" Burlington's experience demonstrates how much can, indeed, be accomplished through local action.".. " It would be so much easier if we could say, 'Well, if we approved this one project or this action, the problem would be solved," he told me,' But there's no silver bullet. There's no one thing we can do. There's no ten things we can do. There's hundreds and hundreds of things that we need to do.' AINT THAT THE TRUTH! Chapter 9's title pretty much was self explanatory of the entire chapter. Burlington, Vermont is working its hardest to try and lower their carbon footprint. This chapter talks about how we need to make up for not signing the Kyoto Protocol, which is true. We need to do something to make it up to all the other countries who did sign the protocol. Bush must've thought we were better than them or something? GO figure. This chapter talks about China's revolutionary takeoff pretty much. " China is industrializing according to a model set in the United States forty or fifty years ago" This is not a good thing, but who are we to say NO you can't make your country better when we have been doing it for years!
Man in the Anthropocene:
" It may seem impossible to imagine that a technologically advance society could choose, in essence, to destroy itself, but that is what we are now in the process of doing." What a buzz kill! This chapter was pretty depressing and scientific! Kolbert talks about CFC's, Chlorofluorocarbons, and their damaging effects. " It could be argued, taking this long view, that global warming will turn out to be just one more test in a sequence that already stretches from plague and pestilence to the prospect of nuclear annihilation. If, at this moment, the bind that we're in seems insoluble, once we've thought long and hard enough about it we'll find- or perhaps, float- our way clear." Pretty much this chapter just told us again that we're screwed to put it bluntly.
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Chapters 7 and 8
" Here in the United States, most of us begin generating CO2 as soon as we get out of bed" I honestly had no idea that everything we do in our day to day activity burns fossil fuels. Making a pot of coffee requires electricity which requires fossil fuels, which emit co2, its never ending. Its crazy that the estimated population for 2050 is 10.6 billion people, i feel like their won't be enough room. Chapter seven goes over BUA, also known as business as usual. This chapter goes into the concept of " stabilization wedges". These wedges don't really work in the world today, but Socolow hoped to get them to be used. The idea of carbon credits arises in chapter 7, which company's use to maintain low emissions of co2, they are allowed a certain number of credits, and if they go over their limit they have to pay for the more credits that they used. Marty Hoffert complained that we aren't doing enough right now in this present moment to help stop carbon emissions, ' right now we're going to just burn everything up; were going to heat the atmosphere to the temperature it was in the Cretaceous, when there were crocodiles at the poles, and then everything will collapse."
Chapter 8
" We act, we learn, we act again." I think personally its pretty messed up that the US didn't sign the Kyoto protocol. Page 157 states the point that i have been asking myself since i started learning about all of this, " why should anyone have the right to emit more than anyone else." I feel like America pushes the fact that we need to do something about our carbon emissions, yet when there is a protocol that is made, we don't sign it.. makes no sense. This chapter talks about politician Al gore and his involvement in climate change. I like the man, and his movie " The Inconvenient Truth" but his movie had no sources to back him up so alot of people don't take him literally. This entire chapter is basically about our government making it's decision about whether to sign the Kyoto protocol, or to make up their own solution to our climate change problem. Although some politicians still don't believe that it caused by human impact.
Chapter 8
" We act, we learn, we act again." I think personally its pretty messed up that the US didn't sign the Kyoto protocol. Page 157 states the point that i have been asking myself since i started learning about all of this, " why should anyone have the right to emit more than anyone else." I feel like America pushes the fact that we need to do something about our carbon emissions, yet when there is a protocol that is made, we don't sign it.. makes no sense. This chapter talks about politician Al gore and his involvement in climate change. I like the man, and his movie " The Inconvenient Truth" but his movie had no sources to back him up so alot of people don't take him literally. This entire chapter is basically about our government making it's decision about whether to sign the Kyoto protocol, or to make up their own solution to our climate change problem. Although some politicians still don't believe that it caused by human impact.
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Chapter 5&6
Post a blog analyzing the chapters. What did you learn from them? Any criticisms? How did you like the writing--in terms of style and content? As usual, deadline is 8 p.m. Sunday.
Chapter 5:
I felt like this chapter was a history lesson. The beginning was not interesting to me at all. I did hear about the Mayan calender predicting the future a long time ago and it when the chapter went over it in the beginning I thought that was really interesting. Also this chapter got very scientific, explaining the GISS, going into the details of tracking climate change. My favorite sentence, or paragraph more like was on page 117 when deMenocal explained " The thing they couldn't prepare for was the same thing that we won't prepare for, because in their case they didn't know about it and because in our case the political system can't listen to it. And that is that the climate system has much greater things in store for us than we think." I thought her writing in this chapter wasn't the usual Kolbert writing, it was more of something you would find in a text book.
Chapter 6:
Chapter 6 kind of scared me to be honest. The whole sea levels rising and falling because of glaciers melting freaks me out because it's nothing that we have any control over. In this chapter Kolbert wasn't as scientific like the other chapter, and she got back into her funny writing like she has been doing throughout the entire book. I thought the scariest par of this chapter was the last page, int he last paragraph when Kolbert was talking about the amphibious Homes in Maasobommel, on the river banks of River Meuse. " Not one day is the same," " the water is coming up, and we have to live with, not fight it- its just not possible." These poor people are living in floating homes. These are the type of examples that I wanted to know about and these are the type of examples that really show people that our world is changing, if its not day by day, its month by month. Year by year, its changing.
Chapter 5:
I felt like this chapter was a history lesson. The beginning was not interesting to me at all. I did hear about the Mayan calender predicting the future a long time ago and it when the chapter went over it in the beginning I thought that was really interesting. Also this chapter got very scientific, explaining the GISS, going into the details of tracking climate change. My favorite sentence, or paragraph more like was on page 117 when deMenocal explained " The thing they couldn't prepare for was the same thing that we won't prepare for, because in their case they didn't know about it and because in our case the political system can't listen to it. And that is that the climate system has much greater things in store for us than we think." I thought her writing in this chapter wasn't the usual Kolbert writing, it was more of something you would find in a text book.
Chapter 6:
Chapter 6 kind of scared me to be honest. The whole sea levels rising and falling because of glaciers melting freaks me out because it's nothing that we have any control over. In this chapter Kolbert wasn't as scientific like the other chapter, and she got back into her funny writing like she has been doing throughout the entire book. I thought the scariest par of this chapter was the last page, int he last paragraph when Kolbert was talking about the amphibious Homes in Maasobommel, on the river banks of River Meuse. " Not one day is the same," " the water is coming up, and we have to live with, not fight it- its just not possible." These poor people are living in floating homes. These are the type of examples that I wanted to know about and these are the type of examples that really show people that our world is changing, if its not day by day, its month by month. Year by year, its changing.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
paper 4
Misconceptions about recycling: Yes it’s good to do, but not every plastic can be recycled.
What happens to the plastics that don’t get recycled?
What type of plastic can be recycled?
Recycling prodecure
http://www.ecologycenter.org/ptf/misconceptions.html
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Chapter 4
4. Blog on your reading. How effective was this chapter in depicting the consequences of global warming? Why do you think Kolbert chose these examples to include in her book? What did you find most striking or memorable? What did you like/dislike about her writing?
I thought this chapter was a little boring to be honest. The only reason I thought it was boring is that I don't really have any interest in insects. This chapter had alot to do with butterfly's and insects. Kolbert used the examples of the insects to let the reader know how much the environment is changing and how it affects the organisms that live within in.On page 85 Webb explained the whole idea of climate change in what I thought was the perfect sentence.
" If you start changing the climate, you're changing the temperature, but you're also changing the moisture or the timing of the moisture or the amount of snow, and bingo, species are not going to move together. They can't"
This whole chapter was about the way that the climate change effect the lives of animals, plants, and insects. Certain insects were hatching sooner than they usually do, and mating more and more than normal. This causes an unbalance in the way things normally work. In class on Tuesday we talked about how Kolbert likes to add funny little sayings into her writing. I enjoyed the sentence that she wrote after she explained the Bradshaw- Holzapfel Lab. She decided to write in the sign on the door in the lab that said " Warning-- if you enter this room mosquitoes will suck your blood out through your eyes!" That wasn't something that she had to add into the book but it was something that could make the reader gasp a little. I did like the way she opened the chapter when she wrote " Polygonia C- Album, generally known as the comma butterfly spends most of its life pretending to be something that it is not."That was a great way to describe the changes that the butterfly undergoes.
Something that I guess I would say "shocked" me was the fact that the climate had such an impact on the butterflys in northern England and Scotland. Its amazing how much warmer temperatures can interrupt the way that certain organisms live. The end of the chapter summed the entire chapter up pretty well..
" If there is an overwhelming evidence that species are changing thier distributions, we're going to have to expect exactly the same for crops and pests and diseases. Part of it simply is we've got on planet, and we are heading it in a direction that. quite fundamentally. we don't know what the consequences are going to be." Perfect explanation of what is going to happen from global climate change!
I thought this chapter was a little boring to be honest. The only reason I thought it was boring is that I don't really have any interest in insects. This chapter had alot to do with butterfly's and insects. Kolbert used the examples of the insects to let the reader know how much the environment is changing and how it affects the organisms that live within in.On page 85 Webb explained the whole idea of climate change in what I thought was the perfect sentence.
" If you start changing the climate, you're changing the temperature, but you're also changing the moisture or the timing of the moisture or the amount of snow, and bingo, species are not going to move together. They can't"
This whole chapter was about the way that the climate change effect the lives of animals, plants, and insects. Certain insects were hatching sooner than they usually do, and mating more and more than normal. This causes an unbalance in the way things normally work. In class on Tuesday we talked about how Kolbert likes to add funny little sayings into her writing. I enjoyed the sentence that she wrote after she explained the Bradshaw- Holzapfel Lab. She decided to write in the sign on the door in the lab that said " Warning-- if you enter this room mosquitoes will suck your blood out through your eyes!" That wasn't something that she had to add into the book but it was something that could make the reader gasp a little. I did like the way she opened the chapter when she wrote " Polygonia C- Album, generally known as the comma butterfly spends most of its life pretending to be something that it is not."That was a great way to describe the changes that the butterfly undergoes.
Something that I guess I would say "shocked" me was the fact that the climate had such an impact on the butterflys in northern England and Scotland. Its amazing how much warmer temperatures can interrupt the way that certain organisms live. The end of the chapter summed the entire chapter up pretty well..
" If there is an overwhelming evidence that species are changing thier distributions, we're going to have to expect exactly the same for crops and pests and diseases. Part of it simply is we've got on planet, and we are heading it in a direction that. quite fundamentally. we don't know what the consequences are going to be." Perfect explanation of what is going to happen from global climate change!
Monday, November 9, 2009
Field Notes from a Catastrophe Ch. 3 &4
3. Blog on your reading, answering the following: What are the strongest pieces of evidence adduced in support of the theory of global warming?
I belive the strongest pieces of evidence adduced in support of the theory of global warming was on page 54 when the measurements of the ice sheets proved that they were rising, idicating that the ice was "floating on a cushion of water" " The reason for this accelertion, it is beleived, is the meltwater from the surface makes its way down to the bedrock below, where it acts as a lubricant ( in this process, it enlarges cracks and forms huges ice tunnels, known as " moulins.") The book also explains on page 55 that the greenland ice sheet could be set in motion in a matter of decades. " Although the process coudl take centuries to fully play out, once begun it would become self- reinforcing, and hence virtually impossible to stop." I think that sentence alone is extremely scarey. Its like once the ice sheet starts to melt there is no stopping it, and we are pretty much screwed.
What doubts, if any, do you still have about the evidence so far set forth? I personally don't have any doubts that we are suffering from global warming and I feel like this text gives very good examples and paints a scary picture about climate change. Being an environmental studies major I have read stories and papers about the ice sheets melting so this isn't anything that I've never seen before. Its a big deal that the ice sheets are melting because we could end up all under water!
Also assess Kolbert's writing style, objectivity, and explanatory powers.
In chapters 3 and 4 Kolbert does a good job at explaining the severity of the ice sheets melting in iceland. I also think at the end of chapter 4 he does a reallly good job at explaining the dirtyness of the glaciers, and how gloomy it was. He also makes you kind of depressed with his last sentence where he explains " If I returrned in another decade, the glacier would probably no longer even be visible from the ridge where I was standing."
I belive the strongest pieces of evidence adduced in support of the theory of global warming was on page 54 when the measurements of the ice sheets proved that they were rising, idicating that the ice was "floating on a cushion of water" " The reason for this accelertion, it is beleived, is the meltwater from the surface makes its way down to the bedrock below, where it acts as a lubricant ( in this process, it enlarges cracks and forms huges ice tunnels, known as " moulins.") The book also explains on page 55 that the greenland ice sheet could be set in motion in a matter of decades. " Although the process coudl take centuries to fully play out, once begun it would become self- reinforcing, and hence virtually impossible to stop." I think that sentence alone is extremely scarey. Its like once the ice sheet starts to melt there is no stopping it, and we are pretty much screwed.
What doubts, if any, do you still have about the evidence so far set forth? I personally don't have any doubts that we are suffering from global warming and I feel like this text gives very good examples and paints a scary picture about climate change. Being an environmental studies major I have read stories and papers about the ice sheets melting so this isn't anything that I've never seen before. Its a big deal that the ice sheets are melting because we could end up all under water!
Also assess Kolbert's writing style, objectivity, and explanatory powers.
In chapters 3 and 4 Kolbert does a good job at explaining the severity of the ice sheets melting in iceland. I also think at the end of chapter 4 he does a reallly good job at explaining the dirtyness of the glaciers, and how gloomy it was. He also makes you kind of depressed with his last sentence where he explains " If I returrned in another decade, the glacier would probably no longer even be visible from the ridge where I was standing."
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Field Notes from A Catastrophe: 1-34
1.I think the author gives good facts in her writing, while at the same time tries to paint out a picture for the reader as she educates them. GOOD DETAILS!
2. I like the fact that she says in the preface " I have tried to keep the discussion of scientific theory to a minimum while offering a full-enough account to convey what is truly at stake." It shows that yes she does know what she is talking about and that yes she is trying to dumb her writing down in a way to make it easier for people to understand that GLOBAL WARMING is a BIG DEAL!
3.I think the reading is easy to get into, its written like a novel, or a story. Not like a article that just states the facts. It tells the story of the permafrost and the smoke for days and weeks.
2. I like the fact that she says in the preface " I have tried to keep the discussion of scientific theory to a minimum while offering a full-enough account to convey what is truly at stake." It shows that yes she does know what she is talking about and that yes she is trying to dumb her writing down in a way to make it easier for people to understand that GLOBAL WARMING is a BIG DEAL!
3.I think the reading is easy to get into, its written like a novel, or a story. Not like a article that just states the facts. It tells the story of the permafrost and the smoke for days and weeks.
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