Global Warming

Recently for a Chemistry assignment this weekend we had to watch Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth". It got me thinking about the environment again. I know I had talked briefly about Global Warming in a comment to someone else blog but I would like to share and expand on my perspective.

The earth is the only habitat and home we have in the known Universe. Trying to relocate the population somewhere else is unpractical, close to impossible, and resourcefully draining. So we have to make do with what we got and what we got isn't bad at all. The planet is a scare resource and it is very valuable to us for that reason. When we burn fossil fuels we disrupt the carbon cycle by adding a net 3 gigatons of carbon dioxide a year. This heats up the planet by trapping more solar energy. The ice caps which act as a mirror to bounce of light energy from the sun are melting, lakes are drying up (Lake Chad is a good example), storms are getting stronger, global temperatures are rising. All of these signs are warnings from the Earth desperately trying to tell us that the increase in CO2 is going to change the environment for the worst.

And yet we have great problems in trying to reduce that carbon dioxide. For one it’s pretty hard to find a cheap alternative energy source that has the convenience fossil fuels have that are inherent to them. Trying to implement a policy to alter from fossil fuels is another obstacle altogether. These problems aren't new they have been around for quite some time but it is the conversation that is important. Educating the public is important and finding solutions are so important. Al Gore said in his video that when he went to congress in the 70's after his professor had shared with him some new research information that the CO2 levels in the atmosphere were rising that he, Al Gore, was sure that his government would hear him. He had so much faith in democracy going into the problem. However when congress heard him they did nothing. It became part of his agenda to inform the public and the world about the problems they were going to have a devastating impact on our planet and for the future.

As a young person, this movie has motivated me to do something about it, engage myself in the issue. This problem isn't just a problem that an American needs to solve but it is a global problem in which humans everywhere need to seriously think about. There has been too much procrastination and second agenda policy that has been going around with global warming. We owe it to our planet and we owe it our human race to really start the chapter in taking care of a global killer, a problem so huge it may take centuries to fix. I don't want to start when it is too late. After all your kids and my kids deserve a home where they can grow up, we have to protect that idea at all costs. We have to protect this home.