Interesting....

Wow… So this is it, my last required blog post for this semester in environmental science, it sure has been an amazing semester. But with that said, lets just go ahead tear the band-aide right off. We’re all off to a new chapter, and for us environmental science students –and our blog viewers- hopefully the upcoming chapters entail some sort of environmentally friendly behavior!

So, looking back on this semester, what do I personally think is the most important environmental issue today? To narrowly answer this question I would have to say America’s affluent behavior on the environment, but to be more broad, global warming. I picked these topics because both of them have to deal with the climate change that we’ve been experiencing, and the threatening outcomes that may occur if our wasteful behavior continues globally.

So, how do we know the warming is real? Well, for starters, in 2007 the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change found that, due to CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions, the earth’s lower atmosphere has warmed since 1980. They also found that the average global temperature has raised 1.3 degrees Fahrenheit, just as did the emission of CO2. Not to mention, they found that glaciers have been melting, and floating sea ice is shrinking. Lastly, they found that major lakes have warmed, and the sea level rose by 7 inches during the 20^th century.

So why is global warming so scary? Lets face it, if this continues we’re going to face some serious consequences, according to our text, some of the consequences are: severe drought, more ice and snow melt, rising sea levels, more extreme weather conditions, threat of biodiversity, decline of agriculture, and worse human health. Crazy right? One issue can bring about dozens of consequences, and It’s obvious that the harsh weather conditions and raising sea level will kill and endless amount of humans and keystone animals. But, its not until you think critically about the situation until you realize the true harm global warming creates, for example, more sea= less land, less land +high population= cluttered populations, poor health, and ultimately, chaos. Not to mention the fact that many agriculture sources will come to a halt due to weather changes, thereby limiting our food. Okay, so I’m sure we could go on all day talking about the catastrophic events that result from the burning of fossil fuels, but lets look at what we can do as a society to stop global warming. Well, as a society, there are a number of things we can do, such as, cutting fossil fuel use, shift from coal to natural gas, improve energy efficiency, reduce deforestation, use renewable energy sources, and finally, put a price on greenhouse gas emissions. As an individual, I can take societal prevention measures into my own hands (and you can do the same) by not using as much fossil fuels, this means not using as much plastic, and not driving around as much. Besides cutting back on items that use nonrenewable resources, one of the most important things we can do is spread the word and help others help our environment; after all, we’re in this together.

One of the most interesting things I’ve learned this semester was the invention of “earth ships”, which I talked about in my last blog. Earth ships are self-sustainable homes that use no energy, and that can even withstand huge storm events- not to mention, they’re made of reused material! After researching earth ships, I really would like to get more environmentally involved, as the documentary “Garbage Warrior” really did inspire me. Who knows, maybe one day Ill even get the change to help build an earth ship, and more importantly, maybe one day corporate America will focus more on building structures that actually help us, rather than just put us in debt so we can work to pay them off for the rest of our lives.