Superheroes to the Moose's Rescue!!!

The Disappearing Moose by the Editorial Board of The New York Times, Published: October 16, 2013 http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/17/opinion/the-disappearing-moose.html?ref=globalwarming                       
Moose in the North America are now dying across North America due to warm climate change and  an eroding winter.  “It is the sign of an entire ecosystem caught up in changes largely brought about by human activity.”  The dying of the Moose shows the readers of this article that because of human activity and pollution, innocent animals like Moose are almost going extinct.

 The article, “The Disappearing Moose” focuses on the extinction of Moose in North America.  Global warming is affecting more than just the rising of water levels.  It is also the cause of the extinction of animals.  Our wilderness is suffering and not many people know this. 

Research has pinpointed many reasons, but most reasons lead back to climate change and eroding winter.  Because of the weather warming; long autumns and early and moist springs are what winter fleas prefer.  These fleas cluster on moose causing the moose anemia, loss of appetite, hair loss, and weakening strength.  This gradually decreases the moose’s population as they slowly die.  In some other places, moose are endangered by liver fluke, parasitic disease, and brain worm.  Also the moose in British Columbia have lost their protective layer of skin thanks to the die-back of white pine forests.  These diseases were mostly because of the climate change and the warming of the climate. 

Data shows that the population of moose had decreased about 3, 500.  Because of the warming of our planet we are losing precious organisms to death.  As we learned in class, the planet is increasing in heat because of the amount of carbon dioxide in the air.  The carbon released into our atmosphere has no way of escaping.  The carbon acts like an insulation blanket around the earth.  Before, when the sun hits the earth, it bounces off.  Now, since the carbon acts like an insulation blanket, the heat hitting the earth is trapped there.  This is the reason the earth’s temperature is gradually increasing.

This dying of moose reminds me of The Lorax.  In the Lorax, the Once-ler opens up a factory to make “Thneeds”.  As the factory grow bigger, large amounts of oxygen is released into the air.  Because of the carbon in the atmosphere many animals start to lose their homes and slowly either die or move to a different place.  This connects to the moose dying because the carbon in the air resulted the warming of temperature.  The warming in the temperature caused the fleas to cluster on the moose and many epidemic diseases to kill them off. 

In school, I learned how and why global warming occurs and how the greenhouse gases are a main part of it.  In this article, I learned that animals are being affected by this.  I’ve always thought about polar bears and penguins being affected by the warming of temperatures.  I never really took a second to think about animals that roam in our very own state being in danger.  More people need to be aware of these disastrous events.  We also need to start taking actions to help save our animals before it is too late. 

To help, we all can do many things.  In class we learned three ways to decrease the amount of carbon being released into the atmosphere; 1. Conserving Energy 2. Maintaining our Forests 3. Develop Alternate Fuels.  So to conserve energy, we have to start doing what many people have told around us; “Turn of the lights!  Unplug the TV!  Don’t waste the water!”  We may not be able to stop the burning of forests and the burning of fossil fuels, but we can help with the small actions that may make the most differences.  Before it is too late, we should act as the superheroes so we can save species like the moose, wolves, and other animals being affected by the greenhouse gases and global warming. 

 

"Moose." National Geographic. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Nov. 2013. <http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/