Climate Change

This week I was tasked with reading up on climate change to find information on how it is affecting the world right now, what role humans played in it, and how it will affect society and our world in the future.I decided to get my information from the UN's page on climate change.

1. Based off of the information the I read in the UN's page along with other articles, I can see that the world will become a drastically more dangerous place if we don't slow down and eventually stop climate change. The UN page mentions hotter temperatures, increased sea levels, and higher average precipitation. Taking this information along with the current trends of more frequent and more powerful tropical storms, droughts, and winters, one can see that humanity will be in a dangerous position if we don't stop our climate changing activities.

2. The skepticism that the United States populous has about climate control is centered around whether or not man can "defy" god and change his/her world. I think that this still exists because it has become a partisan issue and for some reason. man made climate change is seen as a possible attack on religion. Climate change has unfortunately become a partisan issue because some groups see it as an attack on their careers and an increase in government meddling in the free market. This belief has only been cemented further through the efforts of lobbyists working for the different fossil fuel companies. Misinformation has also done a number on climate change information in the US, with many people seeing harsh winters as a sign that "global warming" isn't real, this group of misinformed deniers includes politicians and others with an influential voice to Americans.

Energy

For this week's blog, our assignment was to spend a 24 hour period reducing our energy use as much as possible. We were given a quick guide that provided both simple and more in depth ways to help with this.

1. The first thing I did to help reduce my energy consumption was to find all the vampires in my house that I could unplug without bother my roommates too much. For a quick clarification, vampires are electronics that draw energy as long as they are plugged in, being off doesn't matter. These items included phone chargers, the toaster, my laptop charger, the microwave, and the various other chargers for wireless controllers we have around the house. I also made sure that I had a lot more curtains open during this period, I wanted to use natural light as much as possible. I also only drove if I was going to work or school. I already take >5 minute showers and I didn't do laundry during the 24 hour period.

2. I felt pretty at ease during this experience. I have already gone 6 months without most electronics. My only electronic being a digital watch that served as my alarm clock. For entertainment, I had no issue sitting down with a book or taking my dogs or myself for a walk. The hardest change would be handling the vampires on a daily basis. It's not a huge thing, but because it is small and tedious, it can easily slip through the cracks. At the very least I'll try to handle my personal vampires. I'd be willing to switch to a cold shower. I already take short showers and have dealt with bathing in the cold before. But that is something that I might leave on hold until summer rolls back around. Luckily, my roommates and I already avoid using AC or heat as much as we can.

3. The biggest improvement I could do for my home would be the electronics of all my roommates. I am currently getting them to be a bit more environmentally minded, but it is a slow process. Besides that, we already do a good job of choosing energy efficient bulbs, turning off lights, and avoiding using the heat and AC. Realistically, I just need to get my roommates on board with unplugging their vampires and I think our house will be low energy.