There are some key things to know about when making your life greener. These two concepts have a direct relationship to all of the green ideas that I will be presenting. Here is a quick summary on why these two concepts are important to know about in becoming greener in the world today.
Non-Renewable Resources are basically resources that cannot be reused. The bulk of these resources that America uses are called fossil fuels, such as coal and oil. Fossil Fuels were created by the immense amount of pressure on rocks over millions of years, since the age of the dinosaurs; basically coal and oil takes millions of years of geological transformation to create. These resources are limited, and cannot be reused.
When they are used in cars, trains, or airplanes they are burned and are released into the atmosphere as Green House Gasses. Green House Gasses have a negative effect on the environment. The gasses that are released from the emissions of fossil fuels go into the atmosphere and create a green house effect. When heat from the sun enters the earths atmosphere it hits the earth and bounces back into the atmosphere. The atmosphere traps some of the heat within the earth and releases some back into space. With more greenhouse gases building up the atmosphere and trapping more heat, the earth in effect gets warmer. This is also known as global warming. The heating up of the earth is effecting the environment, and the ecosystems within it across the world. Glaciers are melting as waters get warmer, thus rising the level of the ocean and upsetting the balance of salt to water ratio. This is turn, as I also mentioned above, effects the eco-system within the ocean, the effect being the extinction of various species of marine life.
Rising waters not only affects marine life, it also effects us humans. In fact "Scientists conservatively estimate that because of global warming the sea level could rise anywhere from eight to thirty-eight inches by the next century" (5). This quote emphasizes how pressing the issue of global warming is. We need to change are lives in order to counter act these issues. With this rising water we would have to support our growing population on less land, and this rising water would just continue rising without as long as global warming continues to heat up these glaciers; Scientist state that "if every glacier in the world melted today the oceans would rise about two hundred thirty feet!" (6).
Trees and species that photosynthesize are not only key in reducing CO2 emissions in the environment they are the only things that can reduce CO2 emissions that create this greenhouse effect; species that photosynthesize convert CO2 emissions into oxygen that is essential for life on land and in the water. Trees and other species that can photosynthesize, are being wiped out faster than ever now days. Actually "We're destroying our rain forests so quickly that if we don't do something fast, by 2030 there will be only 10 percent of them left" (3). 2030 is 20 years from now, which is more than half of my lifetime (I am 17 yeas old). Regardless of how far away it is, there still needs to be change implemented in our life styles that can help save this earth. It is not only trees that are being affected by human destruction, but also the various species that live within them.
As humans continue to destroy and pollute the environment, the species within them are affected in the same way. However this effect also translates to humans being affected in similar ways. As you will discover in my research, you are more connected to the health of the environment than you think.
Water is one of the most precious things on this earth. Without water the planet would not be able to survive and neither would humans. You might say there is plenty of water in the world, since 70% of it is covered with water, but in reality the only water we can use is found in rivers, lakes, and other forms of fresh water. Humans, especially Americans, are overusing this fresh water in our showers, kitchens, and other water wasting forms. Essentially the more water we conserve, the more clean water will be available for all of us.
There are processes in which seawater can be turned into fresh water, but then the problem arises of where to dump the salt that is diluted from the seawater. If it is put back into the ocean, the sea to salt ratio is then unbalanced, thus contaminating the ocean eco-system. Our oceans are being polluted today more than ever with sewage we cause, and other unsafe chemicals that are dumped into it. This makes it even more necessary to conserve the fresh water that our earth already provides. Humans buy ocean products that are sold throughout supermarkets, which are damaged from these pollutants that are put into their habitats. Saving the oceans therefore ties to saving our own health.
Generation Green, Do One Green Thing, and 50 Simple Things You Can Do To Save Hawai'i, all make it clear that these problems in the world aren't going to be fixed overnight. My goal in this project was to find ways to reduce my impact on these issues. I read these three books to get ideas, and to apply them in my daily life.
I categorized different parts of my life style such as hygiene, food, energy usage, and recycling, to show how I changed my life in these areas to become greener. I encourage you to read some of the things that I discovered in my quest to become greener, but ultimately the choice is up to you whether you apply these methods or not.
Generation Green
Do One Green Thing
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