Atmospheric CO2

Our planet's biggest cause for climate change is the emission of greenhouse gases and burning of fossil fuels. In 1958, NASA created the Mauna Loa observatory in Hawaii to observe and monitor the atmospheric carbon dioxide contents. The tools in the observatory and many other resources found that we are now at a level above 400ppm, far exceeding the allowed 350ppm for a safe planet. The average yearly increase in carbon dioxide has risen from 1.55ppm to 2.75ppm and we have gone up 85ppm in 55 years.

To get an idea of what we use fossil fuels for or what they are, the components of a 42 gallon barrel of oil are broken up as such - 44.9% vehicle gasoline, 29.8% heating oil and diesel fuel, 20.5% other materials (chemical manufacturing, synthetic rubbers and plastics), 9.5% jet fuel, 2.0% asphalt. We need to keep our carbon budget to 565 gigatonnes or 72ppm. In order to achieve this we need to keep 4/5 of our known, available coal, oil and reserves untouched; that's 2,795 gigatonnes or 378ppm. This will not come easy.

 

The Paris Agreement is already in place to establish a warming cap at 1.5C-2C, however this is merely a guideline or suggestion. Countries need to actually start doing something. Things that need immediate action to reduce our fossil fuel emissions include invest in renewable energy sources, improve vehicle fuel efficiency, place limits on allowed carbon emissions by big polluters, reduce, tropical deforestation, build a clean energy economy.

"Scary scorecard: catastrophic climate change 400, humanity zero. Listen to the scientists, vote wisely, beat carbon addiction and put humanity into the game.”

-Dr. William Patzert

Reseach Oceanographer

A Life In Motion Has Come To A Halt

For hundreds of years Americans have been so used to a life in motion. I love how McKibben described it on page 86 in Eaarth: "If the American has one constant, it's motion." We have created highways, crossed the continent, and even invented the GPS navigation system. Once this motion reached a halt when gas prices rose to what seemed like unimaginable amounts was when Americans realized there could be a serious problem that is prohibiting our motion. That problem is climate change.

It seems the main, if not only thing, getting in the way of combating climate change is the economy and I am in no way an expert on economics. In fact, I know next to nothing on economics so chapter 2 "High Tides" was a little hard to get through, however very informative. Money controls everything and those who have money don't wish to spare it and risk losing some of it. After this chapter I was amazed by how much money went in to so many things: infrastructure, agriculture, nuclear energy, etc. And the prices for our new planet affected by climate change only costs more than the one we lived on just 10 years ago.

The one thing that really stuck out to me in "High Tides" I found on page 72. McKibben talks about Bangladesh and how it has hardly affected climate change, yet its people, ecology, and economy are drastically affected by it. The Himalayan glaciers melt and the rivers don't provide as much water, the Bay of Bengal is rising and displacing much of their agriculture, and the warm temperature is only making the problem of Aedes aegypti, a mosquito that causes denga fever, worse. It has been shown that climate change tends to negatively affect many native species, but invasive species are hardly affected due to their adaptive nature. This link, http://www.climate.org/topics/ecosystems/invasivespecies.html ,explains a lot about the relationship between invasive species and climate change and gives specific examples on the hottentot fig in Cabo da Luca in Portugal and the Asian tiger mosquito, which carries the West Nile virus. In this image the blue is where the Asian tiger mosquito is native and the green is where it has been introduced as an invasive species.


Clearly, as I've said before, the whole world has to realize the urgency of climate change before we can get anything done. The economy will have to change and make adjustments to allow renewable energy sources in to our daily lives.

Read This if You Would Like to Hate Yourself

I don't think it's possible to read McKibben's Eaarth and not feel like a destructive, disgusting monster. I apologize if the title of this post offends you, but I surely don't feel good about myself after reading A New World. I also feel a lot of anger. I can't believe this problem has been going on, untouched and hardly noticed, for this long. Climate change solutions should be more prioritized on our list of global issues.

For starters, the people who are most capable of invoking change and creating solutions often downplay the problem of climate change. Exxon Mobile has severely downplayed the effects of climate change, most likely out of fear of losing business. Larger, more developed countries with the resources for change don't see the problems that small islands and underdeveloped countries are experiencing at a devastatingly fast rate. Life in developed countries is too comfortable to sacrifice all of the luxuries the people are lucky to have, however there NEEDS to be change. Plus, the destruction we are causing to make our lives easier now is only going to make them harder in the long run for our grandchildren. (I'm sure you've probably heard that before)

Why is change so dire? The answer requires some science so bare with me, I'm about to get a little scientific. The Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) was a global warming that occurred 55 million years ago and lasted 200,000 years. The Earth warmed 4-8 degrees C over a period of 1,000-10,000 years, (remember this) affected all latitudes, caused rise in sea level, and even affected the deep ocean. The most likely reason for the PETM was a release of frozen methane (CH4) from ocean deposits called "clathrates." Clathrates are the "booby traps" that McKibben refers to on page 20. Now, in the 21st century, over the course of 100 years, we are on track to emit the same about of of methane as was emitted during the PETM and that's not including the "booby traps." This is INCREDIBLE. How have we been doing nothing about this for so long???

I could keep going, but I think you get the point. The next step is to figure out the measures we can all realistically take to help our stop our planet's destruction. Please enjoy this picture of part of the beautiful Teton mountain range.

Probably More Than You Wanted To Know About Me

My name is Cece Watry and I have no idea how to create or maintain a blog. I'm a sophomore studying biology with a minor in chemistry. Once I finish undergrad, I plan to move on to a masters program in wildlife biology or zoology. My favorite place in the whole world is Yellowstone National Park. I love it so much that I have the coordinates tattooed on my arm. One day I hope to work there as a biologist, although I would be extremely happy to end up at any park exploring nature and our world's very diverse ecosystems. I've only been to 15 of our National Parks, but my goal is to visit them all in my lifetime.

In high school I loved playing volleyball and soccer and doing community theater. At one point in high school I was so serious about musical theater that I almost chose to go to college for vocal performance. Now I spend a lot of time at the gym and library, I still play volleyball with some of the girls in my sorority and I lifeguard and teach swim lessons at the Kalamazoo YMCA.

A few things I love: football, my family, my best friends, my little brother, a good sense of humor, and James Bond. I'm a pretty big Packers fan. I was at the game Aaron Rodgers threw that Hail Mary to Richard Rodgers at Ford Field and yes, it was incredible. I anticipate seeing how they do against the Cardinals this Saturday. My dad inspires me every day with how committed he is to my family and my little brother is my absolute best friend; he makes me incredibly happy. James Bond requires no explanation. The reason I love Ian Fleming's creative character should be clear and if it is not I highly recommend you check out Casino Royale (2006) with Daniel Craig. I am also what many people consider a "foodie." I don't have a favorite food because there is too much good food out there to choose one style of cuisine, let alone just one dish.

I am highly anticipating the things we will cover in this class. I am also currently taking the very first Climate Change Biology course offered at Western and I'm excited to see if and how these two classes will overlap. I anticipate learning a lot.