If We Each Did Our Part...

In class we have been discussing how there are little things that everyone can do within their lives to help combat the problem of global warming, but how that is simply not enough. I fully agree with this statement, but what if everyone did this? What would happen if everyone got solar panels on their house, and if everyone recycled, and if everyone used a reusable water bottles, and if everyone changed their light bulbs? The little things add up. If everyone bought more fuel efficient cars and bought locally grown food would that make a difference? I truly believe that if we can get everyone on board to do only the little things we will see a big change. The United States is a nation of 300 million people. If all of these people changed their ways and focused on how their actions have direct and immediate outcomes, we would be combating the problem on global climate disruption. The little actions are obviously not a solution, but they could be a step in the right direction.  What do you guys think? If everyone did the little things would it add up?

Arrogance

While reading for another class in the past few day, I learned that the United States spends more than any other public entity on climate change research, but we are the least receptive to the data give. We also forced the European Union and other nations to add things like cap and trade programs to the Kyoto Protocol, but then we never ratified it. I've been thinking lately that there will come a time when the world's other nations won't put up with our actions anymore. Is it fair that the European Union is trying to its best to reduce their impact and help to slow the trend of  global warming and the United States as a federal government refuses to even address the problem? Many states have individual climate change legislation- but that makes our nation look even worse. That the states have to deal this immediate and serious problem because the federal government will not. I think that there will come a time in the very near future where the rest of the world is not going to allow us to keep on living as we do. We need to change out habits in order to combat climate change and I think at this point the only way that will happen in through international pressure.

Keystone Pipeline

One of the major environmental dilemma we are facing in modern day is the decision to build or to not build the Keystone Pipeline. This has been a huge controversy among the environmentalists who believe that the building of this pipeline, along with various others negative environmental ramifications, will be a step in the wrong direction in relation of green energy. There is a planned protest next Saturday, April 26, in D.C. that is being sponsored by Bill McKibben's group 350.org to urge President Obama to not approve of the plan. I personally believe that the building of the pipeline is a completely unnecessary action. Our main focus should be on clean, renewable energy and not the transportation of "dirty" oil. We have already reached peak oil and trying to obtain every last drop of oil is not a solution. We need to convey the message that green energy is the step we need to invest in. The pipeline is a symbol of the current actions we are taking to please the oil-loving masses, I just don't understand why the focus isn't on renewable energy. It is a known fact that we will run out of oil in the near future, so why is the world still dependent on it? All of our efforts should be on making this planet sustainable for the next generation, and the refusal from the President to build the pipeline is a step in the right direction. If you are interested in the protest, you should check out the link below!

http://350.org/campaigns/stop-keystone-xl/

Scientific Ethics

In my Environmental Politics & Policy class today the topic was brought up of scientific ethics in relation to the giving of grants. I know we talked about this a bit in one class, but I think it is a really important topic. Almost the whole class was in agreement that politics should stay out of science, but what happens when scientist are granted federal funds for their research? Is this better than private industry conducting research? I think that this is a huge problem we are facing in the current day with the huge privatization of research. Science is one pure medium, where things are mostly black and white - your hypothesis was correct or it wasn't. That is why I am so drawn to science, as I like things in black and white as opposed to the gray world we live in, but is the science industry going gray? These are just some thoughts I had, that I am definitely going to research further into. Especially with the ever looming threat of global climate disruption, we need all the research we can going into the fields of energy and modeling - but is this research all up to par? Or is it representing what big industry wants to portray?

Elon Musk

Elon Musk is the engineer I was talking about in class - but I perhaps got a few of my facts wrong. I am posting the 60 Minutes story on him below and I highly suggest you all check it out. It's only ten minutes and you learn a lot. This guy is transforming technology, but as we talked about in class - is this for the better? I think that his car company will transform the way that cars are built, bought, and driven and that his contract with NASA is just a testament of his ability and work ethic. If you still don't believe in his vision.... He's the guy who created PayPal. He wanted to go to Mars as a child and perhaps with his mid - that's a plausible goal. Again - check out this interview!

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/tesla-and-spacex-elon-musks-industrial-empire/

Winter Temps

This is the map I was talking about in class. I think that this map is a perfect representation of how climate change is affecting our day-to-day lives. While reading for my Environmental Policy & Politics class, I recently discovered that many people don't believe that climate change has already begun and I feel like this map right here helps to prove it. Yes this winter might be part of a natural weather cycle - but compared against previous years we can use this to determine how our climate is going to change in the next decade or so. I put the link of the website where the map is from below. Let me know what you guys think about this!


http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2014/03/where-would-winter-temperatures-place-your-city-in-the-us/

An Inconvenient Truth

I am so glad that we watched An Inconvenient Truth. In today's society Global Warming or Global Climate Change or Global Climate Disruption is a highly prevalent issue that was human induced. The majority of citizens in our country are contributors to this global altering problem, yet they don't understand the ramifications of their actions. Global climate disruption as seen through our reading and through the movie is supported by all but a few scientist, yet I don't think that the common man knows all the results of this. Today there is a huge greenwashing campaign, and like we have discussed in class, its the popular choice to be green, but do people really understand what it means to be green and what might happen if we don't change our ways? Look at situations like Hurricane Sandy or the droughts that are plaguing the West. I think everyone needs to know the inconvenient truth that we caused these events and more like it are coming. Everyone needs to understand the ramifications of our actions. I am a huge supporter of public education of this this issue that rapidly changes with new data. Even the data in the movie was inconsistent with today's data and I believe all citizens need to be educated on this issue - and so does our President. He recently released a rollout plan for a new government website that is aimed at presenting climate change data in a visually appealing manner. I highly suggest you read the article from the New York Times that describes the site in detail that I've posted below, as well as the site itself which is also posted.


http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/20/us/politics/white-house-to-introduce-climate-data-website.html
climate.data.gov