The World’s A/C Continues On Melting

By Kaitlin Armstrong

Staff Writer

While it may be winter, the Arctic is experiencing weather that feels like summertime right now.

Although the Arctic is enclosed in 24-hour darkness, the temperatures have been above the freezing level. These stand as the hottest temperatures that have ever been recorded for a winter, according to scientists from the Danish Meteorological Institute (DMI).

Even though Arctic temperatures have been increasing for decades, the past few years have seen the most extreme rises, according to Martin Stengel, a climate scientist at DMI. The temperatures have been above freezing level and continue to rise every single year.

“It’s devastating that the Arctic continues to become hotter with each year,” said Tara Lunsford, sophomore. “The only way we could prevent this from continuing to happen is to decrease the harm we do to the environment with our carbon footprint.”

The warmer the air is the less sea ice there will be. The less sea ice there is, the warmer the air will be around the world and the warmer the water will be. This is a vicious cycle that shows in the increasing temperatures every single year.

“It’s really important that we continue the efforts to reduce our carbon footprint because it definitely accelerates the speed at which global warming occurs,” said Kasey Swartley, senior. “I also really like polar bears so it breaks my heart that they’re losing their homes because of something that is easily preventable.”

While the Arctic has been hit with summerlike weather, it seems that Europe has been hit with a big cold snap the past few weeks. According to CNN, the cold weather, dubbed “the beast from the East,” is the result of cold winds from Siberia sweeping across parts of Europe.

There has even been snow in unexpected places like Rome. Not only that, but there are several places other than Rome that have begun to be abnormally hot or abnormally cold in recent years. The unbalance in the Arctic can mess up the rest of the world’s climate in ways that are not natural.

“I really hope that we are able to prevent these unnatural temperatures from continuing in the future,” said Megan Carlson, senior. “It shouldn’t be this hard to reduce our carbon footprint and hopefully large companies that produce large carbon footprints will help in the effort to reduce it.”

The Arctic affects the entire world when their weather is unstable. The instability can make some places hotter than ever and as stated above, can make usually warm areas experience severely cold winters. If climate change is not addressed and it is not taken care of, the Arctic will be melted which will have a severe effect on the rest of the world. 

Kaitlin Armstrong

Kaitlin Armstrong is a senior studying communications and emerging media. Originally from Atlanta, Ga., she shadowed the Atlanta Falcons’ community relations department in 2016. Armstrong hopes to use that experience to gain additional internships.

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