I have learned so much by writing this blog. I fully understand the answer to my question, and I know that I can use what I now know to inform others and to continue to fight global warming. The most important thing that I have learned through this process is that it will take many different approaches to climate change to mobilize people.
Here is a brief summary of my answers: government action, incentive, personal risk, facts, consumer appeal, a connection to the economy, passion, and reaching out and informing. I have examples for all of these and explanations in my blog. Renewable energy is also going to be a major way for us to become less dependant on fossil fuels.
The consequences for inaction will be severe. The seas will rise, temperatures will increase, and humans will be left to fight an unbeatable war. This is why we need to act now. It is not impossible to win this battle. People are already acting all over the world. With international cooperation, we can save our planet. This goal is easily within our reach.
We all need to take responsibility for our own actions. Little things can make a difference: energy-saving light bulbs, fuel-efficient cars, energy-efficient technology, and much more. But, inevitably, enormous changes will be needed. Radical government policies will alter the course of our earth's climate. But, most importantly, it will be individual people that will make a difference. We will all have to make a choice. Most of us will choose to fight global warming, save the earth, and make a better future for our children. These people will change the course of history and become history. Like Eban Goodstein said: "What a time to be alive."
You don't need to be extremely educated on the issue to be involved. We will all be invested in stopping climate change. Whether you know the current emission of CO2 or not, you will still be making changes in your lives in pursuit of a common goal: ending global warming.
I literally can not express how much I love and have a passion for nature. When I read statistics that show how Americans simply don't care, I become extremely frustrated. I just can't see how people care about the economy more than the environment when 1) We live off the environment and 2) the economy will be a hundred times worse if we let climate change worsen. I think this message is what will mainly motivate people. I also think that the majority of the population of the world doesn't have enough information to be compelled to act. Therefore, the spreading of facts is crucial to catapulting global warming to the top of our concerns list.
Recently, for the Climate Action Club, I spent over three hours calling various places around the state to see if they recycled normal batteries. None of them did. From big box stores, to local business, nobody was helpful or informative on where I could recycle batteries. Here are some examples of what I went through and heard.
Staples recycles all kinds of batteries except normal, everyday AAA, AA, C, and D batteries. One employee told be that this was so because regular batteries aren't "eco-harmful." This is false because, at that same moment, I had been reading how much mercury is in normal batteries. At one Wal-Mart store, they had a policy where they recycled any type of battery that were bought in their store. Target advertised online that they recycled batteries. But, when I called three different Target stores, none of them had that service. For each store, as I waited for an employee to assist me, I heard the same recording telling me how important my call was.
This afternoon, I tried calling a local recycling business in Newcastle. Here is what our conversation sounded like:
Me: Hello, do you recycle batteries?
Him: What?
Me: Do you recycle batteries?
Him: No.
Me: Do you know where I can?
Him: No.
Me: Okay. Thank you very much.
Him: Yep.
There is practically no place in the state to recycle normal batteries. Most people just go in to a store and buy random, cheap, batteries because they don't want to spend the time or money on rechargeable batteries. I don't blame them, and I do the same thing. But, there has to be a place where we can take our old batteries for recycling instead of throwing them in a landfill. I think it is pitiful how little opportunity we have to recycle these batteries. We need to have these facilities in all our towns. This is an example of how we can tie our everyday lives to global warming. Just this simple action can make such a big impact. But, millions of people will have to do this in order for us to influence others and reverse climate change.
My mom recently sent me an e-mail that is the perfect example for this blog. Hannah Pingree is introducing a renewable energy legislation to the Utilities and Energy Committee in Augusta on February 12. Her bill "would...allow communities to develop shared green energy projects." It would also "develop incentives, including low interest loans, for consumers to make substantial home efficiency upgrades." This is absolutely thrilling to me because it verifies my answers. I found this solution through books, websites, and interviewing Jared. This tells me that what I found for my answers for this blog are very true and plausible. They are also being implemented at this moment. This is proof that we are on path that can lead us to a brighter future.
Monday, February 11, 2008
Statistics from BREAK THROUGH
Here are some statistics from BREAK THROUGH that show how my question applies in the world, and why answers are needed.
"When pollsters asked voters to rank issues in terms of their importance, the environment almost always came in last. In the Nicholas Institutes's survey, pollsters asked, 'What is the most important issue to you personally?' The environment cam in dead last...In a June 2006 survey, researchers with the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press asked people what issues they considered very important. The environment cam in twelfth...and global warming sixteenth...out of sixteen named issues" (Nordhaus and Shellenberger 32).
Data like this makes me really frustrated. This is what makes me want to become an activist and inform people of what is happening in our environment. I think that people plainly have no reason to fight global warming. Activists need to compel those people. We survive on this earth. We depend on it, and there is no way that we could live without it. The world needs to understand this. We are moving toward a point in history where everyone person on this planet will be united by global warming.
People might wait to stop climate change because we need to end the conflict in Darfur, or end the Iraq war. But, the problems that we face in our world now will be so much worse and more devastating than in the history of humanity in a century. This is why we need to act NOW. Once governments become more active, the public will follow. Incentive.
"When pollsters asked voters to rank issues in terms of their importance, the environment almost always came in last. In the Nicholas Institutes's survey, pollsters asked, 'What is the most important issue to you personally?' The environment cam in dead last...In a June 2006 survey, researchers with the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press asked people what issues they considered very important. The environment cam in twelfth...and global warming sixteenth...out of sixteen named issues" (Nordhaus and Shellenberger 32).
Data like this makes me really frustrated. This is what makes me want to become an activist and inform people of what is happening in our environment. I think that people plainly have no reason to fight global warming. Activists need to compel those people. We survive on this earth. We depend on it, and there is no way that we could live without it. The world needs to understand this. We are moving toward a point in history where everyone person on this planet will be united by global warming.
People might wait to stop climate change because we need to end the conflict in Darfur, or end the Iraq war. But, the problems that we face in our world now will be so much worse and more devastating than in the history of humanity in a century. This is why we need to act NOW. Once governments become more active, the public will follow. Incentive.
Fighting for Love in the Century of Extinction: How Passion and Politics Can Stop Global Warming
Just the title of the book tells how global warming can become a major issue in our culture: passion and politics. For me, passion is what motivates me to act and inform others. These are answer that I have already explored in my blog, so I will include more general information and statistics from this book.
"In 2100, the Earth could be very hot, with temperatures up 10 degrees Fahrenheit on average. Combined with mass extinctions, post-peak-oil, poverty, water shortages, and a reversion to tribalistic politics, all this might leave our descendants suffering. Or perhaps, a world rewired with clean-energy technology, a globalization that raises the mas of humanity toward a decent standard of living, and a new newfound and profound respect for the remains of creation will carry humanity forward into a new era of progress" (Goodstein 8). Another major motivation for people is what their children and grandchildren will have to deal with. The problems in our world that we are dealing with now will be so much worse in a century. This fact is why climate change needs to a central cultural issue of my generation. We can not fathom what will come. If people are confronted with these facts, government policies, and compelling reasons, we will be on the path that will make our world a better place. By acting and fighting, we will be making history. As Goodstein writes, "What a time to be alive" (Goodstein 9). We are faced with the tremendous opportunity to save our planet: the coral reefs, the arctic, the polar bears, the birds, and us.
In the Solutions section of this book, Goodstein says that "Rich countries need to meet the Kyoto targets by reducing CO2 emissions to 5 percent below 1990 level by 2010, and then cut emissions by a whopping 90 percent by the end of the century" (Goodstein 126). But, one of the largest CO2 emitters in the world is the U.S.. We produce 23% of gasses emitted. Furthermore, we are not part of the Kyoto treaty. Like I have said before, there needs to be international cooperation. The U.S. has to be an active participant in global agreements. The world needs to unite. This is how we will fight and win.
The rest of the Solutions chapter talks about how we need to use renewable energy, like wind and solar power. Also, we the government "to invest in research and devlopment and provide production incentives, so that as economies of scale kick in, these clean alternative become cost competitive" (Goodstein 127). Again, this relates back to what Jared told be, and what I have found throughout by research.
"In 2100, the Earth could be very hot, with temperatures up 10 degrees Fahrenheit on average. Combined with mass extinctions, post-peak-oil, poverty, water shortages, and a reversion to tribalistic politics, all this might leave our descendants suffering. Or perhaps, a world rewired with clean-energy technology, a globalization that raises the mas of humanity toward a decent standard of living, and a new newfound and profound respect for the remains of creation will carry humanity forward into a new era of progress" (Goodstein 8). Another major motivation for people is what their children and grandchildren will have to deal with. The problems in our world that we are dealing with now will be so much worse in a century. This fact is why climate change needs to a central cultural issue of my generation. We can not fathom what will come. If people are confronted with these facts, government policies, and compelling reasons, we will be on the path that will make our world a better place. By acting and fighting, we will be making history. As Goodstein writes, "What a time to be alive" (Goodstein 9). We are faced with the tremendous opportunity to save our planet: the coral reefs, the arctic, the polar bears, the birds, and us.
In the Solutions section of this book, Goodstein says that "Rich countries need to meet the Kyoto targets by reducing CO2 emissions to 5 percent below 1990 level by 2010, and then cut emissions by a whopping 90 percent by the end of the century" (Goodstein 126). But, one of the largest CO2 emitters in the world is the U.S.. We produce 23% of gasses emitted. Furthermore, we are not part of the Kyoto treaty. Like I have said before, there needs to be international cooperation. The U.S. has to be an active participant in global agreements. The world needs to unite. This is how we will fight and win.
The rest of the Solutions chapter talks about how we need to use renewable energy, like wind and solar power. Also, we the government "to invest in research and devlopment and provide production incentives, so that as economies of scale kick in, these clean alternative become cost competitive" (Goodstein 127). Again, this relates back to what Jared told be, and what I have found throughout by research.
Break Through: From the Death of Environmentalism to the Politics of Possibility
This book, as the subtitle shows, is about how politics will influence how we fight global warming. There are many points of view expressed in this book. "Environmentalists believe that getting Americans to protect the environment is a simple and ration process: Expose them to the beauty of the natural world. Show them how it is literally being destroyed by human activity. Advocate actions to stop destruction" (Nordhaus and Shellenberger 25). I have learned a lot from doing the research for my I-Search. But, the most important thing that I have learned is that it will take different reasons to motivate different types of people. For people who are passionate about nature, showing them how the world is being abused will get them to do something. This is only a small percentage of the world population, though. I think that this strategy combined with the spread of facts, government actions, and everything else that I have talked about in my blog will get people to fight climate change.
"In poll after poll, voters name concerns like jobs and the economy as their top priorities. Yet environmental foundations and organizations haven't advanced a strategy for action on the environment to be centrally justified as a way to create jobs and stimulate growth. The simple reason for this is that the categories of jobs and growth exist outside of the environmentalist politics of limits" (Nordhaus and Shellenberger 33). So, how can we fix this trend? Create green jobs! This is one of the points that the 1Sky solutions and Jared talked about. Fight global warming shouldn't just be in the field of environmentalism. It should be integrated into our jobs, economy, and politics. We can't isolate climate change in its own scientific field. It needs to be common universal ground that everyone can relate to in one way or another. Of all the ways that climate change can be the central issue of my generation, I think this will be the most prominent. Here is a quote that exemplifies this: "...social scientists have demonstrated that material prosperity is a prerequisite for ecological concern..." (Nordhaus and Shellenberger 37).
The message of this book is that politics will inevitably influence how quickly and effectively the world fights global warming. I agree with this, but I also think that other motivational factors will be needed. This was a very informative book that I would love to read more of.
"In poll after poll, voters name concerns like jobs and the economy as their top priorities. Yet environmental foundations and organizations haven't advanced a strategy for action on the environment to be centrally justified as a way to create jobs and stimulate growth. The simple reason for this is that the categories of jobs and growth exist outside of the environmentalist politics of limits" (Nordhaus and Shellenberger 33). So, how can we fix this trend? Create green jobs! This is one of the points that the 1Sky solutions and Jared talked about. Fight global warming shouldn't just be in the field of environmentalism. It should be integrated into our jobs, economy, and politics. We can't isolate climate change in its own scientific field. It needs to be common universal ground that everyone can relate to in one way or another. Of all the ways that climate change can be the central issue of my generation, I think this will be the most prominent. Here is a quote that exemplifies this: "...social scientists have demonstrated that material prosperity is a prerequisite for ecological concern..." (Nordhaus and Shellenberger 37).
The message of this book is that politics will inevitably influence how quickly and effectively the world fights global warming. I agree with this, but I also think that other motivational factors will be needed. This was a very informative book that I would love to read more of.
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