My Reflection on Climate Change

Reflecting on Climate Change with Dr. Edelstein- Environmental Psychologist Yesterday, Dr. Smirinova's husband, Dr. Edelstein, came to our class and presented on climate change. Climate change is a very important topic because if it is not taken seriously, there can be major consequences. In the simplest of terms, the Earth is getting hotter faster than ever before. Why is that a problem? It is a problem because the increase in heat causes an increase in disastrous weather conditions, the melting of the polar ice caps, and the overall decline of quality of life. What causes this increase of heat? There are many factors that all play into one another and make each other worse in what is called a positive feedback loop. Firstly, the increase in greenhouse gasses in the air makes it more difficult for the rays from the sun to escape back into space. With more rays being trapped, there is an increase in harmful UV rays in addition to the increase in temperature. Those rays are not only trapped by the increase in greenhouse gasses, but also by the decrease in albedo of the Earth's surface. Albedo was a term that I had never heard before yesterday. It means reflectivity and is used most directly in the context of the polar ice caps because of the snow. When there is an increase in the rays trapped by the sun, the ice caps melt, decreasing the albedo. When this happens, more land and water is exposed and more heat is absorbed. Increases in chlorofluorocarbons, a type of pollutant that creates ozone, also aid in the increase of harmful UV rays and temperature as they collect in the poles and wear away at the stratosphere.

How do we know Global Warming and Climate Change are happening? The trends seem to be irrefutable and demonstrated clearly that the temperature as a whole has been going up. Correlated with the temperature increases, are increases in natural disasters, such as fires, rising water levels, and hurricanes to name a few. With the facts easily accessible to everyone, I wonder how people could actually disagree with the concept of Climate Change. As Dr. Edlestien had mentioned, part of the reason why people disagree is that certain politicians, like Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, run campaigns promoting that Climate Change is made up. Tillerson and these other politicians often have agendas, like owning oil companies, that would be hurt if people started to support clean energy. I find it really disgusting that money is more important to some people than the well being of the Earth. Even if the effects do not come in full immediately, people have to think of the future generations. In my International Relations class, my group had done a project on the reasons why governments should be in support of protecting the environment. In my research, I had found that there have been dramatic increases in heat stroke, allergies, and mental health issues due to the dramatic increases in heat in some areas of the Globe. Part of a government's job is to protect its citizens, so it is the ethical thing to do to implement laws that would cut down on things such as the burning of fossil fuels, to ensure a better quality of life.  

I liked the idea that Dr. Edlstien had mentioned about us as future teachers being the people who can inform the future generations about Climate Change. One of the greatest parts about becoming a teacher is the fact that I will have a chance to leave a mark on future generations. When teaching my students about climate change, I would like to try to use a few different experiments to demonstrate what is happening. In one experiment, I would like to use the "black T-shirt" idea by placing ice into two containers. One container would have a white piece of paper on top of it, and the other would have a black piece of paper. The students would have to observe the containers and document which set of ice melts first. Besides experiments, I would use plenty of videos and diagrams to demonstrate how greenhouse gasses collect and how they affect the Earth's temperature. 
I remember learning about Global Warming from as far back as elementary school. As I got older, discovering that some people do not believe in climate change, made me a bit confused. However, what is the most confusing to me is that whether people believe in Climate Change or not, why would they not want to live in a cleaner Earth? This idea reminds me of philosophy when we were learning about different ideas about the existence of heaven. The one philosopher stated that best situation for someone was to live as if heaven did exist, so that way if it does, then he would have a better chance of getting in. On the flip side, if it does not exist, then the person would just fade out of existence with no real downside to doing good on Earth. If that person lived a sinful life because he did not believe in heaven, if it did exist, the person would be set to live forever in anguish. His best circumstance would be to fade out of existence in that case. Applying that to Climate Change, there is no major loss if people make efforts to prevent it if it does not exist because the Earth would become a cleaner place in the process. However, if we act as if Climate Change does not exist, and it does, there can be dire consequences. As I see it, in both cases, the best option is to live as if both exist, and the world will become a better place at the end of the day.