Global warming is a hot topic (no pun intended), and while most people believe it exists, there are still many who believe it is a hoax. Global warming is real, so it’s time to stop denying it. There has been a lot of snowfall in the past two weeks, so it’s easy to gloss over the reality of global warming.

While some of us admire the white snow, or lock ourselves indoors in protest, it is crucial to acknowledge that snow does not equate to global warming being a hoax. It is problematic to base your assumptions on whether or not global warming exists on the weather, because weather and climate are different. When people discuss climate change, they use the word climate because climate describes how the atmosphere behaves over a longer period of time. Weather, on the other hand, is a short-term descriptor.

In recent years especially, it has been repeated numerous times that the Earth’s temperature is rising. More specifically, global warming affects surfaces, the atmosphere, and sea levels. There is substantial evidence that this factual, and most of us see this evidence every day. I’m positive that most people with internet access have scrolled through articles about the slow death of the Great Barrier Reef, or melting polar ice. These are just a few examples that demonstrate just how badly global warming impacts the environment.

Although Global warming is considered real by most, I believe that most people are still passive about its impact. Although a rise in Earth’s temperature seems to leave us unaffected, the reality is that we are destroying our home. The disregard many individuals have for the environment, and the subsequent assertion that it truly won’t affect us, is exactly the type of behavior that contributes to the problem.