Monday, March 2, 2009

Four Degrees Hotter

Boys came to work with me today, snow day. Thank god for having a big enough office that they don’t have to sit near each other and actually co-exist for 8 hours.



So I am reading this article about Global Warming.. I know it is a phrase I do not like but in this case it is actually what they are talking about. What will happen when the earth’s average temp climbs 4 degrees. It doesn’t sound like much, but you have to stop and think… At 32 degrees your freeze pop freezes. At 33 degrees you have kool aid in a tube.

The difference of one degree might as well be the difference of 100 degrees.

If the average temp rises 4 degrees New Orleans will no longer exist, Brazil will be a desert..

ALLIGATORS basking off the English coast; a vast Brazilian desert; the mythical lost cities of Saigon, New Orleans, Venice and Mumbai; and 90 per cent of humanity vanished. Welcome to the world warmed by 4 °C.


I know the article says 4C, I use Degrees because I was mceducated in ‘merican schools where we only spent 5 hours on the metric system and Celsius.

Now, I am not an alarmist and I don’t actually think that recycling and avoiding plastic will stop Climate Change. It is too late now, this is real, it’s happening. Some of us will still be alive to see this. All we can do now is try not to make it worse… use less, buy less, burn less. No one is asking you to turn into an environmentalist nut right this minute.. but bring your own bags once in a while, notice how much trash you create, maybe try a little compost project just for fun.

What we need to do now is prepare for the future.

On a more local note, it has been really uplifting lately to hear so much about Holyoke and our efforts to be a little greener, after all Holyoke has the potential to be the Greenest City in the state. Wouldn’t it be nice to be known for something other then crime, poverty and culture divides?

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm not discounting the fact that we, as members of society, have a responsibility to make a good faith effort to conserve and preserve resources for future generations BUT....there's always a but...this world, the climate and our environment is cyclical. it's warmer for awhile and then it cools off some. a look at a broad range of time--500 yrs + at a time instead of a decade is needed to make any claims regarding the doomsday--at least for me to listen to them anyway.

I just have to laugh when people run around claiming that California will fall off the continent during the next earthquake just as much as when people write papers about New Orleans likened to Atlantis.

I might be off a bit with the math--but if I can remember correctly...a 4C change is equal to over a 7F degree rise in CONSISTENT temperatures. according to the article an increase that large has not even come close to occurring for 55 million years.

I'm not criticizing you, just pointing out that everyone should always question what is read--most things are biased in some way and we were all given a mind to develop and express our individual ideas--not blindly follow another's simply because it is popular

That Library Girl said...

I believe I did say average temp.

The earth was once believed to be flat.

I am aware that the climate is a cycle, I am also aware that we are pushing that cycle along at an increasingly rapid rate.

You say it hasn’t happened for 55 million years in a way that implies that it won’t happen for another 55 million years yet before that you said the climate is a cycle. Perhaps the cycle is just about 55 million years long, give or take a million years.

It's not very nice to imply I am blindly following anything, especially this article. I first learned about climate change in Holyoke Public School in a third grade poster contest. Since then I have spent a good deal of time learning and educating myself more and more on changes that are happening. You can deny a lot of things but you cannot deny that ice melts when it is hot, can you?

Did you read the article in full? Because it isn’t screaming doomsday at all. It's talking about preparing for the inevitable which may not happen in our lifetimes or our children’s but personally stuff like that helps me keep up my efforts to reduce my trash output and buy sustainable.

We don't have to agree and we obviously don't, but please do not imply I am somehow less intelligent then you because I believe differently.

Anonymous said...

the written word is so unforgiving, tone and facial expressions are not available to convey meaning in addition to the words--and much is lost due to that.

I was not referring to you, personally, in any of what I wrote---my comments were about the article's author mainly. re-reading the blindly following comment...I can see that I didn't word it right, I was speaking more to the abstract again--to the concept of everyone thinking for themselves in this age of "the sky is falling" global warming huggy-touchy-feely PC world that seems to be all around.

never meant to come off sounding condescending, sorry if it sounded like I think I am more intelligent than you--or anyone for that matter--because I'm not. I'm a product of public school too--Holyoke and Chicopee...I've lived and worked in both towns for most of my life (that's one of the reasons I follow your blog..thank vandog for the link over) and take great interest in making sure that my family does our part to slow down our own personal consumption of everything cr*ptastic in this world.

BTW--shockingly, we probably agree on more than you think...I bring my own bags shopping w/me, have a rain collection system set up to provide water for our garden, we grow a lot of veggies for ourselves when possible and many more little things that hopefully make a small dent...all in addition to the huge amount of recycling that we do--family of 4 and we only put out 1 bag of trash a week, usually. of course..that means we overflow our 3 blue bins regularly

That Library Girl said...

I apologize for jumping to conclusions, in my weak defense I have two preteen boys in my office today and that tends to make me crabby. Wierd, huh?

You are right about so many people thinking the sky is falling. I read and follow a lot of blogs that are about being completely plastic free and making huge changes to reduce footprints and what not. I admire their drive.. but I'm not that .. energetic. I think people should only do what works for them.

Craptastic is one of the best sort of bad words ever.

Rain collection is so great! I wish I was less lazy and did that. My rain collection consists of accidentally leaving a container outside and then dumping the contents on my tomato plants.

I grew up in Holyoke too, but went to High school in Chicopee. Lucky, Lucky us.

Alexander hauschild said...

guess we should all chill

That Library Girl said...

Come to New England, it's pretty chilly here!

Research project?

Anonymous said...

You're blaming the boys for being crabby???

LOL

Anonymous said...

I know the article says 4C, I use Degrees

4C is still "degrees" as in "4 Degrees Celsius".

Jeffrey Byrnes said...

It is quite scary to think that the world is coming apart like this. Ive seen a few tv shows about this stuff, and let me say that it is a very scary thought to know that very soon we could see things like this happening.

adidas nmd said...

longchamp
kyrie irving shoes
michael kors factory outlet
air max
adidas superstar UK
adidas neo
nike air force
yeezy
patriots jersey
lacoste outlet

 
Dear Paper Cup, - Free Blogger Templates - by Templates para novo blogger