Your Voice: How global warming could cause cold weather; everyone should feel accepted (long letters)

Climate change is the long-term shift in temperature and weather patterns. Although these changes can be the result of natural phenomena such as solar cycles and volcanic activity, human activity over the past 200 years has caused the climate to change at abnormal rates.

Since the 1800s, the industrial revolution has caused the production of goods to increase. This means that more fossil fuels are burned. The burning of fossil fuels emits heat-trapping greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide. Normally, when heat from the sun enters the atmosphere, most of the heat escapes the system naturally. But as more greenhouse gases fill our atmosphere, the heat cannot escape and is trapped on Earth, resulting in a higher average temperature. This is called global warming.

When we think of global warming, we imagine the temperature getting warmer and warmer. We have all felt this happening over the past few years. Summers are getting hotter, while winters aren’t so cold any more. Last July, extraordinarily high temperatures broke records in Hong Kong, including the highest temperature ever recorded in July. The same was true for autumn, which logged the highest average temperature of 26.4 degrees Celsius from September to November.

What’s the link between winter storms and global warming?

With ever-rising temperatures resulting from climate change, why are there places that are also recording record-low temperatures?

Accelerated Arctic warming (or “Arctic amplification”) has been evident since the 1990s. As human activity continues and greenhouse gases are emitted in higher amounts, the global temperature skyrockets. This affects all parts of the world, but the Arctic has been hit the worst. Arctic amplification helps to increase polar vortex stretching events. In simple terms, the polar vortex is the large area of low pressure and cold air surrounding the two poles. When the Arctic polar vortex is strong and stable, the polar air remains in place over the North Pole. But when the polar vortex weakens or stretches, extremely cold air can dip south. This causes huge gusts of freezing polar winds to dip into southern places.

These polar vortexes are getting more common. In February, a polar vortex caused the temperature to drop to -10 degrees Fahrenheit in Boston in the northeast United States, with wind chills reaching -39 degrees. Usually, the average minimum temperature at this time would be around 2 degrees, rarely going below -5. Although Boston is used to the cold, if these vortexes dipped a little further south, it could cause serious damage to cities that aren’t prepared.

Scientists are still not sure whether these polar vortexes are directly caused by climate change, but as new data is published, it is just a matter of time until we see whether extreme cold weather is caused by climate change.

Putting this aside, climate change is getting more serious, causing extreme weather to happen more frequently. This could hurt the global economy, and millions of people could die as a result, especially in less developed countries.

Our carbon footprint is the total amount of greenhouse gas generated by our actions. Generating electricity is the main contributing factor to greenhouse gas emissions, accounting for over a quarter of all emissions. By cutting our electricity usage, we could all lower our carbon footprint. Even small actions, like switching off lights during the day or taking public transport instead of a taxi, could have a huge impact on stopping global warming.

Direct air carbon capture: can this technology remove and store enough CO2 to fix our climate crisis?

Dhyana Shah, Podar International School, India

Do you remember learning about sex determination in biology lessons? The way we were taught says there are only two chromosome combinations, and therefore only two genders, but in reality, there are around 8 million possible combinations. This means that there could be many more gender variations that we are not yet aware of.

According to scientists, dysphoria in one’s biological sex can be caused by a decrease in the hormones corresponding to one’s assigned sex at birth and an increase in hormones corresponding to the opposite sex. Studies have shown that cerebral development from a young age correlates with gender identity, which means that gender is not necessarily determined solely by chromosomes.

It is vital that we create a safe environment in schools for queer people. We can do that by establishing a curriculum that is trans-inclusive. Teaching trans history or having more trans faculty members and students are things that schools can do to establish a safe place for people in the trans community. This is to ensure that everyone feels safe in their learning environment.

The lack of a trans-inclusive curriculum can perpetuate discrimination. For transgender people, discrimination often begins at school. It is therefore essential to create an inclusive environment in which every student feels valued.

Transgender people should be treated with respect and called by their chosen names and pronouns. However, schools often fail to provide this level of support. According to a 2021 study conducted by the Trevor Project, over half of LGBTQ students in the United States reported being bullied in the past year, both in person and through cyberbullying. It is essential to create a safe environment in schools where students can express their gender identity without fear of discrimination or harassment.

For Hong Kong’s trans teens, support groups like Quarks are a lifeline

Having studied in both Hong Kong and India, I found that there are multiple organisations dedicated to making schools more inclusive and supportive. These organisations focus on the sexuality of students and of faculty members to ensure that everyone feels accepted.

Humsafar Trust, located in Mumbai, emphasises the importance of self-awareness and gender identity. It also provides education about HIV/Aids. Quarks caters to trans youth in Hong Kong, providing them with valuable resources. Due to a dearth of government support, these resources are critical for teens who may otherwise feel helpless.

It is time for our schools to become more inclusive so that everyone has the freedom to express themselves the way they want to.