If only humanity understood the threat climate change will pose to natural species, civilization, and our way of life before tipping points caused mother Earth to erupt in a uncontrolled fury. Good morning everyone, to begin I would like to make it clear about the tremendous pleasure being part Justin Roger's English 101 class has been for my life intellectually. My final reflection about the class will include two articles that provide a scientific evaluation on the impacts of climate change, and how society will be affected. To begin, models developed by The Intergovernmental Panel On Climate Change, have provided enough data to show ignoring climate policies will cause Earth to become inhospitable for human beings. Second, Nasa studies prove that economic activities, and growth contribute to placing tons of Co2 into Earth's atmosphere that destroy the planets equilibrium. However, my opinion is that there are many possibilities of dramatically reducing the impact our species have on the planet. Big impacts begin when little people come together, major impacts happen when such people organize plus work together, and finally, the world changes when they stay together.
The most significant impact of climate change is having to deal with the irreversible consequences of unbalancing ecosystems. Furthermore, many skeptics will argue that because the planet is not dramatically rising in temperature, climate change is a complete myth. According to the article Earth Will Cross The Climate Danger Threshold By 2036 by Michael E. Mann, Scientific American states " Most scientists concur that two degrees C of warming above the temperature during preindustrial time would harm all sectors of civilization—food, water, health, land, national security, energy and economic prosperity. ECS is a guide to when that will happen if we continue emitting CO2 at our business-as-usual pace"(Mann). This means scientists have concluded that a temperature rise of two Celsius can be devastating to many aspects of relying on the planet to survive. This is important because society has the ability to prevent this change from actually happening. An important keyword I would like to focus on includes "Externalities"(Climate Casino,18). The implied meaning of the word suggest a consequence of activities that affects other people without being compensated for. This word is important because not adapting to a doubling of 280 parts per million of carbon dioxide will cause our species to go extinct. Eliminating "externalities" will have to become our priority, if as a society we plan to continue thriving. A couple solution I have learned reading the climate casino during the school year include setting a tax on carbon dioxide, and limiting climate change to two Celsius.
The strain human species cause to the planet's resources can ultimately lead to societies demise. Previous empires can be an example proving that the structure of the economy heavily contributes to the survival of the people. According to the article Nasa Study Concludes When Civilization Will End, And It's Not looking Good For Us by Tom Mckay states" All societal collapses over the past 5000 years involves both the stretching of resources due to the strain placed on the economic stratification of society into elites and masses"(Mckay). This means the economic inequality contribute to the unfair distribution of resources. As a result, consumption of resources become to intense for Earth to replenish causing imbalance. This is important because society could no longer use ignorance as an excuse for not noticing the impact economic growth causes to the planet. An important keyword I would like to focus on includes "divine hand."(Zeitoun,142) The implied meaning of the word suggest an external force that changes human being to contribute positive actions for the good of humanity. This word is important because society at the moment requires this internal change to ensure the prosperity of future generations. Although economic growth contributes to the destruction of the planet, I also believe working together can provide many benefits to restoring the planet's well being.
In conclusion, my reflection of the class is that without living through this experience, and challenging myself to exceed expectations, I would have never educated myself enough to understand the complexity of climate change. Again I would like to express my gratitude to the professor who has made all of this possible. I will make it my life duty to repay you, and humanity when I graduate from LaGuardia as an Environmental Engineer contributing to major breakthroughs in carbonless instruments that society can rely on.
