Last Name 1
Student Name
Professor S. Ersinghaus
Composition I
28 November 2016
Project 2
Preventing Climate Change from Destroying the Earth
Often times when people think about the many issues facing our country, and even the world as a whole, we ask ourselves what we can do to help. We donate money to charitable organizations, we donate our time to programs that help with things like deforestation or poverty-stricken areas by planting trees and or handing out food to homeless children. However, other than these actions, many don’t know what they can do to improve less-than-ideal situations like these.
In order to properly identify what each person can do to make these situations better, we need to identify the problems we are currently facing and the problems we will be facing in the near future.
Aristotle was a great philosopher and has been cited by numerous historians as one of the most influential writers about politics in recorded history. He famously wrote Politics, a piece that outlines the basic framework for making a proper and flourishing community. He says, “Every state is a community of some kind, and every community is established with a view to some good; for mankind always acts in order to obtain that which they think good,” (Aristotle, Part I). Basically, this means that our communities should work together to establish specific goals that they consider important for creating a “good” society. In addition, communities should educate themselves on issues beyond those that are simply societal - like climate change.
If the way we treat global climate change stays the way it is right now, then it will not only majorly impact the millennial generation, but every generation to follow us as well. It is undoubtedly time to work together and start the healing process for our unhealthy planet. If we use Aristotle’s model of a community it is easy to see that we must really begin to consider each other as members of a community with one collective goal - destroying the threat of impending doom to most aspects of everyday life. Aristotle says, “When several villages are united in a single complete community, large enough to be nearly or quite self-sufficing, the state comes into existence, originating in the bare needs of life, and continuing in existence for the sake of a good life,” (Aristotle, Part II). The first step for solving this problem (and for preventing it from getting worse) is getting people to recognize that global climate change is a very serious issue. Every American needs to wake up and realize that this is not a trivial problem to sweep under the carpet for other generations to worry about later. This is happening now. It is going to have an impact on every single one of us.
The Price Tag of Being Young is a highly detailed study that explores the economic impacts of global climate change specifically for the millennial generation. It begins by defining some of the most problematic economic hardships caused by politicians’ decisions that many people from the millennial generation have to endure at some point in their lives. The author writes:
Quality full time jobs are often out of reach for many young people, wages have stagnated, and millennials have less wealth and financial stability than previous generations. Getting a college degree is less and less affordable, and student debt has exploded. Without access to quality, affordable child care, young parents have to fend for themselves as they struggle with the financial burdens of caring for their children in the years prior to K-12 schooling. (The Price Tag of Being Young, Introduction)
The study then goes into further detail about each of these points. Lack of economic security or even stability is an issue facing almost everyone in this generation today, which the author emphasizes.
They continue by discussing the impacts that global climate change will have on these hardships. The author writes:
In the broader public narrative, the economic challenges described above are often discussed as part of a larger systemic crisis in our economy—the crisis of inequality. The impacts of climate change, however, are rarely factored into this narrative. But our findings show that climate change is an integral and major part of systemic inequality. We already know that its damages are—and will continue to be—felt unequally. (The Price Tag of Being Young, Part II)
After examining how each issue will be affected, the author introduces the idea that shifting to renewable energy sources will create jobs and bring economic growth. They write, “Many studies and real time examples, like California’s carbon market or the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, show that the low-carbon transitions can and will be a net job creator and will lead to economic growth” (The Price Tag of Being Young, Part III).
The author closes the study by talking about the two major issues the next generation of voters will have to face - climate change and a challenging economy (that is made worse by intensifying inequality and societal racial segregation). They write, “Due to their huge numbers, their diversity, and their progressive values, millennials’ voting power is the key to winning these two fights, and we won’t win either if we don’t fight them together,” (The Price Tag of Being Young, Part IV).
People need to understand that being selfish about this very real problem is blatantly wrong. Aristotle says, “And it is a characteristic of man that he alone has any sense of good and evil, of just and unjust, and the like, and the association of living beings who have this sense makes a family and a state,” (Aristotle, Part II). Essentially this means that people naturally have a sense of what is good and what is bad. The only problem is that people sometimes have ineffective judgements, like when people think that singling out poor communities or communities of color is okay and that it isn’t bad. Although many do not think about it, these communities are often left with nothing during natural disasters because much of the time there is not enough money to set up precautionary systems for power and water. In addition these communities often don’t have the money to fix damages caused by storms and extreme weather. The author of The Price Tag of Being Young writes, “Communities of color and low-income communities will be hit the hardest, as these communities have fewer resources to deal with the impacts of climate change—for example, in protecting themselves from extreme weather events,” (The Price Tag of Being Young, Part II). To think that you or your family should not have to adjust their lifestyles in order to make changes that can help poorer communities is to be ignorant and undeniably selfish.
Thomas Paine was a well-known and influential Patriot of his time. He wrote Common Sense, a piece addressed to the Colonies at a time when America was under the control of the British. Common Sense has been considered a very important piece in history because the sentiments can be applied to virtually any issue presented to a community.
Many people who don’t care about the environment have said things along the lines of “Climate change isn’t really a problem now, so why should I care?” The answer is that this issue will impact every single generation to follow this one. Not only will the complications presented with climate change increase in lethality exponentially, they will also probably end up killing a lot of the planet if something is not changed. Not to mention the fact that it actually is an issue now and it’s killing plants and animals constantly. Polar bears are losing their homes because glaciers are melting at unimaginable rates, and various species of sea turtles can’t grow in population effectively because the rising sea levels worldwide often flood nests and prevent healthy development of baby turtles before they hatch from their eggs. Paine says, “‘Tis not the concern of a day, a year, or an age; posterity are virtually involved in the contest, and will be more or less affected even to the end of time, by the proceedings now,” (Paine, Thoughts on the Present State of American Affairs). If Paine were alive right now, he would be kicking us because we are not paying attention to the fact that our selfishness is hurting us now and will be hurting our children and grandchildren exponentially more.
People must consider what they are doing about climate change. Are we really engaging in behaviors that prevent this issue from becoming worse? I have yet to hear of anyone talking to their local politicians, and no one has talked to our senators and representatives that speak for our entire state. In addition to this, people simply do things that are harmful for the environment with the full knowledge that they are doing something that is harmful to the environment. For example, people know that taking long showers is a major waste of water - yet they still spend upwards of 90 minutes showering. People know that fracking releases natural gases into water supplies, often polluting well water systems so severely that the water is unusable. Paine says:
This is not inflaming or exaggerating matters, but trying them by those feelings and affections which nature justifies, and without which, we should be incapable of discharging the social duties of life, or enjoying the felicities of it. I mean not to exhibit horror for the purpose of provoking revenge, but to awaken us from fatal and unmanly slumbers, that we may pursue determinately some fixed object. (par ?)
This tells the reader that Paine isn’t trying to scare people into understanding something that they don’t understand, but he is attempting to warn us that we are going to cause our own demise if we don’t do something about it.
Rob Verchick wrote Our Energy Grid is Incredibly Vulnerable which is a piece about how climate change has impacted and will continue to impact our energy systems throughout the country. He opens the article by talking about natural disasters that have caused massive amounts of destruction in recent years, like Hurricane Katrina and the flood at Memorial Medical Center. He uses these examples of extreme weather to introduce the idea that Americans all over the country depend on our energy system for basically everything. He writes, “We hear a lot about how energy policy will affect climate impacts. Less appreciated, but equally important, are the ways that climate impacts will affect energy policy,” (Verchick, 4).
Verchick examines several ways that weather caused by climate change will strain or damage our power grid. He writes about rising sea levels flooding coastal power plants and about how higher temperatures will cause high-voltage transmission speeds to slow down. He then brings up the idea that the country needs to bring about some major policy changes in order to start using safer and more effective forms of energy. He writes, “Making the grid climate-ready requires forward-looking policies that will spur change in technology, operations, and markets,” (Verchick, 10). To follow this idea he introduces the four categories of ways to improve the power grid (via a report released by the Union of Concerned Scientists). The first category is hardening, which refers to preventing weather-related damages from happening to equipment. The second category is smartening which refers to adding intelligence to the system. This could mean creating a system of backup power that gives priority to places where electricity could mean life or death (like hospitals). The third category groups systems that are renewable and less susceptible to weather-related damages, like wind and solar power. The final category holds programs that promote energy-efficiency and therefore can reduce the demand for power.
Verchick expresses that we have the necessary technology to do all of these things but it all comes down to whether or not we make the decisions to follow through. He writes, “Making the grid climate-ready requires forward-looking policies that will spur change in technology, operations, and markets,” (Verchick, 17). Verchick explains that investing in smarter technology and alternative power sources is second to investing in research for it. Many business owners would rather research the effects of these innovations, but Verchick notes that this is not the best way to go about it considering how unpredictable climate change forecasts are. He explains that refusing to take action can have deadly results like the destruction of homes and buildings, and even cause deaths.
Verchick closes the article by telling the reader that policy changes are not as distant as we think. He explains that energy providers in some places are beginning to look into the potential of their systems being vulnerable to extreme weather and climate change. In addition, he brings up the fact that many levels of government are preparing for policy changes. He writes, “the White House Council on Environmental Quality issued final guidelines instructing federal agencies to consider climate impacts in their environmental impact statements,” (Verchick, 21).
American energy systems involving nuclear power and the burning of natural gases or coal are simply unfit for the current state of America. It would not be wrong to say that it is even unsafe to strictly use these methods of energy. Verchick writes, “If we fail to account for the climate’s impact on our energy system and don’t start addressing them now, we’ll leave our children and grandchildren with a massive infrastructure problem - one that will affect their personal safety and economic well-being,” (Verchick, 1). Essentially, we need to act now as to avoid ruining the planet and the social order of life.
We need to talk to lawmakers about the ridiculousness that we face as a nation regarding climate change. There are many members of congress who have admitted to believing that climate change is a fraud and that is a theory created to control people by fear. But it is foolish to argue with scientific fact.
Civilians say that they don’t believe in climate change or that it is human-caused probably because they get their news from biased sources and because they sometimes don’t know enough about it to make any judgements about it. It is surprising how many people that are well-educated and generally intelligent that deny climate change simply because prominent members of their political parties deny it.
Climate change surprisingly is more of an issue than it should be, partially because of modern inequality. It is not a secret that governments sometimes knowingly give unequal opportunities to people in communities of color or communities where many of the members are at the poverty level. This systematic inequality boosts the issue, because people in these communities are not able to combat the harmful effects to energy systems or even to the rising costs of college education, raising children, and healthcare. If the environment begins to deteriorate and we need to change our healthcare systems so that they can treat health problems caused by pollution, lack of clean air and water, and other problems similar to these, that will cost a lot and not everyone will be able to afford it.
In reference to an anecdote about people hauling their refrigerators filled with rotten food onto sidewalks in areas struck by hurricanes and floods, Rob Verchick writes, “What inscriptions will we find on these mildewed monuments? Forget funky. It smells like climate change to me,” (Verchick, 22). Climate change is a very real and very dangerous threat to the everyday lives of all people that inhabit the planet today. Each of us is responsible for minimizing our carbon footprints, educating others about what this issue could mean for the planet, letting lawmakers know we want policies to change, and doing whatever we can to put a stop to this international hazard.
Works Cited
Aristotle. "Politics." The Internet Classics Archive. Translated by Benjamin Jowitt. classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/politics.1.one.htm. Accessed Dec 8 2016.
"The Price Tag of Being Young: Climate Change and Millennials' Economic Future." Demos, 22 Aug. 2016, climate-change-and- millennials-economic-future.
Paine, Thomas. "Common Sense by Thomas Paine." Ushistory.org. Independence Hall
Association, Accessed Dec 8 2017.
Verchick, Rob. "Our Energy Grid Is Amazingly Vulnerable and Climate Change Is the Cause."
Slate Magazine, 26 Aug 2016, articles/technology/future_tense/2016/08/our_energy_grid_is_incredibly_ vulnerable_to_climate_change.html.