ENGLISH 23
(A.K.A. CLIMATE CRISIS 101)
Deep Dive
Project Drawdown
It is fabulous that we have these solutions in hand to solve the climate issues, but it is required from us and our government to implement these as quick as possible to save ourselves before sinking in the mud of desperation.
Disheartening is a good word to describe the Solutions list. Backed by governmental and political action, implementing many of these changes would be swift and effective…How impactful would this list be if it was widely made public knowledge. It is 100% frustrating and disheartening to come to the realization that our government chooses not to act in the interest of our well-being.
When I first looked at Project Drawdown, I assumed the list of solutions would be the things I have heard before. Things like you should eat less meat and you shouldn’t drive your car. I did not expect to see so many new solutions. Education of women? As a woman, this is something I have been passionate about ever since Malala was shot for going to school.
While reading the first twenty five approaches from Project Drawdown’s “Summary of Solutions” I was particularly surprised by how much family planning can really make a difference in mitigating our climate crisis. Before taking this course, I was aware that our global population was growing at an alarming rate, but I had no idea that it was the number 2 thing causing our planet to fail. Educating girls in order to curb population growth is an essential part of rolling back greenhouse gas emissions and yet our world still can’t seem to figure this out. It seems so simple to provide access to contraception and educate women about the importance of family planning yet, even in the US this is lacking. It is so easy for me to take things like this for granted. A few months ago when I wanted to start birth control, I was able to go to my doctor and get the pills within a number of days. Not only did I get the contraception I wanted, I also had the money and resources to find a doctor that could explain the truth about birth control and family planning. Unfortunately, this isn’t not the reality for most girls. It took one of my best friends six months to get access to birth control- and she lives here in California. This proves that this issue is global and serious. I was so shocked to read that 225 million women in lower-income countries say they want the ability to choose whether and when to become pregnant but lack the necessary access to contraception. This is ridiculous. Providing women with the choice of how many children they conceive should not be optional. Not only is this issue a direct violation of these women’s human rights, it is detrimental to our planet. The institutions that continuously perpetuate this issue by limiting women’s access to education and control of their own bodies need to be shut down. It is indisputable that our population is growing too quickly and that educating more women will help mitigate the crisis. After reading this article, I am even more angry at our world for creating a society in which only women in rich areas have access to contraceptives. It is such a simple fix- provide education about contraception to women in all areas of the world and our population will increase less rapidly, significantly helping to reduce unnecessary greenhouse gas emissions.
When I look through the website, and spoke to myself, “Yes! This is exactly what I want! Specific solutions to reduce personal carbon footprint.” I feel surprised by the various actions we can take to contribute to CO2 reduction, and I also enjoy reading it.
To be honest, I prefer to read articles and websites that give people a specific way to solve problems or guide us to the same goal. I am not denying the significance of raising questions or discovering issues that already existed, but I am saying that reading materials that give people instructions can be more encouraging and hopeful.
I grew up in China, and I am sure that our media is displaying advertisements about saving food, water, and electricity. However, it is not until the moment when I read this week’s reading then I know that there are even more things we can do.
It was great to finally see that among all the false theories surrounding climate change and global warming that there are still genuine climate scientists out there who still are fighting to get the real message about the climate crisis out to the public and make them more aware of what’s truly going on in the world around them. If it weren’t for people such as these, I myself would have most likely still considered electric cars more of a priority and would have likely still thought that electric cars would be higher on the top 25 solutions for combating the climate crisis…It’s because of well knowledgeable & well-respected climate scientists such as these that issues of climate change continue to surface and inspire new newer generations of people to rise up and tackle the climate crisis as a whole.
One of the pages talked about deforestation, which is a topic I am very interested in, and while forests have been suffering from clearing, there are large growing restoration efforts in place. This is extremely important and the project discusses how it’s relevant to everyone; one of my favorite points was that most people live around other people and this means that smaller communities as well as larger communities need to “have a stake in what is growing.”
I think most people today assume our greenhouse gas emissions, especially with our car, will somehow be combatted with new technologies and conservation of power. However, as Ken and the reading noted, this is not the case. The most impactful drawdowns have to do with an individual, from reducing food waste to switching to a largely plant-based diet, so this assumption that technology is going to save the planet is misleading and false. Although new emerging technologies were included on the list, such as solar, wind turbines, and electric cars, they are not nearly as impactful of a reduction of emissions as personal action and collective action of our behaviors. I think it is so interesting that growing up, I was always told that these technologies (wind, solar, etc.) were going to be largely used in the future and was given a misleading impression that these are enough to significantly reduce our carbon footprint. I even had an AP Language exam essay prompt on the importance of wind energy in helping combat greenhouse gas emissions. I think if schools educated students better, and society in turn educated adults better on more useful ways to reduce our carbon footprint that they haven’t thought of before, such as educating women on family planning and wasting less food, people would be more cautious and willing to step up and realize that technology can’t be their only savior. After reading these solutions, it made me think about what the government is doing to implement or stress any of them, if they even are. I think the best way to reach Americans is through the government (legislation), or the media. Until people are educated on these different solutions they are going to continue to live the way they are, which is detrimental to the future success of our environment and planet.
Project Drawdown allowed me to better understand the amount of change humanity can make in restoring the Earth and ultimately combat the climate crisis. Being able to visually see both the economic and environmental impact such changes can make to heal the Earth makes this desire to create a more sustainable future more realistic. Past readings and videos have often left me thinking that it is too late to act, yet I feel like these upcoming years will be the most vital in reversing the damage.
I also enjoyed reading the top 25 solutions to reducing greenhouse gases. I find it kind of ironic that all these large companies are making more eco-friendly decisions as a marketing strategy, but the largest decisions that we can make as consumers is to not indulge in their products. I also find it frustrating that there is so much food waste based on aesthetics, when I see a funny looking carrot, I wanna go out of my way to buy it, especially when most of the foods we eat will be cut and not look the same anyway. Since the pandemic lockdown, I have been slowly transitioning my family to eat more plant-based foods. They grew up with meat as the basis of their diet, but all 4 of their kids are either vegetarian or vegan. I slowly transitioned them to Beyond meatballs and Impossible burgers and I realized that if I cooked it, they had no issue eating it. I had also read this article about how climate activists and animal rights activists eventually move to work for alternative food companies because many people know that eating plant-based is better for a multitude of reasons, but having an option close to what they are used to can help them transition. I feel like now knowing that most of our emissions come from food makes us as the consumers have the power; it allows us to stop waiting for large companies to develop high-tech solutions and do something ourselves to make a difference without making rich people richer.
I thought that the most interesting part of this week’s reading was the discussion of refrigeration management and its harmful effects on the environment. Most households, if not all in America, have one, and sometimes more, refrigerators. This is something that we don’t even think about, it is just there and that’s it. To find out that these machines that are so “essential” to our lives are actually culprits in the climate crisis is disheartening. But, what makes me appreciate this article is the fact that this issue shows that real change is possible. This is one of the first issues that I have learned about that has a visible change that solved an issue. The ozone was getting depleted by the HFC’s, so the Montreal Protocol put guidelines in place, and while they are still harmful, the ozone isn’t being ruined by them anymore. In a world full of seemingly unsolvable problems, it is nice to read about an issue that had a solution.