LAST POST!

wow! today was our final class of u.s. history. we finished up the year watching a movie called thirteen days about the cuban missile crisis. to me we ended the year with this movie because we started the year off talking about sympathy versus empathy and this movie definitely has a lot in it. the movie shows how hard it is to know what action to take and that sometimes there is no clear answer you just have to take a leap of faith. this year we have covered so many topics that the five remaining minutes of this class are not near enough to write them all down. from talking about slavery and the civil war to learning how the climate changing is going to affect us all in the future, it has been one amazing class. i started this year knowing very little of america's history and (while i still am not the best at history) i can say i feel confident enough to go out and chime in conversations regarding what i have studied. it was nice getting to learn about history through films and documentaries as well as reading old newspapers and giving speeches. i was worried about this course when i signed up but i can honestly say i wouldn't change a thing.

Letter to the Future

Hello to the future,                                                                                            May 9, 2016

It is currently 2016 and, assuming this goes as planned, you are living in 2216. This year I am a junior in high school studying the history of the United States. As one of our many assignments, we were told to investigate the climate of today’s society. To keep things interesting, each of my classmates and myself got placed in a category. My category was concerns. 

As a minor in today’s society, I don’t pay that much attention to what is going on. I realize that the ice caps are melting and that temperatures appear to be rising but, with my science oriented brain, this seemed to be a repetitive theme. What I didn’t realize was that this time around was by far the worse yet. According to the Intergovernmental Panel in regards to climate change, “the range of published evidence indicates that the net damage costs of climate change are likely to be significant and to increase over time.” 

So I asked myself, what does this mean for the future? As I began my research, I came across a site published by NASA (6) (NASA stands for National Aeronautics and Space Administration. NASA is part of the United States government. NASA is in charge of U.S. science and technology that has to do with airplanes or space). According to this site, we (as a nation) can expect a significant rise in sea levels, flooding, erosion, infrastructure damage, loss of trees, extreme heat, increase in the number of bugs, decline in health due to the bugs and heat, and loss of agriculture and other sources of income. Now, I realize that is a lot of information but get this. As the heat grows stronger, our animal populations are going to decline to the point that by 2050 (only 34 years from now), 1/4 of Earth’s species could be endangered or extinct as stated by nature.org (7-9) (an agency dedicated to addressing the most pressing conservation threats at the largest scale). 

Up until 1999, climate change was not the direct cause of any animal extinction. But, by the end of that year, the first ever documented animal extinction due to climate change was recorded as Central American began to mourn the loss of the last Golden Toad (7-9) (nature.org). As the climate continues to change, the pattern of wildlife will too. Birds will begin to migrate to cooler temperature zones (instead of migrating south for the warmth) and will eventually no longer have a place to go. Coral reefs will loose their color due to a process known as “bleaching”. This is when the sun and heat literally bleach the color out of the reefs. This also means ocean life will be loosing its habitat. Polar bears will have to adjust to life in captivity, learn to survive on little to no ice, or evolve to withstand warm weather as their home is shrinking more and more with each day. Plants are going to have to adapt to the warmer weather and learn to survive on little water as rainfall has been predicted to decline as well.

Have you ever thought about what we used to do for fun? I know this might sound crazy because I have a feeling some of this will be long gone but we did have fun at one time or another. We used to travel to other states to go skiing on snow covered mountains (which have already started to make their own snow for lack of the real thing). We also use to travel to the coast and hang out on the beach. According to an article on EPA (1-4) (a government run agency designed to protect human health and the environment) about recreation, as the temperature rises and the snow and ice caps melt there is going to be less and less beach to hang out on so who knows what it will be like when you read this. 

Now you are probably wondering why we haven't tried to stop this and I don't blame you because I thought (and still sometimes think) the same thing. It has been proven that the human impact outweighs the natural impact but we aren't sure how much. We do know a few contributions to this though. The burning of fossil fuels, release of greenhouse gasses, use of aerosols, and the “cloudiness”/haze that has formed over larger cities all play a part according to an article by the EEA (5) (The European Environment Agency (EEA) is an agency of the European Union.Their task is to provide sound, independent information on the environment. They are a major information source for those involved in developing, adopting, implementing and evaluating environmental policy, and also the general public). We have cut back on the number of aerosols sold and most companies are aware of the effects of fossil fuels and are trying to cut the number down. One thing they are still working on is how to cut back the greenhouse gas emission, a process known as the greenhouse effect. One thing that might possibly irreversible though is the cloudiness. Because factories have played such big roles in the human culture, the smog is going to be here a while even if the use of factories was stopped completely right now. Another contribution to the haze is light pollution and unless someone could convince the entire world to stop using lights, that isn't going anywhere either. 

So, what does all of this mean for you? Well, truth be told, we don’t know. Assuming things continue on the path they are you have a lot to look forward to. According to another article on EPA, the change in climate is going to cause  many changes in weather patterns. Stronger hurricanes, severe heat waves, drought, and many other changes are going to become the new norm. The change in climate is also going to effect water sources.

As the temperature rises, there is going to be less rainfall and even less of that is actually going to last or make a dent in the world. The ground is going to be so dry and cracked that the water is going to be absorbed and/or evaporated as soon as it hits and major bodies of water are going to shrink. This is going to be a really big problem for farmers and people who raise livestock to sell for food. The water loss might even lead to limits being placed on homes about the amount of water being used. This can already be seen in places like California and Spain where the water at restaurants costs extra and they don't give you water or a refill without being asked because it is becoming so sacred. This among other things is going to cause a big problem with health among people. 

According to yet another article published by EPA (1-4), heat waves are going to be very damaging to health. This is especially true for older people, infants and young kids, and sick people. As the climate changes the air pollution is also going to change (and not for the better). What I mean is, as the ozone gets more and more depleted you are going to have to deal with a lot more in the air that just oxygen and carbon dioxide. This is going to be bad for people with asthma, lung caner or any other form of lung problems, and the general public causing lung conditions to worsen. The change in climate is also going to lead to an increase in the spread of infections and disease. Bugs like mosquitos and ticks thrive in the heat and as it gets hotter, more and more will begin to reproduce and the populations will only continue to grow. This is going to cause malaria and other diseases to spread like a wild fire. 

Hope this helps, 

your friend from the past

golden toad

(ps: check out these links if they are still around for more information!) 

1. https://www3.epa.gov/climatechange/kids/impacts/effects/health.html
2. https://www3.epa.gov/climatechange/kids/impacts/effects/
3. https://www3.epa.gov/climatechange/kids/impacts/effects/water.html
4. https://www3.epa.gov/climatechange/kids/impacts/effects/recreation.html
5. http://www.eea.europa.eu/themes/climate/faq/how-do-human-activities-contribute-to-climate-change-and-how-do-they-compare-with-natural-influences
6. http://climate.nasa.gov/effects/ 
7. http://www.nature.org/ourinitiatives/urgentissues/global-warming-climate-change/threats-impacts/wildlife-at-risk.xml
8. http://www.nature.org/ourinitiatives/urgentissues/global-warming-climate-change/threats-impacts/
9. http://www.nature.org/ourinitiatives/urgentissues/global-warming-climate-change/threats-impacts/economic-loss-and-damage.x

Footnotes: 

1. This article about health is published by the Environmental Protection Agency.
2. This article about effects on people and the environment is published by the Environmental Protection Agency.
3. This article about water supply is published by the Environmental Protection Agency.
4. This article about recreation is published by the Environmental Protection Agency. 
5. This article about ways humans impact the environment is published by the European Environment Agency. 
6. This article about the effects of climate change is published by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
7. This article about the effects on wildlife is published by The Nature Conservancy. 
8. This article summarizes climate change and provides links to other articles (within the website) is published by The Nature Conservancy. 
9. This article about the effects on the economy is published by The Nature Conservancy. 

research

we have once again begun the research process. currently i am looking up the concerns (both current and future) that society has about climate change. i started by asking myself what would be affected. i found out how our water sources would change, how our recreational activities would change, and how our health would become a greater concern. 

then i started looking at what concerns there were for looking forward. i found that there is a great concern about the long term damage and that there are ways people ignore that could help. going forward i want to know about what those ways are and possibly interview someone 

http://climate.nasa.gov/effects/ 

https://www3.epa.gov/climatechange/kids/impacts/effects/recreation.html 

https://www3.epa.gov/climatechange/kids/impacts/effects/health.html

http://www.eea.europa.eu/themes/climate/faq/how-do-human-activities-contribute-to-climate-change-and-how-do-they-compare-with-natural-influences