Monday, November 28, 2011

Activites in the Community that contribute to Climate Change

Things done in the community are the same things that are done in our homes that contribute to climate change. Activities like not recycling, leaving the lights, television, and water on when not needed contributes to climate change. Here are ways to promote sustainability in your community:
  1. RECYCLING- This is one of the easiest way to promote sustainability is by recycling products and use mainly recyclable products. Lessening the amount of what goes into our landfills can help greatly improve a community's sustainability. Use biodegradable products and recyclable materials to help in this effort.
  2. WATER CONSERVATION- Promote the use of water drums to store water from rain that can be accumulated from the downspouts connected to the roofs. The water collected can be used for watering plants during dry season. Turn off sprinklers during rainy days to save on water. This saves not only water but money due to lower monthly water bill to pay.
  3. USE OF GREEN PRODUCTS- Using green products in our daily lives can be a great way that a city can promote sustainability. Buy organic foods, use recycled products in businesses, for example using recycled paper, using fluorescent lights instead of incandescent, etc.
  4. USE OF GREEN BUILDING MATERIALS- Promote the use of energy efficient building materials for new housing or home renovations. Using recycled materials such as roofing, walls, and floor materials can help save our natural resources for future generations to enjoy.
  5. SOLAR PANEL REBATE PROGRAMS- Some counties have been giving rebates of up to $1,800 for solar panels for homeowners and even some businesses. Check with your own county if this program is being offered then ask for more details. Less use of electricity lowers the carbon emissions that cause air pollution and weakens the earth's ozone layer. The solar panels can help control these emissions and save money in the long run. A lot of people would want to convert to solar energy but it can be hefty. If the government can provide tax breaks and/or rebates, then this is something that would be easier to implement.
  6. EDUCATION- It is important to educate the community what sustainability is and why there is a need to promote it. Sustainability is, oftentimes, difficult to explain. There is no one easy word to describe it. According to World Commission on Environment and Development (1987), "Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs."

    Sustainability gears towards solving the fundamental problems facing all of humanity so that a decent life on our planet will be possible for everyone, forever. There should be seminars and promotional materials from the government in each city to help educate the community and to better understand what and how important sustainability is. Knowledge is power, and when people understand the issues at hand, the better people can tackle them head on.

Monday, November 21, 2011

Activities In School Engaging in Climate Change 2

Another way schools can help in their activities in enganing in climate change is by making a website for eco-friendly things, the kids and teachers can make flyers poster and help other students engage in the activities their also doing. The students can make mini commercials and videos with animations and help the kids see it in a positive way not a bad way. In science, classes they can show that in labs and show that it is bad for animals and plants doing all those bad things eating wrong and just feeding off the earths resources. Also, there can be a teacher and her students creating a club afterschools, that they can speak about how to help the enviorment , and each week the clubs can go help the earth one day at a time. The can make banners in school to show all ecofriendly things and also they can protist for healthier food in the lunchroom , like enough varities of salad, and lessed proccessed things and less sweets and more fruits and veggies. All this can save money and the earths recources. Itll help everyone in school see what a difference it could make all around us.

Activities In School Engaging in Climate Change 1

Since Climate Change is such a big issue all around us, they might be ways in school adults and kids can help. Teachers can put safety plugs in the outlets, so that students dont connect there electronics and charge their stuff with the schools electricity. The students can also turn off the computers after they are done using them instead of leaving the computer on stand by. Students & adults can use the outlets only when its an emergancy, and not have it open so kids would notice. The teachers and adults could also turn off the lights of each room they are not useing instead of leaving it on half the time, and itll save enough electricity for them. Also, students should just go on the websites needed so that it would save time and get the work done as quickly as possible instead of spending time on other things and itll also help the electricity more. Also, janitors can put the heater and air conditionor only when needed and instead open and close the windows and itll help us even more. Itll reduce the green house emissions and help the earth a little more.

Friday, November 18, 2011

Activities at home that contribute to Climate Change

Activities at home contribute a great amount to climate change. Whether its using the computer, or keeping the lights on when it isn't needed, or even using the gas for the stove when we don't need to. I know I contribute to climate change every day. I use the computer everyday and I always have the lights on. I also tend to take long showers and keep the water running when I'm washing my face or washing the dishes. I never unplug the television or the computer when it's not in use. After realizing all the things that I do to contribute to climate change, I try to cut down on the activities that I do at home. I do this by taking shorter showers, turning off the faucet when washing my face or doing the dishes, and turn off all lights when it isn't needed. I still don't unplug the T.V or computer because it's too much of a hassle to do the whole process when plugging it back in. Although this is the only thing that I have not chosen to do to help the issue on climate change, I believe that what I AM doing is helping. Even if it may not seem like I'm doing a lot. Everything that we do impacts our world. I'm trying to be one that helps put the issue on climate change to a stop.

Activities at School that contribute to Climate change

There are many activities that we do in school that contribute the issue of climate change. One of those activities is the usage of computers. Over 100 students per day use the computers in our school. That alone consumes alot of energy. Another thing that we do is wasting paper and not recycling them. Teachers and students print a lot of paper in one day. Teachers make hundreds of copies for their students for classwork and most of those papers end up on the floor, and eventually, in the garbage. Students also print paper. Whether it be for a class project or a class paper. But once they are done and through with their papers, they throw them in the trash instead of recycling them. Not only are papers not being recycled, but bottles and cans aren't being recycled either. Something has to be done about this, and I know a way how. First, we can start off by re-using the papers that we do not need anymore. We can make copies of what we need on the back of the paper instead of using another sheet of paper. If we do not chose to do this, we can simply recycle the paper. The second thing that we can do about this problem is to shut down the computers when they are not in use. Once the school day is over, all computers in the building should be shut down to conserve energy. The third thing that we can do is have all teachers, students and staff be eco friendly and recycle what ever bottles, cans, plastic, etc. they may have. By doing these things, we are setting a good example for other schools, decreasing the school's economic footprint, and becoming one step closer in helping the problem of climate change.

Monday, November 14, 2011

Climate Changes that impact the World, Nation & Personal Economy

Climate change has a potential impact on World/National/Personal economy. Climate change affects the world because the weather changes in drastic ways that are not good.When we don't take care of our planet it can lead to the warmth of our earth. Spring & summer come earlier every year due to the extreme warmth produced by gasses and pollution . When Summer & spring come early , it affects our whole cycle of temperature, having Spring in the middle of winter & winter in the middle of autumn. What also affects the world when early seasons come is that it affects the habitat of such species that aren't adapted to drastic weather changes, such as Falcons , Eagles and Tropical birds. These birds aren't adopted to these changes that they tend to die or starve of production growth. When species are dieing , it is most likely to cause extinction over them. It reduces the growth of coral reefs, mangrove forests, and tropical rain forests. Climate changes also threat small islands in the Pacific when sea levels rise due to the melting in Antarctica. It risks drought threats in Africa and severe flooding in densely populated rivers in Asia. It affects us nationally because production of oil is decreasing and their is not enough fuel in the earth. We are wasting our natural resources and there will not be enough to help us all. People will stop seeing their families around the world, people will stop traveling and many people will die of hunger . Climate change is affecting our Personal economy cause its changing many things. Climate change affects the ocean that our sea creatures live in and kill our wonderful sea animals. When The climate weather changes the cool of the water/ocean/river/lakes, it affects the species living within. Climate change kills fishes/shrimps/lobsters/clams and many other creatures when the water is not right for them, and when fishers that fish for a living go fish, they have bad luck in catching nothing. Fisherman leave upset that the catch of the day keeps getting worst and worst as time goes by, leaving them without a job and no money.



LINKS USED
-http://www.climatepath.org/aboutus/science
-https://www.google.com/search?q=affects+on+climate+chanfe&sourceid=ie7&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox&ie=&oe=

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Green Energy

Green energy in translation is sustainable energy. The idea is to save energy by using differnt types of energy instead of the basic, to get the same use for daily life. Heres one main reason why green energy was considered and as of today is a big contribute to saving the planet. For one the use of fossil fuels were getting outragous, which causes polution. were as green energy resources create a polution free atmosphere.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainable_energy

Intro to the Problem


1) Intro: [1] Few would deny that agriculture is severely affected by climate change and that the right practices contribute to mitigate it, yet expectations of the new climate agreement increase sharply, as well as notions on what are good and what bad agricultural practices are and whether soil carbon sequestration should be part of carbon trading. Biochar is proposed as a new form of soil carbon sequestration in which fine-grained charcoal is applied to the soil. This carbon is identical to the black carbon which is known for its negative impacts on climate change when airborne. [2] The climate is getting higher every few years. With the present day atmosphere, the average temperature is raised by approximately 33°C to 15°C, this leads to global warming. Therefore, if the temperatures increase so will the gas temperatures which the heat is retained. Since the earth is warming up, the chances of an ecosystem adapting is very poor. Also all the ice on the ocean from Antarctica will melt, increasing the water level all in all of the oceans. Greater energy efficiency and new technologies hold promise for reducing greenhouse gases and solving this global challenge. Effects of climate change on the marine environment: At current rates of change, carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere will double by the end of the next century (2100 AD). The climate also changes from pollution, such as from factories, cars, electricity, anything that has to do with factories and certain gases are bad for the air climate. [3] Climate change is a geographic problem, this is because as industrialization, population, and urbanization continue to increase, the stressors will increase as well on the environment such as pollution. Such change in climate and environmental quality could have huge implications for quality of life. We live in an age of readily and freely available information. The Internet has given us a lot of information, awareness of, and access to vast quantities of climate data. Never before have scientists and nonscientists had such easy and open access to the data and tools. [4] Observing the Past: For a long time scientist from the past up until now had kept track of every rainfall, every lake level, stream flow etc, for thousands of locations around the globe. Beyond these historical records, additional records of climate change stretch back even farther when one considers fields such as dendrochronology (measuring the size of tree rings), which reveals climate data stretching back for thousands of years, and palynology (changes in the type and distribution of fossil pollen), which gives us clues about climate going back millions of years. As you can see now global warming isn’t a joke, it is something serious and we should not avoid one bit of information. We need to take action because every little data is important and in a couple of years people will have trouble living on earth, since the global warming.



Fun Fact: The main sources of these greenhouse gases are combustion of fossil fuels, devegetation (clearing and burning of forests, urban development) and agriculture (eg cow farts).

_____________________________________________



Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Climate Change

 Climate change can affect our homes and the community around us. We have to take action in stuff we are not used too, and climate change can cause us to to have problems in our home like more ground flooring which are rainstorms and rising sea levels more windiness. Also, we may have drier summers and higher temperatures especially in the summer. There will be more percipitation occuring more often, diseases of warm weather will be appearing more. Adaptation may be the only result we have to all this impact on our homes and communities. Climate change affects everyone, especially the least responisble. Ways they can stop all this climate change is by cutting down emissions, they can also use more solar panel stuff, and people should recycle more. They are many things people can do to change climate change. Itll help climate change reduce a little more and also help planet earth live longer.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Environmentandgreenerliving/Thewiderenvironment/Climatechange/DG_072929

Buy Nothing Day

A buy nothing day is when you save your money for the things that you NEED. This is when you try to test yourself in seeing if you can resist buying things you WANT. Although it may be hard to save your money, it will definitely help you in the long run. Saving $100 instead of spending it on a pair of shoes or clothing can be put aside for something that you may need in the future. I am a good example of having a hard time saving money. I tend to buy food almost everyday after school and by duing that, I'm broke by Friday. What I do now is bring food from home instead of buying food from outside. Now I still have the same amount of money from what I started with at the end of the week. "Buy Nothing Day" was founded by Vancouver artist Ted Dave and subsequently by Adbusters Magazine , based in Canada. They invented this to examine the issue of over-consumption. They try to convince others to not shop and spend loads of money on big shopping days. Like Black Friday and the days before Christmas where there are many sales going on. People who are apart of this organization try to get others to join by asking shoppers "what would Jesus do?" Their main goal is to have as much people as possible to not shop on November 26th of this year. They do not want to prevent people from shopping only on the holidays, but from all the temptations of our five-planet lifestyles.