Solving Climate Change: What You Can Do
- Spyglass News
- Apr 17, 2024
- 6 min read
By: Kasey Wade
Introduction
In a previous article on the IPCC report, there were numerous mentions of the problems of climate change. The purpose of this article is to shed light and give solutions that we can take to solve climate change and protect the environment. The article on the IPCC report addressed that warming right now is at 1.1 Celsius above 1850-1900 levels, and over land, this temperature range varies from (1.59 [1.34 to 1.83]°C) as compared to over the ocean (0.88 [0.68 to 1.01]°C). The IPCC identified that 79% of global greenhouse gasses are from energy, transport, and buildings. Between 2080 and 2100, our degree of warming could be at 1.4°C, 2.7°C, or 4.4°C
depending on if society manages our emissions on a low, intermediate, or high pathway. It’s important to understand that anything above 3°C would be a tipping point, and detrimental to global ecosystems. If we don’t change our ambitions, our planet will have a median global warming of 2.8 [2.1 to 3.4] °C by 2100. That being said, it is very important that we try to find solutions to curb the high percentage of global warming and put the solution in local communities.
Solutions Across the Globe
Solutions that involve international cooperation are some of the best when it comes to climate change. The United Nations, or UN, is one of the leading drivers for tackling climate change globally. The UN coordinates international efforts to sign emission goals and funds the IPCC. To support international efforts, you can donate, volunteer, or vote for policies that encourage emission regulation through the UN. Alternatively, there are many small and large organizations that work to protect the globe from harmful GHG emissions. The Nature Conservancy is an international organization that works in all 50 states as well as in various countries and continents. They take a great multi-faceted approach at tackling climate change by gathering their own data and working hands on at fixing the problems be it in policy or in the field. The best way to help the nature conservancy is by donating on their website or volunteering. Additionally, the Environmental Defense Fund, or EDF, is another great world-wide organization which has a strong team of scientists that identifies important problems and works with communities to solve them. You can donate on their website to support what they do. Some of my personal favorite organizations work through Youtube to get donations; you can help them by liking, watching their videos, and subscribing. They have great content and most of them allow you to donate on their website as well. Some of these youtube channels include: The Nature Conservancy, Andrew Millson, Planet Wild, and Mossy Earth, who hosts monthly events to showcase what the money they get is being used for. Furthermore, if you really have no money or time to donate, simply download Ecosia - it is very similar to Google, and it helps plant trees as you use it. On my Ecosia tab, I have helped plant around 70 trees. For an extra bonus, Ecosia will also tell you if some websites have a strong or weak climate pledge - such as Google or Amazon.
Solutions Across the USA
Moving on from solutions on the global scale, the USA has its own unique solutions to climate change. Once we reach voting age, we will be able to call our legislators and vote for environmental policies that can drive local, and national laws. However, until then, donating and volunteering locally is the best you can do. The Nature Conservancy, once again, is a great place to donate and volunteer at. In the USA, they do a lot for protecting the environment, and have lots of volunteering opportunities (unfortunately not much in Florida though). Additionally, there are many state wide governmental organizations such as the Florida Wildlife Corridor Foundation and others that provide interesting data on environmental issues. However, the best way to get involved in helping the environment in the USA is volunteering or donating at state and national parks. These parks need money to keep native species thriving and support healthy ecosystems. Further, they need volunteers to plant native species, run the parks, and remove invasive species. If you’re interested in this, you can visit the website of the Florida State Parks to get involved. Supporting the ecosystems around us can be a big stopper to climate change. By protecting our local environment we can create a more robust ecosystem that can handle more intense weather, filter out runoff, and support the economy by replenishing soils and reducing environmental damage to infrastructure.
Solutions in Manatee County
The more specific of a location you look into when solving environmental, especially climate change problems, the better solutions you can create. For this reason, I suggest that you try to find problems specific to the county or to a specific park that you want to volunteer at. The official Manatee County website provides some problems and laws and solutions that are specific to Manatee County. One major aspect that is unique to Manatee County, or at least to Florida, is the importance of mangrove ecosystems. Mangrove ecosystems host a large range of biodiversity, and also protect our shorelines from floods and from hurricanes. However, new development has greatly reduced the size of these mangrove ecosystems and regulations on how close you can develop to them has been worsening. Fighting to keep mangroves and cleaning up around them is a very vital part to helping the environment in Manatee County. Additionally, oyster ecosystems in Manatee County serve as a vital part to keeping our waters clean as well as provide a vital part in the food ecosystem as oysters are a keystone species. To help encourage these species, it is important to refrain from damaging them while out on the boat or fishing, but also at Robinson preserve, you can get your own oyster strings to attach to a dock and make your own little ecosystem to better Manatee County's waters. To help people get involved, the Environmental Club at our school, which meets Mondays and Thursdays after school, can provide you with connections to volunteer work as well as work on campus to better the environment. Outside of school, using Eventbrite, you can find a large array of environmental volunteering opportunities as well as events that are in our area such as planting, removing invasive species and all kinds of things of that nature. Additionally, Keep Manatee Beautiful is an amazing local organization that hosts beach cleanups every beginning of the month on a Saturday that you can go to and help keep the environment clean and safe. They typically have donuts for you to enjoy. Without making a giant list on all the other things that you can do, another two noteworthy activities is that Palma Sola hosts a volunteering event every Wednesday for high schoolers; if you are really interested in helping the environment, you can become a Master Gardener through UF’s IFAS program. Lastly, it is important to change your day-to-day habits to a more environmentally conscious lifestyle. Just about everybody has heard of reduce, reuse, recycle, but not a lot of people actually live it out. It is important to use as little waste as you can when you can, reuse as much as possible, and recycle as much as possible. Stores like Publix and Walmart have drop off areas where you can bring thin plastics like shopping bags to recycle. Also, composting your waste can greatly decrease how much you are putting into your trash cans and can also be used in your garden if you have one. One way we can nurture our local environment is by removing invasive species and fostering native species such as native birds by providing a bird bath. Native species are very important to the balance of an ecosystem and are essential to keep. Even at the store, we can make environmentally conscious decisions by buying green eco labeled products that are certified to be organic or safe for the environment.
Conclusion
In conclusion, this article presents many methods to help improve the environment, like donating, volunteering, changing your habits or simply watching YouTube videos. There are many diverse ways that you can help the environment that start with very low time commitments, it's essential to humanity that we work to benefit the environment whenever we get the chance, which is why taking these actions is necessary. I implore readers to at least take one of these steps or more if they are willing. If everyone did a combination of what was listed here, the world would be a lot safer and a much more environmentally friendly planet.
Works Cited
Comments