Throughout Earth’s history, there have been multiple different stages of temperatures rising and falling. The last ice age ended about 11,700 years ago; it covered much of the planet with gigantic glaciers, which some are still able to be seen and evaded from today. But, the problem here isn’t the ice ages or any risk of them; it’s quite the opposite.

Temperatures have began rising all over the world, and we in the North West of the world are definitely feeling the heat rise. The average temperature in Washington State has gradually gotten higher year by year, which then leads to harsher and more defined seasons. This past summer our average temperature was between 56 and 76 degrees fahrenheit, while 15 years ago it was slightly lower and the further back you go in time, the lower the temperature drops.

Our rain levels are increasing in the spring and autumn, while our droughts are longer and more intense in the summer. Last year, right here in Arlington we had 100 straight days of rain between October and February. We just recently got to experience our first snow of the year earlier in November; and it’s not just right here at home – it’s happening all over the state, country and world.

In California and Texas, two incredibly hot climates, they have both experienced heat waves and droughts in recent years. In 2011 both Oklahoma and Texas experience 100 days over 100°F – a temperature most of us consider incredibly intolerable. California is also experiencing these climate changes with something a little more extreme than hotter temperatures: forest fires. In Northern California fires have been tormenting through cities such as O’Brien where there is currently a contained fire as of November 30, 2017.

It’s clear to see that climate change is happening if you just look at the past and compare it to now; and we’re at the base of the cause of this. Greenhouse gases (Methane, Carbon, Sulfur Hexafluoride, etc) are released from all sorts of things likes just as car emmisions. But what’s mostly for blame is the huge industry and manufacturing that takes place all across the globe.

Washington is known as the Evergreen State for our abundance of trees; making our air some of the cleanest across the nation. We are also blessed enough to have a very large network of rivers, and being directly on the coast of the pacific ocean. We’re very blessed to be surrounded but such plentiful and helpful resources.

TWe are also starting solutions as well as we’re gradually starting to become more innovative at stopping the pollution, we on a people level cause; things like littering, overuse of water, using abundant amounts of gas and oil – they are finally starting to widdle down thanks to us.

As time continues to pass, temperatures continue to rise, we need to gain more knowledge in preserving our environment. After all it has to last us all through our lifetime – it’s our home, we need to care for it.