====== Steve Wang: Earth Worms Saving The Earth ======
By: [[steve-wang|Steve Wang]]

The earth is dying. Global warming is slowly killing most of the living things on earth. Soon, the earth will be uninhabitable to most living things. If we are going to fix this, we have to start now. Dr.Lin came to our school to give explain this situation and how this came to be. Then, she gave us a solution to fix this issue.

According to Google, the definition of global warming is a gradual increase in the overall temperature of the earth's atmosphere generally attributed to the greenhouse effect caused by increased levels of carbon dioxide, CFCs, and other pollutants. Dr.Lin explaineed that years ago, earth did not have this problem. However, over the years, humans have been pulling these gasses from the ground into our atmosphere. For example, when we burn coal for electricity, the gases get put into the air. According to this article from EPA, in 2019, 25 percent greenhouse gas emissions comes from electricity production(1). SO, it is clearly a huge problem. According to Dr.Lin, this has caused a inbalance between the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and in the ground which was not present prior to the intervention of humans.

Since, humans have cause most if not all of this, it should be us who should fix it and Dr.Lin has gave us a solution for this. She explained that to fix the inbalance, we simply have to put the greenhouse gases back into the ground and plants play a big role to bringing balance. According to her, plants can put the greenhouse gases back into the ground. This fact further proved that huamns caused this because for the past many years, humans have deforested a lot of land. Therefore, to go back to the conditions before when we had this balance, we have to plant more plants. To make plants grow, a few important things are needed, air, sunlight, water, soil condition. We can easily fix air, which is everywhere. We can the sunlight issue by planting it where there is sunlight, and we can also water the plants when needed. However, it is not so easy to fix the issue of soil condition.

One of the ways to fix soil condition is to get earthworms. For example, earthworms can do to help is, stimulating microbial activity. Which means that after they eat microorganisms, their fecease contain many more microorganisms that organic matter can consume. Earthworms can also help water flow more easily by digging holes in the ground. When that happens, more water can allso be stored in the soil.  Additionally the holes in the ground would also help roots grow more easily(2). Dr.Lin believes that if the earthworms help the more plants grow quicker, this will be able to fix the issue of global warming.

After understanding how we are causing global warming, Dr.Lin told us we could use plants and earthworms to fix that issue. Furthermore, the information that was given to us seemed quite convincing. So, we should all at least give this method a try. Maybe not to a large scale but it can start with just planting a few plants in your backyard and giving it the best conditions to grow. If we all do our part, we can make the earth a nice habitat for many more generations to come. 

====== Reference =====
1.https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/sources-greenhouse-gas-emissions#:~:text=Human%20activities%20are%20responsible%20for,over%20the%20last%20150%20years.&text=The%20largest%20source%20of%20greenhouse,electricity%2C%20heat%2C%20and%20transportation.

2. https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detailfull/soils/health/biology/?cid=nrcs142p2_053863