CO2 Heat Up Image polar bears standing on one leg due to shrinking ice caps that is the reality in today’s world. Ever since the industrial revolution in the 1850’s, people started to use fossil fuels as energy sources. Fossil fuels create tons of CO2 emissions that get stuck in the atmosphere. These emissions could negatively impact both wildlife and humans alike. CO2 emissions are a big problem in today’s society, and emissions need to be reduced to protect the environment. Some people say CO2 emissions are a myth, and these emissions don’t cause global warming. In the past the Earth heated up to end the Ice Age, and they argue the same cycle is happening today. While the Earth did heat up in the past, it has never reached this kind of global temperature. According to NASA’s climate change graph that shows the Earth’s temperature before fossil fuels and after fossil fuels, the temperature after fossil fuels were used is much higher than before, so this proves CO2 emissions rise global temperature and cause global warming. This creates big problems for the environment. CO2 emissions heat up the Antarctic ice caps causing them to melt. The Antarctic ice caps has been on a slow decline ever since 1992. According John Cook, “Between 1992 and 2011, the Antarctic Ice Sheets overall lost 1350 giga-tonnes (Gt) or 1,350,000,000,000 tonnes into the oceans, at an average rate of 70 Gt per year (Gt/yr).” Even though the Antarctic ice cap gained some of the lost ice from 2011 to 2014, it has lost so much ice due to a rise in CO2 emissions, and the Antarctic ice cap is currently on another decline. The wildlife in both land and sea are having trouble with the shrinking ice cap. Polar bears and Orca whales are slowly declining due to rising CO2 emissions. Shrinking ice caps also affect scientific research, and research is hindered due to CO2 emissions. In addition, shrinking ice caps cause sea level rise. Ocean are heavily affected by CO2 emissions, and these emissions cause increased temperatures in the ocean and sea level rise. As the ocean temperature rises, water expands rising the sea level, and as ice caps melt, this also rises the sea level. Rising sea level can cause islands to disappear, and can cause destruction to costal habitats affecting humans, plants, and animals. Increased temperatures in oceans can also cause marine life and coral to die. According to National Geographic, “But scientific research is finding that marine ecosystems can be far more sensitive to even the most modest temperature change.” The temperature in the ocean increased by .1 degrees Celsius, but this is a big change for marine life. Coral reefs are slowly dying because of temperature change, and this is the habitat for lots of marine wildlife. Marine life, humans, and plants all get affected heavily by CO2 emissions. The main cause for CO2 emissions is fossil fuels. The burning of fossil fuels creates tons of CO2 emissions that cause global temperature rise, and this affects the Antarctic ice cap and the oceans. The world needs to switch to renewable energy or non-carbon emitting energy sources in order to protect the environment. According to Tom Zambrano, “Wind, solar, and hydroelectric systems generate electricity with no associated air pollution emissions. While geothermal and biomass energy systems emit some air pollutants, total air emissions are generally much lower than those of coal- and natural gas-fired power plants.” These energy sources would be much better for the environment, and if the world moved to these energy sources CO2 emissions would be drastically reduced. From the transition to these energy sources, temperatures would stay constant, and the ice cap would not decline.