Climate Change

“Where Is The Climate Change?” Scribbled in chalk against the side of the Academy building, this stark message faces students, teachers and faculty as they walk about the north quad. Even after the Academy took a break on Wednesday, Feb. 11 for a momentous day in PEA’s history — the first ever Climate Action Day (CAD) — the issue still remains at large. Through discussions, workshops, keynotes and addresses we discussed the ever-changing impact humans create on the climate. We learned about numerous things: the 350 ppm threshold that has been surpassed in recent years, the drastic measures necessary to reverse climate change and the revolutionary renewable methods of generating and storing energy.

But for all this discussion, what results have we seen?

Nationally and globally? Four hours after Sadoway gave his address to the Academy, Congress passed the bill approving TransCanada’s proposal to build the keystone pipeline. Our carbon footprint continues to rise and soon we will reach a threshold that will take thousands of years to reverse.  Imagine the damage done alone by Fukashima Daiichi nuclear power plant globalized over the course of centuries. Global temperatures are going to rise exponentially, and the North Pole is going to melt further, resulting in a cycle that perpetuates itself. Sunlight doesn’t reflect as well off of non-white surfaces, so smaller poles results in an increase in the earth’s temperature. Thus crops will die out, ecosystems will fail and parts of this world will be rendered uninhabitable.

With such a bleak future, it seems that climate change should reside among the top priorities  for our world’s leaders. We’ve reached an unprecedented time that affects not only our future, but also that of hundreds of generations to come. If we reach the end of the century and continue at the current pace, society will have passed a threshold and be set on a trajectory that would take millennia to reverse.

We’ve reached an unprecedented time that affects not only our future, but also that of hundreds of generations to come.

So, what is being done?

Up until this year, it seemed nothing was able to stop the rapid growth and exploitation of oil conglomerates. They built pipelines, pumped millions of barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico and exploited prices at their leisure. Whether or not we agree, America’s infrastructure and the infrastructure of most developed nations in the world relies on oil. It is the fundamental liquid that runs our turbines and fuels growth.

Although Congress approved the bill and passed it to the president, he recently exercised his executive power and vetoed it. This single event stands testament to the power of human protest against monopolies and conglomerates. As my recent Exonian articles on this topic have highlighted, there are better and more efficient ways of energy storage and transfer. Additionally, without such a reliance on oil, the price will swiftly drop. The United States is working on a plan to reduce carbon emissions, and the climate action movement is slowly gaining momentum.

It will take time, energy, sweat and sacrifice, but without the resilience of individuals like Bill McKibben and the ingenuity of scientists like Donald Sadoway, the future would be uncertain.