As of today, the Earth’s age is about 4.6 billion years old. What many people ponder is: how do we know this? How do we, as humans, find out Earth’s age if humans (Homosapians) were not even around to document it? Well, scientists know the age by archaeologists finding the oldest piece of earth they can. Since the age of planet Earth changes pending on the oldest piece of sediment found, new, even older pieces could be found with time and with more searching, so no date is absolute.
Once they find the piece, scientists use a process called Radiometric Dating to date the piece of earth found. This process focuses on the ratio between the number of carbon-14 and carbon-12 isotopes in any once-living being: that ratio indicates how long it’s been since that being was alive. The Earth is a fragile planet, its existence goes hand-in-hand with ours. Without Earth, we would cease to exist. This is on quite a broad ignorant scale as well; Earth to human. Earth also has an extremely fragile ecosystem.
Any creature as small as an amoeba could make or break existence of every living thing, so it’s so important that we take care of the place that virtually is our home. We should treat the earth as we treat any of our prized possessions, pets, etc., delicately and with respect.
“I feel like we were all taught that when we were younger to take care of your things and to take pride in what you do and where you live, but it seems like a lot of people just don’t care enough to take care of the one place that really matters,” Sophomore Ian Moran said.
Global warming is a major concern through the past decade, and has only grown more concerning to those who believe in it. Global warming is a gradual increase in the overall temperature of the earth’s atmosphere generally attributed to the greenhouse effect caused by increased levels of carbon dioxide, chlorofluorocarbons and other pollutants. So, basically, the more we neglect the earth, pollute and the more landfills get filled, the warmer our climates around the world get. This is including regions that are suppose to be cold, such as Antarctica, Greenland, North Pole, etc. Antarctica actually holds 90 percent of the world’s ice. If this happens and temperatures get high enough to melt all of this ice, all of the icebergs and ice will melt, causing sea levels to rise up to 60 percent, so about 200 feet.
This is dangerous because when the sea levels rise, it doesn’t just affect those bodies of water surrounding cold regions, it affects every ocean, as sea levels pertains to every body of water on Earth. Not only would the whole Antarctic region be underwater, killing off any living species there, like Polar Bears, but if the sea levels rise enough, every piece of land will be submerged in the ocean surrounding it, and no species that needs oxygen will live. So, no matter what you are, humanitarian, nature lover or animal lover, these all go hand in hand. We aren’t the only ones inhabiting this earth, animals live on this earth too, and they rely on us to take care of their shelter, and or homes, as Earth is ours as much as it is theirs.
To help prevent anymore damage to this earth that’s already been done you can do many small things that will in the end make a huge impact if more people do it. You could stop junk mail from being mailed to your house, buy local sustainable fruit, shop at thrift stores, recycle, use reusable fabric grocery bags or use reusable water containers, instead of water bottles. As you can see some of these options are easy to do, and most require reusing items instead of using an abundance of things, then throwing them away. People are obsessed with quantity, and overlook quality, which is why I believe earth is in this position. So if we reuse more things, or invest in better quality items that benefit or don’t harm the Earth, you’d see a difference. All of these changes in your lifestyle will in the end will help save money and maybe even the entire world.