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In class, we learned that the first three consequences of a warmer earth include:

1. expansion of seawater

2. melting of land based ice (increase in sea-level, flooding of low lying cities)

3. ecosystem shift – because of precipitation and temperature changes

The IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) estimated that there would be a sea level increase of 9 to 88 centimeters in the 21st century. If there was a 50 centimeter increase, many coastal areas would be flooded and made much more prone to damage from storms, displacing millions of people. (yes, that was a homework question!!)

These are all consequences we learned COULD happen with a warmer earth, but when there’s a real threat, things seem a lot different.

On Monday, Indonesia’s environment minister announced that the country could lose about 2,000 islands due to climate change. He said that studies by U.N. experts showed that sea levels were expected to rise about 89 centemeters by the year 2030. Indonesia is a country of 17,000 islands. If there was a sea-level rise of 89 centemeters, 2,000 small islands would be completely underwater.

                                 Map of Indonesia from Wikipedia

Indonesia has been trying to keep such a crisis from happening by reducing reliance on fossil fuels and switching to biofuels, which would reduce the emission of greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming. When fossil fuels are burned, “greenhouse gases” such as CO2 are emitted into the atmosphere. When IR light hits these greenhouse gases, the way electrons are arranged in a molecule can change- so the gases can become stretched or bent. A stretched or bent molecule is a high-energy molecule, and when it collides with other molecules, it transfers the energy and results in a higher kinetic energy, or a higher temperature. Therefore, with less greenhouse gases in the air, the temperature doesn’t have the ability to rise as much.

Rachmat Witoelar (Indonesia’s environment minister) is confident in the countries efforts.

“We are optimistic it can be prevented. Switching to biofuels is not only good for the environment but also will benefit us economically considering the volatile state of oil prices,” he said.

Another problem Indonesia is having due to climate change is a shortage in rice production. A draft U.N. report that will be released on February 2nd projects a big rise in temperatures this century and warns of more heat waves, floods, droughts and rising seas linked to greenhouse gases.

Currently, 35 industrial nations have agreed to cut emissions by 5% by 2008-2012 under the Kyoto Protocol. George Bush pulled the U.S. out of the agreement in 2001 because “it would damage our economy.”

In Paris right now, scientists and government officials are attempting to come up with the next authoritative report on global warming that is due to be released on Friday. (this will the the fourth report since 1990) In the bluntest language used yet, the report from the IPCC will warn the world that global warming is here and worsening. Hopefully, this will be the one to wake people up and make them realize that global warming is really happening.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16867998/

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16904378/

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a7/Id-map.png

Since we heard about the World’s Largest Laundromat in class, Paige and I have been entralled by the idea, overwhelmed with curiousity and wish to one day venture to the unknown land. (Ok, I admit, those were Motrya’s words, she is sitting right next to me) I am proud to live so close to such a place! It’s all old news now, but I decided to learn a little bit more about the laundromat.

In class we learned that solar power stations are benign renewable energy sources… they have the least environmental impact. Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn (Mr. Quinn’s brother as we all know very well…) said, “The World’s Largest Laundromat has served as a role model. It’s shown that solar can work in the Midwest climate, in the heartland.”

Apparently, in every article I read, Tom Benson “beams with pride” everytime he shows off his Laundromat, complete with 153 washers, 148 dryers and 15 flat-screen TVs. Located on top of this masterpiece is one of the largest, most cost-effective solar systems in the COUNTRY! That’s right, fellows apers, right near us! Thirty-six 10 x 4 foot panels supply this 24-hour laundromat with hot water.

Giovanni Marron does his laundry underneath a flat-screen television at the “World’s Largest Laundromat” in Berwyn, Ill., Wednesday, July 26, 2006. The laundromat has 153 washers, 148 driers and 15 flat-screen TVs and is one of the largest, most cost-effective solar systems in the country. Owner Tom Benson converted from natural gas to solar and his $150,000 hot water system has become a darling of environmentalists and officials smitten with the promise of solar. It is heralded as a prime example of how sun energy is practical, simple and cost-wise. (AP Photo/Brian Kersey)

Benson calculates that his $150,000 system saves him $25,000 annually. (so it should pay for itself in about five more years) He also expects it to last about 20 years. Benson said, “A lot of times the environmental stuff … ends up costing you money. People aren’t going to do it if it costs more.” However, Benson argues that his solar panels have no downsides.

Tom Benson, owner of the World’s Largest Laundromat stands on the roof of his facility next to the 36 10-by-4 foot solar panels that supply his 24-hour laundry with hot water in Berwyn, Ill., Wednesday, July 26, 2006. The laundromat also has 153 washers, 148 driers and 15 flat-screen TVs. Benson says the motivation to convert to solar was purely dollars and cents. His heating bills were climbing as high as $13,000, the equivalent of 25 percent of his total monthly revenue. (AP Photo/Brian Kersey)

Of course, there are advantages and disadvantages to solar power.

Here are some disadvantages:

• Solar stations are extremely expensive. They require a large initial investment.
• Solar Power is unreliable unless you’re in a very sunny climate.
• They don’t work at night.

However, here are some advantages:

• Solar energy is freely available
• Solar power is pollution free during use.
• Handy for low-power uses (like lights and batterys)
• After the initial setup, there’s little maintenance.
• After the initial cost of building the solar power plant, operating costs are low.
• In sunny counties, solar power can be used where there’s no easy way to get electricity to a remote place.
• Even though solar panels don’t work at night, energy can be stored.

There are also some pretty good perks: “Many people here have come up to me and said, `Thank you for helping the environment. Thank you for going solar,’” Benson said.

http://accuweather.ap.org/cgi-bin/aplaunch.pl

http://home.clara.net/darvill/altenerg/solar.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_power#Advantages_and_disadvantages_of_solar_power

I’m pretty sure every one of us at one point in our grade school careers memorized the lyrics to “If I Had a Million Dollars” by the Barenaked Ladies. But have you ever thought about the lyrics? WHatta bout when he sings “If I had a million dollars…I’d buy you a fur coat…but not a real fur coat, that’s cruel.” Today, I learned that the Barenaked Ladies vocalist, Steven Page, really cares about the environment.

A couple of years ago, the Barenaked Ladies left their major cd label and partnered with Reverb, a nonprofit that helps musicians green their tours and raise awareness with their fan base. Steven Page hopes that one day, cities will have plenty of bike paths, whole communities will be powered by wind and other renewable energy sources, and music will be released online and on refillable USB thumb drives instead of CDs encased in plastic. Steven Page is very vocal about his views- campaigning with Canada’s New Democratic Party, wearing a “Vote Solar” shirt on stage, serving on the board of directors for WWF Canada, and participating in Windshare, a renewable-energy co-op in his hometown of Toronto.

Since we’ve recently studied Wind Power, I decided to research what “Windshare” was all about.

“WindShare’s mission is to demonstrate leadership and action in the community wind power sector, and to develop community power projects that are sustainable economically, environmentally, and socially. WindShare provides an alternative to large, centralized energy generation with the development of local, profitable and inclusive community power projects. “

Currently, the first community owned wind farm in North America is being developed in Ontario. This “Lakewind Power Project” will have the capacity to produce enough 100% renewable electricity to power over 3,400 homes in Ontario. That’s pretty sweet.

STeven Page is really passionate about his dreams of greening the music industry, and building cities “that really work.” (With bike lanes, public transportation, etc.) I think it’s great because they’re really communication the issues they really care about to their fans.

http://www.windshare.ca/about/about_windshare.html

http://www.grist.org/news/maindish/2006/12/18/BNL/index.html

For some reason, everywhere I went this Christmas break, something we have studied in apes came up. It all started when my sister insisted we see “Happy Feet” the day after Christmas. I heard there was dancing in it so I agreed to go. Little did I know there were environmental issues involved!

THe movie brings up all kids of environmental issues in tiny ways. First of all, the head penquin announces that there is a food shortage (overfishing..) and blames it on poor little Mumble, a penquin who can’t sing but can dance. Mumble finds out from a bird that tries to eat him (disruption of the food chain) who has a yellow band around his ankle that “aliens” are taking their fish (that’s us!) and they’re the ones that put the yellow band around his ankle. Next, we meet a penquin who has physic powers with one of those pieces of plastic that hold together pop cans around his neck (trashing our oceans) that eventually starts to choke him. Mumble goes on a mission to find out who is taking their fish and ends up following a ship all the way from Antartica to some continent. He ends up very unhappy in a zoo, until he starts to tap dance and they take him back to Antarctica (?? this part I didn’t understand.) Humans observe the colony of penquins dancing and after much debate, humans stopped fishing in Antarctica. My dad left the movie hating it, my sister thought it was so-so, my brother loved it, and my comment was, “I need to go home so I can blog on this.” The movie brings up pretty complex environmental issues but I probably wouldn’t have caught them if I wasn’t thinking about my blog the whole time.

In two other situations during break I got to show off what I know. On CHristmas Eve, my Uncle Joe cooked Chilian Seabass. At the dinner table, someone happened to bring up the issue of seafood and how it could dissappear in a couple of years. Of course, I jumped right in and set the record straight from what I’ve learned by blogging. Then, on CHristmas day, my little brother George was talking about how he did a speech on Chernobyl in his oral communications class. My dad, sister LIzzy and I got into long discussion about nuclear power plants. It felt great that I knew what I was talking about.

Another time during break, my sister Patricia and I decided to go out for sushi. Since I normally don’t eat fish that much at all, I started thinking about if eating sushi dramatically adds to the loss of seafood. I found an article by Umbra on why we should not feel guilty eating seafood. (http://www.grist.org/advice/ask/2006/11/29/sushi)

Umbra suggests this:

• Read all about the aquatic life you like to eat. Educate yourself about the species. Learn how they are produced or harvested, which types to avoid, which to eat.
• Through this process, your “personal revulsion meter” will decide which fish are OK and which you will want to avoid.

Umbra basically says that the solution to overfishing is to learn about the fish you are eating, become disgusted by some of it, and order new things. Later, she said “If one truly cares for all the fishes of the world, one should stop eating all the fishes of the world.”

Lastly, over break I had to finish my Northwestern application to submit online by January 1. Keeping with my break full of apes, my big essay was on our communication with the Palestinian students in Bethlehem. (!!) I owe a lot to this class.

pictures courtesy of Wikipedia.