The Heat is on (Portfolio)

We have all heard about global warming. We all know that it is happening (except for the writer of "The Great Global Warming Swindle").

In a nutshell, global warming refers to an unnatural and rapid increase in the Earth’s average surface air temperature. There are several greenhouse gases responsible for this warming, carbon dioxide being the most highly concentrated in the atmosphere. Climate change has had a profound effect on the lives of animals over the past years, and now humans are finally beginning to feel it too.

It is natural to feel overwhelmed by the scope of the situation. This problem affects the entire planet. It is easy to continue living our current lifestyle and hope that some scientists somewhere will discover something that will reverse the problem. It is easy to turn the other cheek and wait for more laws to be enacted. But how about we take a look around us and see what changes we can make as individuals that will make a difference.

A recent article on TreeHugger caught my attention. It had a photo of a wild koala bear that crawled into a tub of water on somebody’s balcony in effort to seek relief from temperatures of above 40°C.

Australia is often described as the driest inhabited continent and the most likely to feel the early effects of global warming. Reuters recently reported another deadly bushfire in Australia, which spread through several small towns north of Melbourne and killed over 108 people. Dead animals were strewn across the roads. Although wildfires are a natural event in Australia, the particularly hot weather and drought this year provided optimal conditions for blazes to occur.

As southern Australia heats up and reaches record-breaking temperatures, northern Australia is becoming host to record-breaking floods. Even Britain is experiencing severe climate changes, reaching its coldest in eighteen years. Buses were suspended and traffic was at a standstill. This is what climate change looks like.

Nature is trying to tell us something.

Because of global warming, two-thirds of the world’s polar bear population will disappear by 2050. I was shocked when I read that statement several years ago. With less ice on which to live on, polar bears have gotten skinnier. Some have even drowned because of the long distances between melting ice planes.

I have always had a soft spot for animals and learning about their struggle nudges me to be more environmentally friendly. I hope that the photographs of those animals that I've posted will make some of you go "Aww...", and make some effort to try to help those that can't help themselves. Because of global warming, Arctic sea ice has declined to the lowest levels on record. But more than polar bears and ice caps are at risk. Other species have shown unusual migration and breeding patterns. Adelie penguins in Antartica have dwindled to less than half their numbers within the last thirty years. Butterflies and foxes have moved farther north for the cooler weather. Spruce bark beetles have thrived in Alaska because of the warmth, causing damage to four million acres of spruce trees.

So, what can we do?

The first steps are to reduce, reuse, and recycle. The three R's have been taught to us since grade school, but how many of us actually do it? Taking the extra step to separate your trash is worth every effort. Many of us may have an initial instinct to begin recycling all our trash. But we must bear in mind the order of the three R's. We must first reduce the amount that we consume. Buy products with minimal packaging. Use canvas bags to save paper and plastic bags. Reuse those bags that you absolutely had to take. With a little creativity, nearly everything in your household can be reused. For example, old kitchen utensils can be used as gardening tools and junk mail flyers for art projects and origami. Better yet, eliminate junk mail by removing your name from mailing lists. By recycling only half of your household waste, you can reduce up to 2,400 pounds of carbon dioxide annually. There are also websites such as www.neighborrow.com that bring neighbors together so that they can borrow and share just about anything.

Try adding insulation to your home. With the recent rain and cold weather, a little insulation can help to retain heat in the home. This translates to lower heating costs. Just by installing weather stripping or caulking around windows and doors, you can lower your heating costs by one quarter. By setting your thermostat just two degrees higher in summer and two degrees lower in winter, you can help save about 2,000 pounds of carbon dioxide each year.

By using energy efficient products, we will save energy— hence, we save money. In this economy, it seems the wise thing to do. When considering a new car, lean towards one with high mileage and least pollution. It could be a hybrid or a wagon, instead of a fuel-guzzling SUV. A 40-miles-per-gallon car will save an estimated $3,000 in fuel costs over its lifetime, compared with a 20-miles-per-gallon car.
For home appliances, switch to compact florescent light bulbs which offer more natural light for less energy, instead of standard light bulbs. Wash your clothes in cold water instead of hot, and save at least 500 pounds of carbon dioxide a year. You can't tell the difference in freshness or cleanliness of your clothes whether it is washed with hot or cold water, anyway.

Such simple adjustments to our lifestyle can have a significant impact on the environment.

The ideal way to reduce global warming would be to eat less meat. According to The Times in 2005, one of the best ways to fight global warming is to adopt a vegetarian diet. A major report by the University of Chicago in 2006 found that adopting a vegan diet has a greater impact in the fight against global warming than switching to a hybrid car does. Raising animals for their flesh, eggs and milk is one of the world’s leading emitters of carbon dioxide. But global warming is caused by more than just carbon dioxide.
Animal agriculture is the leading source of methane and nitrous oxide emissions, which—when combined with carbon dioxide—causes the vast majority of global warming. It takes up to sixteen pounds of grain to produce just one pound of animal flesh. It is inefficient to feed plant foods to farmed animals and consume their flesh rather than eating the plant foods ourselves.

According to the Water Education Foundation, it takes 2,464 gallons of water to produce one pound of beef in California. Compare this with the 25 gallons used to produce one pound of wheat. A recent report from the Food Climate Research Network at the University of Surrey states that the meat and dairy industry accounts for 8 percent of carbon emissions in the United Kingdom, compared with the airline industry which accounts for 2.5 percent.

According to FAOSTAT Agricultural Data, World meat production has quadrupled in the past 50 years and livestock now outnumber people by more than 3 to 1. This means that the livestock population is expanding at a faster rate than the human population!

A 2006 United Nations report found that the meat industry produces more greenhouse gases than all the SUVs, cars, trucks, planes, and ships in the world combined. In the United States, 70 percent of all grains, 80 percent of all agricultural land, half of all water resources, and one-third of all fossil fuels are used to raise animals for food. Eating one pound of meat emits the same amount of greenhouse gasses as driving an SUV for 40 miles. Eating one kilogram of beef is equivalent to a three-hour car ride with the lights left on at home (Fanelli, 2007).

Reduce your environmental impact by starting with baby steps such as switching from dairy milk to soy milk, or eating one meat-less meal per week. It seems a long shot for everybody to become vegetarian, considering that meat is such a significant part of the American diet, but according to Environmental Defense, if every American replaced just one meal of meat with vegetarian foods per week, the carbon dioxide savings would be equivalent to taking more than a half-million cars off U.S. roads.

Our food and lifestyle choices impacts the environment more than we realize. Let us do something before the Maldives, an archipelago nation in the Indian Ocean, disappears underwater within the next one hundred years, as predicted by scientists if global warming continues at the current rate. It is clichéd, but it has to be said- we really can make a difference.