U.S. Climate Action Network

The U.S. Climate Action Network is exactly as it sound, it is a network of climate action groups. The U.S. Climate Action Network (USCAN) is working to create a centralized database for all climate change action groups. There are hundreds of groups that are affiliated with this network. While this network doesn't act against climate change on the ground, it is helping other groups fight more efficiently. It does this by providing relevant information to all of these groups.

On the home page of USCAN's website you will watch three quotes appear,

• "Successful actions only become significant change when connected."
• "Actions are amplified through a network of networks."
• "Creating a transformative movement to solve climate change."

These quotes describe USCAN's goal quite clearly. USCAN is creating a "one-stop shop" for all climate change organizations. They are looking to connect all climate change organizations and help them fight climate change as one. The members of this network have a member only website that provides them with endless amounts of information. There is more about the network in the About Membership section on their website.   

This blog post is suppose to, "identify ways that secondary students might 1) work with the group, 2) borrow the group’s strategies for activities they could undertake, and 3) analyze the groups methods, approaches, or materials." However, the U.S. Climate Action Network is just a network of climate action organizations. Therefore, you wont be able to work with the group because it is a network of other groups. The student will have to work with the members of this network instead.

One thing the student could do to address number 2, is create a website that provides information about climate change to the public. They could periodically update his/her website, making sure the information shared is relevant and up to date. This is a way the student could borrow the network's strategies. 

As for number 3, "analyze the groups methods, approaches, or materials", USCAN's method is simple, provide information to other climate action organizations. USCAN is not directly involved with the actions that are taking place. USCAN is a place for other organizations to come and find any information about all things climate change. They are striving to unify the individual groups and allowing them to come to a consensus on how to fight climate change. 

There are more descriptions about other climate action organizations on our Wiki.

Investing

I want to do one thing and one thing only, invest. I want to spend my professional career investing money for both myself and others. It is as simple as that. I love the volatility of the market and I love the risk involved. For me, investing is a game. I have played multiple simulations that enable me to watch the daily changes of the market. It was these simulations that got me so interested in the patterns of the stock market. However, the stock market is often unpredictable and presents challenges for anybody who has invested. This career may be risky, but that is what makes it so intriguing.

Professionals in this field are in it to make money, this makes investments that show promise more popular. After some research, I realized climate friendly investments have been showing more promise on their returns. This raises the question, why not invest in these areas rather than companies that bring harm to our earth? This is exactly what I could do when I entire this field. I could urge my clients to invest in climate friendly companies. I do not know if the current professionals are doing this in the United States and I do not know if they would even try this considering the recent decrease in oil stock prices, which have great potential for a high return in future years. There are a couple firms, in Europe, that have set this single idea as their primary mission. The Frankfurt School - UNEP Collaborating Centre for Climate & Sustainable Energy Finance is the most prominent.

One important detail to recognize is that as oil begins to be depleted, investors will search for other markets that show more promise. This is when climate friendly investments will become more popular. Alternative energy will take the place of oil, the stock prices of oil companies will plummet, and the stocks prices of clean energy companies will soar. Another factor that will trigger an increase in interest of these stocks is climate change itself. As climate change begins to have more lasting and destructive effects on the United States, the market will shift and their will be a greater demand for clean energy. According to an article on the International Business Times website, there has already been a huge increase in climate friendly investments. I can tell that alternative energy companies will be my ticket to wealth and, possibly fame.

ROBLOX: Natural Disaster Survival

This game isn't exactly tied to global warming or climate change, but because there seems to be a relationship between extreme weather patterns and global warming, I thought this would be a fun game to experiment with.

ROBLOX is available on Xbox One for free! When you first enter the game you are at the main menu where you can create an avatar and pick which game you want to play. The Natural Disaster Survival is one of many mini games, and is also one of the top rated games. There are volcanic eruptions, meteor showers, mass flooding, acid rain, tornadoes, and many more! I haven't played the game long enough to have gone through every disastrous event. The point of this game is exactly what the title suggests, survive the natural disasters. Each time you survive you an event you gain points. If you die, you are sent to a viewing area where you can watch the events take place. When the natural disaster ends, points are tallied and a new disaster begins. There are also times when two disasters will happen at the same time, called double disaster, this is when only the best players are able to survive.

This game may seem childish and fake, but it is a very fun and creative game. After all, it is a game. For a better review you can watch a short video on YouTube. Every disaster seems ridiculous, and some are a little far fetched, but in a future where global warming and climate change are most prevalent, most of these disasters will be regular occurrences.

The Drowned Cities

For some reason, my computer has failed to connect to the Internet, so I am writing this entire blog from my phone. Anyways, here we go. The Drowned Cities, written by Paolo Bacigalupi, is filled with gore and violence and hatred. This novel portrays a dark and evil future in the United States. Climate change seems to have brought out the worst in this country. After the sea began to expand and cover the unprepared country, war broke out and when the Chinese attempted to save this once great nation, matters only grew worse.

The two main characters, Mahlia and Mouse, are desperate to escape the Drowned Cities depression and danger. There are multiple challenges facing this dream. The first, being the fact that there are crude and unmoral soldiers, called soldier boys, searching for any "castoffs" that may still be alive. Mahlia happens to be one of these "castoffs", constantly struggling to stay out of trouble and to stay alive. The second is, the fact that there are half-men, genetically modified creatures that have been designed to kill, patrolling the borders, making sure the chaos from the Drowned Cities does not spread else where. There is another main character, his name is Tool. Tool is one of these half-men. He had just escaped from holding and is now on the run. When Mahlia and Mouse find Tool laying upside down in a swamp, their adventures begin.   

I did not write about this novel on my wiki page for many reasons. One, because climate change plays more of a secondary role throughout the book. While climate change is the cause of this future, it is not the main subject. There are a couple climate change characteristics here and there, such as a description of the extreme heat, but nothing more. Two, because the future described in this book is far fetched and unrealistic. It gives off the sense that climate change isn't a present issue. I do realize that this is how the majority of young adult fictional novels are written. The third reason I didn't write about this book is because it is over 400 pages long and would take too long for a class to finish. Along with that, the probability of all students actually finishing the novel is very low. I would usually recommend reading portions of the novel as an alternative, but because climate change is not prevalent throughout the story this would be pointless.

Even though this book would not be good for teaching climate change in a classroom, it is a very well written novel. I am almost done with part one of the book, and fully intend to complete it before the end of the week. The Drowned Cities is definitely a page turner. This book was written with violence and thrill and adventure in mind. I am looking forward to beginning part two of the book and seeing what new challenges the main characters will have to overcome next. I recommend everyone read atleast one Paolo Bacigalupi novel at some point throughout the year.

The Rapture

This is going to be the hardest blog post so far because I will be trying not to give away too much. I think everybody should read this novel. Here we go, this novel is creative and well worth the read. The Rapture, written by Liz Jensen, is insane. The two main characters of this novel are, a paralyzed art therapist named Gabrielle Fox and, Bethany Krall, a sixteen year old psychopathic patient. There is more to her story, but you will have to read the book to figure out what causes this mental distress. The central idea of this novel and the reason for the events throughout the book is due to the Rapture. For those who don't know what the Rapture is, it is the transporting of believers to heaven at the Second Coming of Christ. During this time Earth is essentially turned into Hell. The world becomes corrupt and evil. This is exactly what Bethany Krall is, evil. Bethany is a patient at the Oxsmith Adolescent Secure Psychiatric Hospital, and Gabrielle Fox is her therapist.

After medicine fails to make Bethany sane, the doctors resort to Electroconvulsive therapy. And this seems to do the trick, but with one twist, she begins predict future catastrophic events. She predicts earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, and thunderstorms. But that isn't all, she predicts one final event that will effect the entire planet, an event that will cover all land with water, release unknown amounts of methane in the air, set the oceans on fire, raise global temperature by four degrees in a matter of seconds, and kill billions of people. This event is initiated through the actions of humans. We fail to respect the natural world and in return ensure our destruction. Now I would like to expand upon how this event is put into motion and I will do my best to not give away any information essential to the suspense in the novel. 

The confusion I had with this book is that everything, other than Bethany's visions, is so real. Everything is possible. This includes Bethany's final prediction, the one that leads to the destruction of Earth. This final event begins in the depths of the Ocean. In an area that experienced the Storrega Slides 8,200 years ago. In this book there is a rig directly over a continental shelf attempting to release the methane build up within this shelf zone and use it as energy. But something goes wrong. The methane is released all at once, causing a massive landslide within the ocean, which creates an enormous tsunami, but this isn't all. The domino effect began. This caused flash global warming like never before. The scary thing is that all this is possible. I did not do too much research to confirm the possible event, but what I have learned so far is that there is methane on the bottom of the oceans and if released similar events will occur in real time. The picture above is an exact replica of what is explained in the novel.

I will continue my research and possibly do another blog post that is specifically tailored to these "fictional" events. This book is fictional as of today, but as I read more of the facts, this book might just be a glimpse of humans future on earth.

Into the WIld

Into the Wild, written by Jon Krakauer, is an astounding work of nonfiction, wrote with careful thought of both emotion and realism. Anybody with a drive to be free and a dream of being one with the wild can easily relate to this book. This book reveals insight to Chris McCandless's thoughts throughout his adventures. Chris McCandless was a young man, college graduate, who was searching for a deeper connection with the world around him. A connection found seldom in a mainstream life. Chris is described as intelligent, passionate, and independent. He would disappear for, days, weeks, or even months at a time, not communicating with anyone. He did, however, make his whereabouts known to his family members, so when he performed his final disappearing act without any visit or letter, there was some initial surprise.

The summer after his graduation from Emory University, Chris set out to claim victory over the land. He explored western United States and even snuck into Mexico. He attended to his passions for three years, refusing to remain in one area for more than a couple months. He did, however, come close to settling down a couple times, finding people that he was comfortable with, in locations secluded from the outside world. He spent most of his time in Carthage, South Dakota. He made close friends in this little city and was ready to put his "itchy-feet" to rest, but decided to go on one more trip. He called this trip his "Alaskan Odyssey".

Chris McCandless was in search of something more fulfilling than a typical life and he believed that Alaska would fill the gaps within his heart. He went to Alaska unprepared for the harsh conditions, trusting that his wit would keep him alive. It was on this final trip that he meet his death. Nobody knows whether Chris walked into the Alaskan wilderness with the intent of never coming, but we do know Chris was content with life. Even though he was eating berries and rice to survive, he loved life. He would go days without a meal, but he loved life. He was not a lunatic, he was well educated and very passionate about life within the wild. The hardest thing for me to wrap my head around is that he left his parents wondering where he was and what he was doing for three years, before they got the news of his passing. I can't help but wonder, what kind of self absorbed man would do that to another person?

I have not yet reached the end of this book, but I am already sucked in. I have never felt more excited to explore our nations beautiful markings. I now know that I will not let life pass by without me knowing what is in the world. Chris McCandless says that the Grand Canyon is a place everybody should witness at some point in their lives, so I figured I would start there.

Six Degrees

The documentary, Six Degrees, is not my type of video. I have never been a big fan of speculation and this is exactly what occurs throughout the video. After three degrees Celsius of warming, the science behind global warming becomes theoretical, therefore I am going to focus primarily on what one, two, and three degrees would mean for Earth. One fact I would like to start off with is, the average global temperature during the ice age was approximately six degrees less than our current average. This means that a six degree increase is enough to drastically alter Earth, and possibly humanity.

One thing that is stressed throughout this documentary, that I believe is absolutely crucial to understanding climate change, is that, the earths average temperature has always been dynamic and shifts in the climate are not unusual. It is the rate at which the change is occurring that is unknown. The planet has experienced climate change before, but it usually occurs over thousands or millions of years. The problem is that humans have accelerated these changes to a pace so rapid that species aren't able to adapt to their altered environment quick enough.

At one degree, not much changes. We are already experiencing a one degree increase in global temperature, so basically what is happening now is going to continue to happen. Droughts, forest fires, melting of ice, etc. But at one degree, not every place on Earth is struggling. While western United States is experiencing droughts, Europe is experiencing a perfect climate for the growth of grapes and olive trees. This, of course, would not be possible without the change in climate over the years.

The main problem with a two degree increase in global temperature would be the effects on the oceanic systems. These systems will begin to break down at increased rates. The bleaching of coral reefs will only increase, destroying many species ecosystem. Under normal conditions species are able to absorb carbon dioxide, but in an ocean that becomes to acidic this ability becomes limited. The other effect it has is on the ice sheets. As the temperature increases so does the rate of melting and at a two degree increase, the melting could become uncontrollable. The narrator of the documentary said, "Alter the oceans chemistry and natures primary mechanism for controlling the climate begins to break down." Perhaps this is why some scientist believe that a two degree increase in global temperature is the point of no return.

Other scientists believe that it is a three degree increase that will mark the point where global warming becomes uncontrollable. At a three degree increase in the average global temperature, the Arctic is ice free all summer, the Amazon dries out, and the El Nino becomes normal. The narrator states, "At this point global warming becomes a unpredictable chain reaction." The documentary looks back to 2003 and uses the events that occurred in Europe during this time as an example of what could become the norm with a three degree increase. In 2003, Europe experienced a heat wave that killed more than 30,000 people. These heat waves will become a normal summer occurrence. Another thing that could happen with a three degree increase is photosynthesis in some plants could begin to breakdown. This occurred in 2003 during the intense heat wave. Plants began emitting carbon dioxide instead of oxygen. This means that our basic life support systems could stop working at this temperature, making life on Earth extremely challenging.

The inside of a nuclear fusion reactor.

One quote, from this documentary, that sums up what happens at these tipping points is, "the warmer it gets, the faster it gets warmer." Basically, there is a tipping point for global warming, a point of no return. Whether that point is at two or three degrees, it does not matter. If humans do not find a way to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases in the air, we will hit that point. On the bright side Six Degrees ends with a talk about recent strides to develop a new type of energy through a process called nuclear fusion. Scientists are essentially trying to create a mini sun and they will use this "sun" to harness large amounts of clean energy. This is easier said than done, but scientists are getting closer to success everyday.