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Do We Need to Save the Earth?

What do you think about climate change? Do you think that it is a problem of the future, or is it a problem that we are facing now? And, what will happen if we don’t do something about it? It is now a widely accepted fact that climate change is worsen by human activities. But, how does climate change affect us or planet earth?

California Department of Water Resources

As a senior engineering student whose dream is to work in renewable energy field, I enrolled myself in a sustainable engineering class taught by Dr. Bhavik Bakshi (a professor at Ohio State University and also co-director for OSU’s center of resilience. Click here for more information) hoping to gain some knowledge that would be useful in my process of job hunting. The class itself was heavily discussion based, not exactly a typical engineering course.

The first topic that we discussed was “Can the improvement in human well-being be sustained or are we doomed?” With the cloud of climate change and pollution hanging over our heads, everyone answered, “we are doomed” without hesitation. Dr. Bakshi challenged the class, asking, “How is it that we are doomed? Are we destroying earth and destroy ourselves in return?” This particular discussion went on for quite some time which resulted in the final consensus being ‘No, we are not doomed. And, no, we are not destroying the Earth.’ However, that change does not mean that we do not have a problem.

Climate change is not destroying the Earth. But that’s because Earth is adaptive. The planet has been around for millions of years. Earth has weathered through some pretty rough times (the ice ages, the medieval warm period) and yet, here it is, still spinning. For its habitats and habitants however, climate change is an entire different story.

Majority of Earth’s current habitats depend on oxygen to survive. There was a time when Earth had no oxygen proving that Earth, the planet and some of its organisms, does not need oxygen-rich air. Yet, seeing as we rely on the current environment here on Earth, WE do!

Climate change is not just an environmental problem. It is a humanity problem.

Is climate change our only problem?

Is it a matter of the future or is it something that we are facing now?

In A Safe Operating Space for Humanityplanetary boundaries are defined as the safe operating space (imagine the inner ring of a donut) from the presumed thresholds of the planet (the outer ring), within which our habitats require to survive on Earth.

Planetary boundaries are separated into 10 categories: climate change, ocean acidification, stratospheric ozone depletion, global freshwater use, change in land use, biodiversity loss, atmospheric aerosol loading, chemical pollution, nitrogen and phosphorus cycle.

Boundary

The inner green shading represents the proposed safe operating space for nine planetary systems. The red wedges represent an estimate of the current position for each variable. The boundaries in three systems (rate of biodiversity loss, climate change and human interference with the nitrogen cycle), have already been exceeded.

As the diagram shows, climate change, nitrogen cycle and biodiversity loss have already exceeded their safe boundaries, phosphorus cycle and ocean acidification are reaching the limits, and there are still a couple of categories that have not yet been quantified. The effects of these have been seen in the United States and across the globe and not just in climate changes.

Last summer, lake Erie was polluted with algae bloom that was caused by the run off of nitrogen and phosphorus from artificial fertilizer used in agricultural farms. It is predicted that the algae bloom will occur more frequently as the use of artificial fertilizers increase.

Another case displaying effects beyond climate change is the recent drought in California. This year, California faced one of  the most severe droughts in decades. The government has issued a statewide drought emergency and called for help from all sectors.

To answer the earlier questions, climate change is clearly not the only problem that we should be worrying about and it is a problem that we are faced with as of RIGHT NOW.

What will happen if we continue to ignore this problem or don’t try to fix it?

The answer, sadly, is rather obvious. The future generation, our children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews of course, will have to find a solution.

Then I say the earth belongs to each…generation during its course, fully and in its own right. The second generation receives it clear of the debts and encumbrances, the third of the second, and so on. For if the first could charge it with a debt, then the earth would belong to the dead and not to the living generation. Then, no generation can contract debts greater than may be paid during the course of it’s own existence.”

– Thomas Jefferson

We created these problems together. We wanted a better life with better living conditions. We accomplished it by exploiting natural resources. Some may argue that we did this for the future generations. I say they did not ask for this. It would be selfish of us who created the problem of climate change claiming “for their benefit”, solely their responsibility.

What is being done now?

Surprisingly, there are regulations present to prevent events like algae blooms from happening. However, they are not heavily enforced and main cause of this pollution, the farmers who use artificial fertilizers are unaware of these regulations.

ghg-large

Certain issues that affect global climate change however have no government regulation. Currently in the U.S., there are no limits on nationwide carbon dioxide emission – the country’s largest contributor of greenhouse gas emission.

What can we do about it?

With all the lobbyists and their political involvement, it is very difficult to get the regulations to become a law. In my opinion, we the people have to work together in every way we can. Whether it be encouraging our congressperson to support the right bills or doing our little parts.

Our parts do not have to be constrained domestically to things like switching off the lights in a room when it is not in use or turning off the tap while you’re brushing your teeth. Though that wouldn’t hurt, surely we can do more.

In Trimont, Minnesota for example, a small town with less than 1000 residents, they foresaw the increasing price of gas and figured that they were in a geographically perfect location for a wind farm. They were able to come up with a plan that benefited everyone by reducing utility costs, providing additional income AND reducing carbon emission! Trimont now generates power beyond the town’s demand and are able to sell the excess to the public for a profit. For more information about Trimont’s wind farm, click here.

If they can do it, why can’t we?

To find other organizations in your area that work towards a cleaner future and what you can do to help, click here.