Benjamin Slade

SS2300
Dr. Langston

Our climate has been ever changing since the Industrial Revolution. Although, at that
time we had little knowledge of the outcome and the danger that it would do to our precious
world. We have seen surface temperature on an upward trend globally since the late 1970s. This
has also affected the sea level temperatures. They have been on an upward climb since around
the 1950s.
Weve see the effects on the world also from pictures of the same places over a span of
time. We have seen ice retreating for many years and this is also accounting for sea level rise. If
the sea levels rise too much many of the coastal areas weve known and love could become our
new swimming spots.
Here in the Midwest we have seen the effects of climate as well. Weve been cutting our
forests for the wood we need to help make the world continuously run. This deforesting process
started around the 1870. The loggers went through and cut down most of the trees. This was the
single most time of major depletion of the worlds forests weve ever seen.
The forests that are on the planet are also storing carbon and do a rather good job at it.
So when we go through and cut them down in an accelerated rate a lot of carbon gets released
back into the air. Carbon has been seen as a greenhouse gas which has also been linked to rising
surface temperatures which leads to the ice caps melting. The ice caps also store carbon.
But eventually some of the forests we completely destroyed here in the Midwest were
able to recover. Not the same has been able to be said about the forests worldwide. Such as the
Amazon, one of the most deforested areas on the Earth. It all starts with a road that is cut
through the dense forest, which leads to more roads cutting into the forest. This has led to a lot
of forest lost over the years that will take a while to return. But it will not return the same.

Benjamin Slade
SS2300
Dr. Langston

The rising temperatures have also lead to decreased ice covering the Great Lakes. We
have seen a large decline since the decade of 1970-1980. This could lead to devastating results
and cause a large problem for the area. There has been recorded changes in the surface
temperatures of the lakes. Some of these changes in surface temperatures have been drastic.
Without intervention we could see the temperatures rise by seven degrees Fahrenheit in the
matter of thirty years. In the matter of about eighty years we could see the temperatures increase
by as much as twelve degrees Fahrenheit.
These rises in the temperature can have some very negative effects on the lakes
themselves. With warmer temperature we could see increases of invasive species as well as
blooms of algae. These algae blooms are both harmful to the lakes and the people that live near
the lakes. The blooms would drastically decrease the safety of the water. As we are currently
fighting with invasive species, the rise in temperatures of the lakes would make the battle much
harder.
An amazing feat that has been seen is the resiliency of the wolves. The wolves used to
roam most the lower forty-eight way back in our history. After a while, since the European
people have arrived to the continent the wolves were only seen roaming a little less than half of
the over forty-eight. It was estimated that in 1805, there were about thirty-five thousand wolves
in the area that became Yellowstone National Park. In 1923, wolves in Yellowstone National
Park, where the land is supposed to be preserved and for the wild, were extinct. In 1995,
Operation Wolfstock was set in motion. The plan was to relocate some wolves from Canada
down to Yellowstone. The project was a major success. Wolves also have returned to Isle
Royale after many years. The population is slowly dying off, with only three wolves seen on the
island.