Climate Change’s influx in natural disasters

In 2024, numerous large storms have been seen in the United States, from hurricanes to deadly fires – scientists believe that climate change is behind the increasingly dangerous natural disasters. 

In the year 2024, thirteen recorded Atlantic storms have been recorded, nine being hurricanes and four major hurricanes. An ongoing increase in dangerous storms is occurring, with category four and five hurricanes becoming more frequent and severe. Many meteorologists believe that sea temperatures are rising due to human-induced heat-trapping gasses and particulate pollution. 

According to the U.S. Global Change Research Program, “The atmosphere responds differently when local sea surface temperatures increase due to a local decrease of particulate pollution that allows more sunlight through to warm the ocean, versus when sea surface temperatures increase more uniformly around the world due to increased amounts of human-caused heat-trapping gasses.”

Atmospheric changes are reactive to human activities, like particulate matter and pollution from agriculture and farming. Humans have had a large impact on greenhouse gas emissions on a global scale, with 50-65 percent of methane emissions coming from human activities. Extreme emissions bring the concern of wildfires and the number of plants being burned. Plants are not only oxygen producers, but they also consume carbon dioxide in the process of photosynthesis. 

The World Wildlife Foundation states, “Especially intense fire damages the soils’ deepest layers, unlocking the ignition of centuries-old “legacy carbon,” which accounts for 69% of the carbon stored in forests. After fires burn out, the smaller, younger, and drier forests have a limited ability to sequester carbon. Vegetation reaches its full sequestration ability after 25 to 250 years of growth. As fires burn more frequently, the opportunity for plants to reach that full potential becomes more unlikely.”

Wildfires are caused by unsafe fires, trash burning, discarded cigarettes and hot temperatures/dry vegetation. The more fires burn each year, with an average increase of 5.4% in acres burned. Wildfires are increasing in size and destruction, losing lives and wildlife on a large scale.

“Over the last decade, suppression has cost the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service and the Department of the Interior an average of $2.9 billion per year,” says the U.S. Forest Service.

Money going towards natural disaster recovery and fixing the global climate issue could be put towards other global issues such as world hunger and education. Humans have a crucial impact on the world’s change and how our future generations have to live. From fires to hurricanes, every human will be impacted by the climate change crisis. 2024 has been a year of serious, dangerous natural disasters.