For my final project I decided to write a journal from the perspective of a girl named Hailey. The story is set in the year 2073 and Hailey, along with her family, is dealing with a rapidly rising sea level. The sea has already risen to the point where new enormous buildings had to be created to house all the people on the coastlines. The journals detail her day-to-day life and include many struggles and plot twists. I decided to create a journal because I enjoy this format and really liked the style of writing in Diary of an Interesting Year. Here is a journal entry from my final project: Contine reading
Author: jhammond
Education is key
After taking this course I have a whole new perspective on how our planet is being polluted; I’ve learned extensive amounts about water pollution and how that, in the long run, is going to defunct a multitude of animal species and eventually destroy our planet’s ability to sustain life. I never thought someone else was as interested in this topic until I talked to a close friend of mine and found out that she grew up in an area that banned water pollution near recreational swimming zones. Of course that didn’t stop her city from dumping the pollutants into the water just further up the coast, but it was a step in the right direction. She spoke about how beautiful and pristine her beaches were; how, even during the rainy season, the water was still clear and fish still swam near the coast. Thats how beaches are supposed to look; however, the unfortunate truth of this story is that this is not a common reality for most coastal areas. Many beaches are polluted to the extent where they are closed off to the public because if someone swam in the contaminated water they could get extremely ill or even die. So why is this still legal? Why is it legal to pollute water to the extent that it may kill people if they swim in it? Why don’t we consider marine animals’ lives when creating these laws? My friend and I asked ourselves these questions and tried to come up with reasonable explanations as to why humans have created laws and norms that put human beings at the top of the pyramid of life. Contine reading
The Media’s Roll in Climate Change
In recent years, the world has suffered a dramatic increase in temperature which in turn has melted the polar ice caps raising the sea level slowly but surely. These are facts. However, some news sources such as Fox News don’t like to acknowledge these facts as true occurring events; rather they enjoy calling them “theories” and “ideas,” thus contributing to the distrust of scientists. When scientists who have focused their entire research on climate change and the global distribution of heat throughout the recent years are questioned for validity on news broadcasts, viewers sometimes find the need to reconsider their respect and appreciation for these proven facts. When scientists who are experts in the area of climate change aren’t believed, then who are the people believing? Contine reading
A Moral Obligation to Act(?)
If someone were to ask me what the Tar Sands were prior to the class readings, I would have told them that I have no idea what they were. Unbeknownst to me, the Canadian Tar Sands are a 54,000 square mile area of what used to be lush Alberta Forrest, but is now the home of some of the dirtiest oil mining operations in the world. These lo mines are largely contributing to greenhouse gas emissions as well as the world’s climate change. Reading the articles and viewing the pictures on the Tar Sands were shocking to say the least. What was more shocking, however, was the fact that I, nor anyone I asked, knew anything about the Tar Sands or even knew what they were.
The consequences of our actions are here…
Global warming has always been a topic that I have felt passionately about. Ever since I was able to recognize that the environment was changing, and not for the better, I have felt strongly about the changing climate, as well as the reasons behind it. In recent years, I would say that I have stayed fairly “in the loop” with climate change topics, including the preventative measures on both the small and large scale. In addition to this, I have also followed some scientists predictions on what could and will happen if we as human beings stay on the same course we are on now with regards to CO2 emissions and air pollution. However, it wasn’t until viewing the Global Weirding is Here website that I truly understood the massive, global, and near future effects that climate change will have on the environment, animals, and even humans.
One of the most shocking initial facts that struck me upon viewing the Global Weirding is Here timeline was that climate change has already affected people across the world on a very large scale. Issues such as increased heavy rainfall in the United States and a rising sea level across the world have already been occurring right in-front of our eyes. Although those issues alone seem fairly large in scale, that is nothing compared to what will come if we don’t do anything. Based on the “Do Nothing” scenario where we as humans continue what we are currently doing we should expect to see rising water and surface temperatures, an increased risk of wildfires, severe drought across the world and mass extinctions of species; all in our lifetimes. The last part, “all in our lifetime” is something that is truly shocking and eye-opening. It is something that should be a wake-up call for all people, regardless of age, regardless of whether this will occur in your lifetime, your children’s lifetime, or even your grandchildren’s lifetime. This stuff is happening and it’s happening fast. It should be our responsibility as humans being to make a difference on this Earth that will benefit people for many years to come.
It’s shocking to think that something such as global warming, which is usually talked about in the future tense (“if we don’t do this, then this will happen”), is already occurring. Contine reading