Introduction

            We all live on this planet that we call Earth and we all breathe the air here. We drink the clean, fresh water that springs up and rushes through our fertile lands. There’s a problem with this though. The air that we breathe is heavily polluted, harming us with every breathe. The water isn’t clean, far from it actually. Trash, chemical waste, and farm runoff have polluted the waters, making them undrinkable and killing the many species that live there. The land has been stripped of its nutrients, leaving once abundant fields barren.

            Climate change has been a problem for a long time and is continually worsening. This impacts every single living thing on this planet and it is our responsibility to not only stop, but to reverse the effects of what we have done. Everybody has contributed to getting the world to the point that it is currently at, though some more than others, we are all to blame. However, putting the blame on people is not the way to fix this enormous issue, what we need to do is come together to save the place that we all call home. Earth as we know it is dying and if we continue living the way we are, we will all be wiped out. We need to act now; waiting will only make things worse and thus tremendously more difficult to fix or perhaps it will become irreparable. To better see what the future may look like, it is best that we start by looking at the past.

 

History

            It’s important to know that the earth has a natural carbon cycle. Carbon is released whether we release it or not, and thanks to the carbon cycle, it gets reabsorbed. However, the human race has significantly contributed to the release of carbon and at the same time has hindered the reabsorption of the carbon, which has allowed the atmospheric carbon to get out of hand.

A Timeline

            In 1712, Thomas Newcomen invented the first steam engine which was the driving force for the Industrial Revolution. Over a hundred years later, in 1824, the greenhouse effect was described by Joseph Fourier and 27 years later, John Tyndall built off of that to show how water vapor and various other gases cause the greenhouse effect. Svante Arrhenius brought these works together and in 1896, found that coal burning does enhance the natural greenhouse effect. Carbon emissions climbed to one billion tonnes per year in 1927 and in 1938 Guy Callendar suggested the CO2 concentrations was the likely cause of global warming, but meteorologists dismiss this. Roger Revelle and Hans Suess prove in 1957 that the oceans will not absorb the CO2 that is entering the atmosphere. One year later, Charles Keeling started a project that, for the first time, showed unequivocally that CO2 concentrations are rising. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) was formed in 1972. In 1975, the term that we now most commonly use, “global warming,” is placed in the public domain. In 1987 the Montreal Protocol was agreed upon and while this was not enacted because of climate change, it restricted chemicals that damage the ozone which had a huge impact on greenhouse gas emissions. Then, in the following year, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was formed. In 1990 the IPCC released its First Assessment Report. The Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro was held in 1992 and three years later the IPCC released its Second Assessment Report. The Kyoto Protocol was agreed upon in 1997. The U.S. pulled out of this protocol in 2001. The same year, the IPCC released its third assessment. The fourth assessment was released six years after. In 2009, the climate summit Copenhagen was held. In 2012, the Artic sea ice has the lowest summer coverage since 1979. The IPCC released the fifth assessment the following year. For a more elaborate timeline, click here.  For a graph on Earth’s average temperature starting in 20000 BCE click here.

 

Plan

            It’s difficult to say exactly where to start because there are so many things that need to be fixed and there is a lot of controversy over which problem is most desire and where to begin. However, these disagreements lead to a bigger problem: inactivity. People can’t figure out where to start so they never start. There are even some that still deny the existence of climate change. There is an overwhelming amount of evidence that proves climate change is real, but it can be hard to see all of the evidence when fossil fuel companies are blinding those few scientists with money.

            The first step that we all need to take is stating that climate change is real. We can’t fix a problem if we deny there being one. Big oil companies pay scientists to say that climate change is a myth. It seems to be that the only way to get everyone on the same page is to not let big oil companies fund this false research.

            The next thing to do is prohibit big oil companies from filling the pockets of government officials. These companies end up controlling which policies are enacted are which ones are not. Generally, this means that any policy which would help in the fight against climate change does not pass because it’s bad for their business. As long as government officials are still accepting money from big oil companies, we will not be able to get to where we need to be at to save this world. Unfortunately for some, this means that the people in office that are accepting money from big oil companies more than likely need to be removed and replaced with those who will not be so influenced by money.

            We need to stop using fossil fuels. This does not mean that we will stop progressing our societies and technologies, rather we will alter and improve them. We will have to switch to clean, renewable energy sources. People often wonder if it is possible to completely switch over to renewable energy. Do we have enough land or raw materials? Yes! Bill McKibbon discusses just this. In the U.S. we would only need four-tenths of one percent of the landmass to produce enough renewable energy. But what about the neodymium needed for wind turbines? Currently we have seven times more than what we would need to power half the world. How about the Lithium needed for the batteries in electric cars? With what we know we have, there is enough to power three billion cars and there are only 800 million zooming around the streets today. The goal is to have 80 percent of our energy coming from renewable sources and in 2017, only 11 percent of energy consumption came from renewable sources (source). We need to make a lot of progress and quickly. To meet this goal, we need to convert another 69 percent of energy in only 12 years. I know that it sounds pretty drastic, but it is still an obtainable goal, for now. If we wait too much longer, it will not be achievable. It is estimated that in the U.S. we would need 295 solar factories, or about six per state, along with the same amount of effort for wind turbines (source).

            We know that we need to build these factories to build the solar panels and the wind turbines, but then the question remains: Can we churn out enough to accomplish our goal? Without a doubt. We have already proved ourselves capable in the past with our World War II efforts. In Michigan, one single industrial plant was cranking out one B-24 Liberator bomber every hour. Another factory in Michigan produced more tanks than the Germans did throughout the entire war. If set into action, we are more than capable enough to build these factories and get our solar panels and wind turbines in motion, quite literally in the case of the wind turbines.

            Another argument that I’ve heard is that the people working for the big oil companies, like those mining coal, will be put out of work. However, in all actuality, this transition will be very beneficial for all these workers and more. The people working in the mining industry are working very in very dangerous and hazardous conditions. There are airborne particulate hazards and gases and vapors. To learn more about these hazards follow this link. Switching to renewable energy will get these people out of the mines and away from the things that are hurting their health. They will not be unemployed though. The switch will create numerous new jobs that are drastically less dangerous. We will need people to build the factories, work in them, install the units, and people to do maintenance on them. This transition may even create more jobs than before. Those working in the automobile industry will still keep their jobs, they will just be making and fixing electric cars.

            Sadly, I don’t think that this alone will be enough. I believe that right now we have already sent into the atmosphere enough carbon to push us to the limit. The effects are seen much later, and it is often believed that we are just now seeing the effects of the Industrial Revolution. So, in addition to switching to renewable energy, and thus ceasing the addition of man-made carbon emissions, we also need to be actively trying to reabsorb some of the carbon that we put into the atmosphere. How do we do that? Well, to put it simply, plants. Plants, through photosynthesis, take in carbon dioxide and put out oxygen; they purify the air. Unfortunately for us, a lot of the plants that would be absorbing the carbon dioxide have been or are in the process of being cut down. Deforestation is a big problem. We need to be adding more greenery to this earth, not taking more away. A good way to add more vegetation is to utilize the vacant space on the tops of the buildings. Planting gardens, preferably with species of plants that are native to the area, on the tops of buildings will help to take some of the carbon out of the air, with a wonderful added bonus of helping to feed the people in those buildings. For every plant that we cut down or dig up we need to plant a new one in its place, and currently we should be planting several for each one to make up for the difference.

 

Other Approaches

            This approach takes into account the majority of the other attempts to take on this challenge. Fixing climate change does not come down to one specific thing. It’s a lot of different things all at once. We need to bring together every single approach to solving climate change. There is no one right answer but there most definitely is a wrong one: to do nothing. If, in your research, you come across something that you think is more effective, I encourage you to pursue that with all of your effort, however, do not discredit this approach. Alternatively, use both or all approaches in solidarity with one another. Work in solidarity, heal in solidarity, and live in solidarity, not only with your fellow people, but with your home planet as well.

 

     Save the World         

            I’ve stated again and again that we need action and we need it now. This is not a problem that can be put off any longer. Waiting will only make things worse and more expensive. You can make a difference. We can all make a difference. All it takes is one vote from each of us, a shared responsibility, a group effort. Our goals are not unobtainable but if we keep going in the same direction, we won’t be here to have goals. To save ourselves, we must first save the planet.

 

A Bright Future

            If we all work together, we can completely switch to renewable energy sources and remove some of the pollutants from our air. Not only would we no longer be killing our beloved planet, but we, ourselves, would be a lot healthier, too. We would have fresh food from our gardens to eat. People would no longer be breathing in toxic fumes from vehicle exhausts, cooking fuels, etc. More people would have jobs and even better paying jobs than before. Energy bills would be less for a lot of people, saving them money. Additionally, politics and government officials would no longer be corrupted by the big oil companies. The question is this: Which future do you want? The left? Or the right.