Climate Change Series Part 3: It's Up To Us

I'm 1 view away from 2500! That is amazing to me, thank you all so much for even considering reading what goes on in my head.

As promised, I want to conclude a small series on climate change with this post. There will definitely be more in the future as the climate change ball is beginning to roll, worldwide.

Obama stated quite a bit about it in his state of the union, which I missed the beginning of, but just by him, the most powerful influencer on the planet, saying something about it is a huge step forward. He has said in the past, "We are the first to see the effects of climate change, and we are the last that can do something about it." ... At least I think Obama said that. Either way, it's 100% the truth and I commend him on his actions toward a better future for our Earth.

So far I have mentioned that climate change is a big deal, and we're already seeing its effects. I have also talked about what a greenhouse gas is and what their effects are. Here, I will HAHAHA A SQUIRREL JUST RAN INTO A WINDOW RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME. Excuse me, that was unprofessional. As I was saying, here, I will discuss a few out of the box ideas that definetly could help the climate change situation, along with standard technologies beginning to take hold right now.

Firstly, fossil fuel elimination for transportation and heating. We still need oil products for everyday items like clothes, furniture, plastic etc., but we can eliminate the use of gasoline, diesel, and natural gas to heat our homes and fuel our cars. If adopted worldwide, renewable energy for these means can and will cause a huge reduction in our greenhouse gas production. We are adopting these technologies already with windmill farms and solar energy cells in deserts, electric cars and buses, and mag-lev trains. It's slow to adopt and a high upfront cost, but as technology improves and becomes more affordable, adoption of these technologies will also increase.

Now you may be thinking, Jay, what the hell, I've been hearing that for years! What ELSE can we do?

Here's the fun stuff.

Now, I won't begin to take credit for any of the following as it is out there, just not in plain view. I want this to open some eyes, and get the creativity flowing. In my last post, I spoke of the greenhouse effect. As a recap, we need this effect to stay warm, and alive. But we're adding to it too fast to sustain! I hope that rings a few bells about the last post. The sun shines on our planet, and some of that light gets reflected back to space. We need a certain balance of reflection and absorption to sustain a climate suitable for our needs. Instead of relying on just ice to do the majority of reflecting, why don't we create more reflective surfaces in our cities? For example, bring your mind back to elementary school where you learned that white or light colours reflect the sun while black and dark colours absorb its heat. Apply that to roads. Pavement, or asphalt is black. Roads are everywhere here in North America. If there was a way to make pavement white, roads could do a lot of the reflecting of the sun's light. This would also help lower the heat in the city, which is a huge benefit especially in the southern US. Easy right? Well, no, because research and implementation costs a lot on top of the already high price to produce and lay asphalt.

What else? Well, plants and other greens absorb heat, and CO2. Why don't we put them on top of skyscrapers? This is very low cost and minimal to maintain. Although it seems like a small contribution, what else are we doing with that space? We could even paint the roofs of tall buildings, or all buildings, white to aid in that reflection mentioned above.

Another idea, although very far fetched, was given by a man in a meeting at Google. I read this in Bill Nye's new book, Unstoppable. The man's idea was to cause bubbles in standing water to raise the reflectiveness of water. Now this is no easy feat, but it makes sense. Bubbles in water, or more scientific, highly turbulent water turns white. White is much lighter than the dark blue colour of most ponds and lakes thus creating a better surface for reflection. These ideas are all small ways to help reduce the power of the sun on our greenhouse of an earth.

This is just one concept. What other ways could we reduce the effect of rapid heat entrapment in our atmosphere? Simply, how can we cool off the earth? I challenge you to come up with one idea, no matter how small, that could help the climate change cause! It might cost millions of dollar, or it may be as simple as a contraption someone can build in their garage. The fact is that it doesn't matter what the solution is, as long as it is a solution that might help.

As I learn more and more about climate change, I will continue to post new thoughts and ideas periodically. If you think there are topics related to climate change that I can write about, let me know! Or maybe even topics you want to write about! I say go for it. We are all in this fight together, let's make it happen.