This blog is part of a series of blogs from ACE Recycling In recognition of the 50^th Anniversary of Earth Day.  This series focuses on changes you can make to decrease your carbon footprint and help the environment.  These changes are intended to be user-friendly.  Being environmentally responsible has the added benefit of being healthier and more cost-effective.  The goal is to create fun and engaging activities for the whole family.  Simple changes to our everyday lives have big impacts on our health and the health of our planet.  #EarthDay2020 #EarthRise2020 #ActsofGreen #ACERecyclingBlog #SmallChangesBigImpacts

In the second article of this series, we will look at how carbon is affecting humans as a whole.  For a general rundown on carbon, read Carbon 101, the first article in this series.   

It is a scientific fact that the climate is changing at an unprecedented pace caused by human activities, in the same way, that it is a scientific fact that a pencil will fall to the floor when dropped.  Now we need to band together to innovate and create a solution.  This common problem solving is uniquely human and one of the most potent forces on Earth.  We have created civilizations from dirt, flying machines from metal forged in fire, and the internet.  We have always had a significant impact on Earth and each other.  This article explores some of those significant impacts. 

Knowledge is Power

These impacts come from choices made by you and I, but ripple out to affect humans halfway around the world.  How do your preferences have that far of a reach?  Because nothing exists in a vacuum, that is to say, that everything affects everything else.  It is essential to understand that humans are a part of the system and are subject to the laws of nature.  Therefore, when we alter one thing, it will change something else, and those alterations will affect all life on Earth.  Being a former teacher and general science nerd, I believe knowledge is power, and understanding is the first step to making conscious, deliberate choices in our everyday lives to decrease our impact.  Our decisions, from the car we drive to the meat we eat, affect everything else because we are part of this big, beautiful system we call Earth.       

Climate Change is Happening Now

According to the 10 New Insights in Climate Science, “The pace of contemporary rise in greenhouse gas concentrations is unprecedented in the climate history over the past 66 million years.”A warming Earth alters more than just baseline temperatures.  A warmer climate changes the water cycle, (increased temperature causes evaporation) and is shifting biomes northward.  We are actively, in real-time, seeing life on Earth adapt to this ever-warming climate.  Migration patterns, mating seasons, harvest cycles, and many other season-linked activities are changing or have changed.  Life is adjusting and adapting as it has done for millions of years. Humans are too, but most do not see the connection between climate change and societal issues.  Immigration, war due to drought and famine (Arab Spring), increased energy prices, higher food costs, and more intense and far-reaching diseases, are all direct consequences of climate change. 

As the temperature increases, evaporation increases, consequently putting more water into the air to act as a greenhouse gas, which in turn, further warms Earth.  This phenomenon is called a feedback loop, and in “normal” circumstances, this feedback loop creates and maintains the conditions needed for life to exist.  However, it can “runaway” and compound itself to the point that it will wildly swing in one direction and become irreversible. More frequent and more powerful storms in some regions and extreme drought in others are a direct effect of the altered water cycle. Both of these scenarios displace populations and change food production leading to immigration and higher food costs, respectively.  Conservative estimates on the average number of people pushed into poverty each year due to flooding and drought are 26 million.  Estimates show that 180 million people will be displaced by 2100 as a result of altered weather patterns. 

Events once considered unlikely or rare (in terms of intensity and frequency) are becoming part of our “new normal.”  The impacts of this new standard will affect all sectors of society and include increased food prices due to crop failure, health impacts from the outbreak of water-borne disease or heatwaves, and infrastructure damage from storms.  All of this will cost us, both in monetary terms, but also in terms of human health and life. The changing Jet Stream is an example of this.  “The jet stream – a fast-moving band of air 11 km [7 miles] up in the atmosphere – is increasingly showing signs of unusual behavior…”. It is shifting hot air circulation Northward around the globe, leading to hot African air reaching northward to France and Germany.  Changing weather patterns will ultimately affect the economy of these regions, modifying what can be grown.  For France, this is especially pertinent, considering they are synonymous with vineyards.  

Protecting the Most Vulnerable

In these early days of climate change, the populations most affected are the world’s most vulnerable. Estimates show that poor communities are 8-32 times more sensitive to the risks of climate change.  This reason alone could be the reason that the developed world is so slow to accept that the climate is changing.  It is, after all, our lifestyles that are causing the most negative changes to the environment, but it is not us that are being negatively affected by that lifestyle. Yet. 

Climate change is already affecting food production by reducing agricultural yields.  Increasing concentrations of carbon in the atmosphere decreases the nutritional value of food.  In the Western world, there is a disconnect from the source of our food. Additionally, we employ technology to fortify food with vitamins and minerals.  But what we must remember is, we are the exception. Most of the world are growing their food without the help of such technologies and catching food from nature.  Most of the world meets its nutritional needs through rice and fish. 

Climate and Food

The oceans are taking on the brunt of the access heat on Earth.  As ocean temperatures rise, fish yields decline.  The global availability of protein could fall by 4.1%, iron by 2.8%, and zinc by 2.5% at carbon concentrations expected by 2050.  A lack of nutritious food could affect the nutrient status of 600 million people.  With reductions in productivity due to climate change and the rising food costs associated with it, many countries will be in economic and social crises.  As climate change intensifies, an estimated 100 million could fall below the poverty line by 2030 and 3 billion by 2050.  It will be the wealthy developed nations that are called upon to assist with the humanitarian crisis that climate change causes. 

Money, Money, Money

Quite frankly, we should be the ones called upon to help those affected.  The US is the second highest producer of carbon emissions, second only to China.  In an ever-competitive environment, this will only get worse.  It is the need for the latest, greatest thing that fuels production and waste.  SUVs (which are a squarely American invention) were the second most crucial cause for increased global emissions in the energy sector (after power) between 2010 and 2018.  Global emissions have increased by 35% in 5 years, and overall oil and natural gas use has increased every year, despite growing awareness of the consequences. 

Why?  Money, which ultimately leads to power.  Four out of the five top fossil fuel investors are US based, and four out of the five top coal investors are Chinese.  Since the Paris Agreement was adopted (and unadopted by the US), 33 global banks have invested $1.9 trillion in fossil fuel companies.  Another reason that we continue to emit carbon even though it is clear we shouldn’t be is straightforward: change is scary.  This great country was built, literally, on coal.  It is part of the American identity, and it feels as though we are betraying it when we walk away from it.  The most important reason why we continue to rely on carbon-based fuel is because we, the people of America and ultimately, the world, have not demanded that we do not.  We have checked out and stepped back. 

Looking at it Another Way

What if, instead of seeing reducing our carbon output as an attack on our way of life, we saw opportunity?  Instead, look at it as an opportunity to be healthier, more community based, and less obsessed with material things.  Use this time to re-evaluate what is important and “cut the fat.”  This modern time calls for harnessing the most important human behavior – collective problem-solving. Humans excel at working together to innovate and create positive, sweeping change. I find that thrilling.  It boils down to this: the species that will be most uncomfortable, most affected, most desperate as the climate changes will be humans.  Life will go on without us, just as it has for millions of years.  We are not the most important of the species. That idea is a subjective, human-made concept that has no basis in biological or ecological reality; we are just another life form on the planet. 

The question is, how much do we care about our survival?  Not you as an individual, but for us as a species. I see my fellow human beings as my tribe.  If I can make a small change that will have a significant impact on them, I am willing to do it.  More importantly, if I can leave my children a better, healthier planet, I absolutely will because I am a mother, and the drive to give my children “better” is innate and visceral. Everything affects everything, so I am sending out a positive ripple that I hope is felt for years to come. After all, the ripples we start are ultimately our legacy after we are gone.

NOTE: For the first article in this series click here

COMING UP NEXT:

Your Carbon Footprint: A look at what a carbon footprint is and how to calculate and reduce yours in fun, family-friendly ways.

This blog is part of a series of blogs from ACE Recycling In recognition of the 50^th Anniversary of Earth Day.  This series focuses on changes you can make to decrease your carbon footprint and help the environment.  These changes are intended to be user-friendly.  Being environmentally responsible has the added benefit of being healthier and more cost-effective.  The goal is to create fun and engaging activities for the whole family.  Simple changes to our everyday lives have big impacts on our health and the health of our planet.  #EarthDay2020 #EarthRise2020 #ActsofGreen #ACERecyclingBlog #SmallChangesBigImpacts

In the first article of this series, we will look at the carbon system as a whole.  This system is complex, and though I will attempt to simplify it, I suggest you use this article as a jumping-off point to research more. There are sources within the article that are worth looking at for more in-depth information. 

Carbon as a Greenhouse Gas

Earth is a closed system, much like a snow globe.  Our atmosphere acts like a shield, protecting us from harmful radiation, regulating our temperature, and holding in essential things, like oxygen and water.  The only thing that can come and go, and must for life to exist, is energy in the form of light and heat (think the sun).  However, certain compounds capture heat and hold onto it, keeping it from escaping into space.  This heat becomes trapped on Earth (hence the greenhouse analogy).  We call these compounds greenhouse gases. 

Water vapor (H2O), carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), and ozone (O3) are greenhouse gases. By burning fossil fuels (oil, natural gas, coal), humans are pulling carbon out of long-term storage and putting it back into circulation. There it can capture heat that would have otherwise escaped. You put carbon into the atmosphere every time you start your car or turn on a light.  

Ultimately, through natural processes, this carbon would have been released, though probably slowly over a long time.  It is the pace at which we are releasing it that is shifting the system so drastically. In terms of the history of Earth, humans have been pulling massive amounts of carbon out of Earth very fast. In that short time, a lot has changed, which is causing alarm.  The warming trend over the last 50 years (about 0.13° C or 0.23° F per decade) is nearly twice that for the previous 100 years.  But even more alarming is that we don’t know the complex consequences of this drastic shift in atmospheric carbon concentration.  Science takes time, and quite frankly, all this is happening too fast for us to get a good grip.  It would be prudent to slow down our carbon output until we fully understand the consequences of our actions.  

Natural Pathways

The elements on and within Earth exist in finite (limited) quantities.  While the amount of any given element will remain the same, they can change form. These changes occur as a result of chemical reactions, temperature, or pressure. Elements combine through chemical reactions to form various compounds, including water and minerals. Regardless of their form, they are trapped on Earth, in the ground, water, atmosphere, or living things.  These materials move through the environment, interacting with each other, and responding to change in predictable pathways.  For example, we understand that if the water is heated up, it will evaporate and enter the atmosphere. Once cool, it will fall as rain or snow.  We call these pathways biogeochemical cycles.  Remember learning about the water cycle in school?  That is water’s biogeochemical cycle.   

Generically, elements can be stored, or they can be in circulation.  In storage, they are removed from the cycle and are not available to interact with other features in the system, although they are still subject to temperature and pressure changes. In circulation, elements are actively interacting with the environment and each other.  Usually, storage takes place because the material becomes trapped in Earth’s crust.  We call these materials minerals and find them valuable for many reasons.  An element in the atmosphere or (generally) water, is considered in circulation and becomes part of the billions of chemical reactions that take place on Earth every day.  Life stores elements, but on a shorter time scale than if they were underground. When the living thing dies, the elements it stores are released back into the environment and the cycle.

Natural Change, by Natural Forces

Throughout Earth’s history, different elements have been more or less prevalent in circulation versus storage.  There was a time when carbon, in the form of carbon dioxide, was more prevalent in the atmosphere then it is today, and oxygen was scarce.  (Curious how scientists find out what atmospheric conditions were like millions of years ago?)  Plants evolved in this carbon dioxide-rich environment and began pulling carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and into their cells.  There, carbon converts the sun’s energy into a form of energy (glucose) the plant could use to power itself.  A waste product of this chemical process is oxygen (lucky for us).  Photosynthesis forever changed the atmosphere by pulling from the atmosphere and pumping oxygen into the air. Consequently, the chemical make-up of the atmosphere changed. Because everything affects everything else, this chemical change resulted in a difference in the climate.

The chemical composition of our atmosphere is dynamic due to natural processes. These processes include volcanic eruptions, decomposition, changes in Earth’s tilt, and fires caused by lightning.  In most cases, these shifts in atmospheric chemical composition are small and therefore have minor effects. But after what we would consider a catastrophic event, things change in an instant and have significant consequences. When change occurs slowly, life has time to adapt and adjust.  When change happens quickly, as it is now, life cannot keep up with the changes and extinctions occur.  The most known example of this is the dinosaurs. After a catastrophic meteor strike, coupled with intense volcanic activity, 76% of all dinosaur species just ceased to exist. However, there have been five major mass extinctions in Earth’s history, all of which were a direct result of drastic changes in climate caused by a catastrophic event.

Long-Term Carbon Storage in Fossils

Analysis of the geochemical record held in Earth’s crust shows us past atmospheric conditions.  Studying the past, allows us to determine what will happen if a particular chemical is more or less prevalent in circulation.  Historically, when carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere are high, temperatures are high. When the dinosaurs roamed Earth, there was a lot of volcanic activity releasing massive amounts of carbon dioxide.  At that time, there was no ice at the poles as there is now, and average ocean temperatures were 95 degrees.  It was a tropical paradise on the coasts, complete with tree-sized ferns, but in-land, there were massive barren deserts.

It is during this time that the coal, natural gas, and oil we use today formed.  Large plants and small photosynthesizing algae pulled in carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to create their energy.  With the carbon locked in their cells, they died and were fossilized.  Today we call those dead organisms fossil fuels. We dig them up and burn them to release the energy they hold and generate power.  As a result, the carbon they have been storing underground for 65 million years is released and put back into circulation.  This artificial (human-made) carbon release at a pace that is unprecedented and will lead to unique challenges for life on Earth.  This event is equivalent to a meteor strike – huge changes in a small amount of time that are resulting in mass extinction (yes, we are currently in a mass extinction). 

The Most Powerful Force

It is a scientific fact that the climate is changing at an unprecedented pace and that it is caused by human activities, in the same way, that it is a scientific fact that a pencil will fall to the floor when dropped.  The scientific foundation on which climate change sits is the same foundation that medicine is grounded. Science simply puts into words what occurs in the natural world, by gathering evidence and analyzing the data embedded in that evidence.

It is an undeniable truth that humans have always had significant impacts on Earth and, therefore, life on Earth. We have continuously and drastically altered the environment around us. We have done this by damming rivers, building cities in swamps (Washington DC), flattening mountains and cutting down vegetation. Many of those impacts have resulted in positive consequences, but some have adverse effects. Usually, the negative consequences are a direct result of our vast population (7.7 billion humans and counting).

We need to band together to innovate and create a solution that has resounding positive consequences.  This common problem solving is uniquely human and one of the most potent forces on Earth.  We have created civilizations from dirt, flying machines from metal forged in fire, and the internet. The key is a focus on creating more of the positive consequences while acknowledging the adverse effects. For any of this to happen, humans must recognize our direct connection to the cycles on Earth. We must first understand that we are a part of these cycles, not the master of them or some force standing on the outside. The key to balance is understanding the “Big Picture,” in which we are a part of the whole. Science helps us place the small things into the context of the big picture by defining our role within the processes on Earth.

COMING UP NEXT IN THIS SERIES:

Carbon & Us: A look at the current impact of carbon on humans

Your Carbon Footprint: A look at what a carbon footprint is and how to calculate and reduce yours in fun, family-friendly ways.