With each summer getting warmer than the previous summer, people have taken the noticeable change in temperatures. Nowadays, people tend to get readily exhausted because of the heat. Currently, in Seoul, the number of tropical nights is increasing continually every year. And more often than not, people go to a coffee shop to avoid the heat. Sometimes,you may see heaps of disposable cups in the trash of these coffee shops. When seeing the rubbish heap, doesn't one wonder ‘How many trees are sacrificed to make them?’.

I have a one question for you. Do you know about the hidden danger of disposable cups?

To start, I want to tell you about the many damages caused by the heat waves occurring across the earth recently. In Kumagaya the temperature reached a high of 41.1 degrees Celsius, the highest ever recorded in Japan. The United States and in Europe are suffering from severe heat waves, too.

Now, let’s compare the heat wave and using paper cups. How many disposable cups are emitted into the world? In the UK, 7 million disposable coffee cups are used every day – that’s 2.5 billion every year. According to the EARTH DAT NETWORK, Each year over 500 billion single use coffee cups are used and thrown away around the globe. Yonhap news (in Korea) says that heat waves are associated with using disposable cup (KIMJIHWAN, 2018).

Shocking!...

What does the utilisation of disposable cups have to do with heat waves? To be specific, greenhouse gas is a major reason for global warming. The 80% of greenhouse gas is carbon dioxide. Disposable cups are a typical example of greenhouse gas emission. According to One Planet Zero, 11 grams of carbon dioxide is emitted to make a single paper cup. To make a ton of disposable cups, we have to cut the twenty trees. Forestry is important for our environment because it absorbs the carbon dioxide (KIMJIHWAN, 2018).

Let’s contemplate about it again, whenever we produce the disposable cups, the carbon dioxide will certainly be emitted and the trees will be sacrificed consequently. As the number of usage of disposable cups increases, global warming is accelerated (KIMJIHWAN, 2018). 

As I stated previously, increasing usage of disposable cups can contribute to global warming. When we are suffering from heat waves, its the Earth response to us damaging it. We have to stop using disposable cups. If we use a tumbler instead of disposable cups, we can reduce contributing to global warming. Using disposable cups are convenient, but one thing has to be considered: Have you ever thought about the environment in which you and your child will live in the future (KIMJIHWAN, 2018)? 

It’s time to be active in protecting our environment. Let's use reusable cups instead of disposable ones.