This semester I signed up for STS 201, "Climate Change, Energy, and Biodiversity," in hopes of learning a few more tips and tricks to put on my ecofreak resume. I wasn't expecting, however, to be told on the first day of class that riding my bike and turning down the thermostat does virtually nothing to prevent the Earth from spiraling into a CO2 heat box. What I learned instead is that in order for the levels of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in our atmosphere to stabilize, the planet will need to see an 80% decrease in the emission of fossil fuels in the upcoming years. 80%!!!!!!! Every tree hugger in America can print on both sides of the paper, and we still won't even dent that 80%!
My professor explained that producing the results our planet needs will require some drastic changes in public policy, not just in Washington D.C., but in governments throughout the entire world. It's going to take lifestyle changes for every person living in an industrialized country, changes bigger than just passing up paper towels for the hand-dryer.
Listening to him lecture, I found myself wondering how it's EVER going to be possible to help the Earth out. How can 6 billion people be convinced to literally slash their fossil fuel emissions? How can governments across the world be convinced to convince 6 billion people to stop these emissions? Al Gore made an attempt at increasing public awareness of climate change with his 2006 documentary An Inconvenient Truth, but how much can one controversial film really change?
I don't know what the answer is or whether there even is an answer. I do know, however, that it's going to take some incredible rhetoric to change the ways of skeptics and insufficient environmentalists alike.
Would it change anything to post pictures like this on gas pumps across the nation?
Is change even really possible?
I found this post to be very eye opening, considering I am someone who rarely even recycles. I think adding the picture to the blog was a great touch and had the most impact on me.
ReplyDeleteThis issue makes me a little sad, the fact that people try so hard to be "environmentally clean" and "green" and it won't have any impact to improve the atmosphere. I think that people recycling and etc. because it makes them feel better about themselves, even though it is, in a way, useless.
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