Sean Dollete
Sustainable Systems
Professor Rose Bothomley
7 February 2016
Short Answers to Hard Questions about Climate Change
Reading Response
I have known about the topic of climate change from a young age, although the topic itself was never at the forefront of my brain. It wasn’t until high school and coming to The New School where these issues really grasped my full attention. Being at a university that values sustainability has really opened my mind and made me think about and rethink my actions. While reading the article, one part that was quite shocking was the comparison of the heat accumulating in the Earth to the heat released by 400,000 Hiroshima atomic bombs exploding across the planet everyday. And the disturbing part is the heat is due to the HUMAN release of greenhouse gases. This is extremely concerning for my generation and the future generations because these emissions are unchecked and if they continue to be that way then global warming will increase by 8 degrees Fahrenheit which would transform the planet, making it unable to support a large human population. These greenhouse gases pose catastrophic effects for the Earth and for the human race. Reading what could possibly happen is actually quite terrifying. According to the reading, these emissions are continuing to rise unchecked and that alone could destabilize governments and create waves of refugees. The Earth would go through it’s 6th mass extinction of plants and animals. Trying to imagine a world with no plants or animals is horrifically impossible. The polar ice caps are already melting at an accelerating rate which are causing seas to rise to high enough to flood most of the world’s coastal cities. Probably the most difficult thing to read in this article is when they suggest limiting emissions, which reduces the risks and slows the effects, but it’s too late to eliminate it entirely. I think 2 words that are really difficult to swallow is “too late”. It’s insane and absolutely mind blowing that our very little actions can cause such a significant negative impact on the Earth. But at the same time, our small miniscule actions can change the world for the better. Something as simple as turning the lights off and carpooling and eating less meat can have such a gargantuan positive impact. What blows me away is that these actions are so simple yet we can’t commit to doing them. Not only do they have a positive effect on the Earth but to ourselves as well. For example, eating meat, specifically beef, is extremely environmentally damaging. Cows produce emissions of methane which is a more potent greenhouse gas that causes short term warming. The production of cattle demands a lot of land which leads to the destruction of forests and the burning of trees releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Simply cutting meat off or switching to pork or chicken not only reduces the damage being done to the Earth but also improves our health significantly.
What people aren’t realizing is that our actions all come back to us. We are only doing this to ourselves, and at the same time, we can make the world better for us. It’s unbelievable that scientists have been warning us since the 1980’s yet not only have we been ignoring them, but we have managed to make matters worse. Before I was aware of environmental issues and climate change but chose to be ignorant about because I felt like I was just one person and my actions won’t matter that much and that it didn’t concern me. But it honestly takes one person to make a significant change for the better. Every single action matters and it concerns everyone. Recently, I have been trying to be health conscious and trying to be a vegetarian. I have to admit, it’s difficult to swear off meat. But changing my diet will change not only my health for the better but the environment as well. And during the days where I do want meat, it’s easy to change to less damaging alternatives like pork or chicken. I am very fortunate to attend the New School, a university that inspires me to help change the world. The New School should be a role model for other universities because if most colleges and universities partake in the initiative, it could drastically affect the world in the best way. This is our future and our children’s future on the line. The power is in our hands. We have the ability to make it better because in the end, it’s only going to benefit us.