When reading eaarth I found it amazing how much change has happened over the years. I heard of most these effect that were stated in the book but never really thought of how permeant they can actually be. Normally setting records are something to be proud of but these are a couple we wish we could take back. Starting with in the summer of 2007 when Arctic ice caps were 1.1 million square miles smaller then ever recorded in history. From 2003 and 2008, more then a trillion tons of Greenland’s ice melted. Its not just the ice thats melting from a report from the New York Times “ the last thirty years have yielded four times as many weather-related disasters as the first three quarters of the 20th century combined.” Another major factor that is being affected is the oceans, they are already 30 percent more acidic then before.
The part that angered me the most was the lack of early caring for the earth. When researchers found out that for about the past ten thousand years earth was at a sustainable amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere which was around 275 parts per million and before being worried about how to stop raising the levels they just made a level that would be suitable to live with. I believe with the lack of information they know just setting a suitable number based on doubling the historic concentrations was the wrong way to go in the first place. With putting the amount at 550 parts per million made it look like we had plenty of time to figure an alternative out. Later reading that the actual suitable amount was 350 parts per million made the time to change right now, since we are already over that level at 390 parts per million. Even after all of this we still haven't changed much with how we are going to get fuel. Maybe the raise in gas will help out people to not consume so much of it but I feel like there is still way to much that needs to be done since its been put off for so long.
In my second blog I read about the struggles that the US has had with presidents saying they were going to help out the situation but normally did the bare minimum if anything to switch to sustainable energy. I then book all of the government officials talked about how they didn’t want their grandchildren to wonder why they left the earth in the condition its in. I fell like they could do much more improvement politically to make the US not consume so much fossil fuels. One of the fears for the future is with higher temperatures rising. The ability to grow food will go down, estimates of around 20 to 40 percent less wheat being able to grow. So why hasn’t there been a change? Even with presidents coming in and out of office promising to switch more to sustainable fuels there has been little change. Fossil fuels are an easy way out, they help increase what humans have been able to do. For example with one barrel of oil can supply enough energy as twenty-five thousand hours of human manual labor. The first president to switch us off of this will have troubles explaining to most the population why production is changing.
In chapter two I like how he pointed out the cost we already use to fix things and what can be done to prevent such expenses in the long run. I already stated that I believe for most americans wouldn’t understand or think its not necessary for such changes. I believe we have to start somewhere before there is no turning back. I agree with the earth we live on today isn’t the same as it use to be, but I also with the technology we have and as long as its implemented we still can change the damage to some point. I believe it has to be a process that we have to go through and not just one giant change. We have to take action fast but not skip any corners and just take guesses like the past.
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