, rearing chicks, and incubating eggs. With the warm waters melting the sea-ice, it is creating new dangers of unsuccessful breeding. When the ice melts and breaks, the chicks are at danger for falling into the water and not being able to protect themselves and survive if they aren’t fully developed.
With the ever-changing political climate and daily-life, we don’t know what’s in store for the future of society. We do, however, need to recognize that human-induced climate change is one of the most significant threats to destroying our planet. We have continued to place profit and power above conserving our planet, and we have reached the point where the devastating consequences are continuing to get worse. In order to help stop the rapidly decreasing ecosystem, we need to make immediate change. We need more knowledge, monitoring, to reduce emissions gas and pollution, and better ways to help protect both the species and habitats they need in order to survive.
So. What are some small-scale things individuals and society as a whole can do to help try and chip away at this problem? Here is a starting point list I’ve created by a simple Google search:
- Create small habitats in your garden by adding bird baths, boxes for shelter, and removing invasive, non-native plants that come in the way of creating a shelter for birds, insects, and other small animals.
- Buy sustainable products that prevent adding to the natural habitat destruction humans have on wildlife. It is also important to make sure you are recycling plastics, as it often gets mistaken as food by animals and causes major harm.
- Stop using pesticides that are full of hazardous pollutants that can harm and poison animals. All of the harmful chemicals in these products are adding to the animals’ suffering. These animals are trying to get nutrients and instead are being harmed, or even killed by all of the harmful products in these pollutants.
- Educate yourself and bring awareness to these issues. Before we can properly try and reduce global warming in addition to other climate change issues, we need to find ways to efficiently educate society. Instead of ignoring the headlines you see on the news, try to do a bit of research to get a base-line education. It helps to be knowledgable rather than completely clueless.
- The biggest things that need to be changed to help save our climate is reducing greenhouse gas emissions, fossil fuel use, and overall reducing the carbon footprint we are leaving in the world. We need to find better ways to succeed as a society, and utilize all of our technological and scientific advances to find other resourceful ways to problem-solve.