Author Archives: tarnold2

3 Alternatives to Driving Your Car

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Transportation is without a doubt, one of the leading causes of climate change. The carbon emissions that come from driving our cars and trucks makes up at least ⅕ of the US’s total emissions; this isn’t even including the smog in urban areas that result from driving. But how will you get to work each morning? Well, there are several alternatives that are better for the environment and some ways that are great sources of exercise as well! 

 

  1. Biking

Biking, especially in Austin, is a great alternative to driving your car. Luckily, Austin has been implementing more bike lanes to make it easier to travel downtown and in several other areas. Additionally, making bikes requires far less resources than making cars does. So, not only will owning and using your bike combat pollution and climate change, but creating them as opposed to cars as there’s less of a need to mine for materials as well as using less fossil fuels. 

 

2. Buses

While you may be thinking that taking the bus is also emitting carbon emissions; you’re right. However, with this alternative, it reduces the amount of people in cars individually and reduces traffic. Taking the bus reduces less fuel being used per person which outweighs the emissions from the single bus. However, each city is different. Texas is a bigger state and everything is a little more spaced out. Regardless, the busses in Austin, using CapMetro, are still a better alternative than using the fuel from your car. 

 

3. Carpooling 

Now, this option is the most appealing on our list because it makes it easier on those who can’t access public transportation or if your job is too far away to realistically bike to. It’s not the most environmentally friendly, but at the very least, it does still reduce carbon emissions. Carpooling is also a better alternative for you local air quality because you are using less fuel driving your own car. It’s also cheaper! You can totally ride with people you work with and help reduce congestion while reducing emissions.

 

There are several other options too if these aren’t realistic. There are so many cities like Austin where public transportation is more difficult to use as the infrastructure is trying to adapt to support the population boom. However, biking is a realistic option and so is carpooling. These options might be a little more inconvenient, but it won’t be as problematic as the amount of emissions our cars produce daily. 

4 Reasons Why We Need to Phase Out the Oil Industry to Combat Climate Change

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The topic of fracking and the oil industry in the United States has been one of the more controversial conversations. Debates between those employed in this industry versus environmentalists is not new. However, politics aside, the oil industry has undoubtedly contributed to climate change. These oil companies have profited off of selling and burning large amounts of coal, oil, and gas. Furthermore, some experts have come to find that on public lands alone, the oil industry is expected to emit a massive amount of carbin emissions. 

 

  1. Large amounts of fossil fuels 
    1. It’s a relatively obvious fact that the oil industry is responsible for burning oil, coal, and gas which is one of the leading causes for this negative climate change. In order to at least slow this process, we have to first stop burning fossil fuels and convert to renewable energy. While those employed in this industry may feel panicked by this idea, they fail to realize that there are plenty of jobs in the green energy industry. 

 

2. System change is required to stay within the 1.5 degrees C. of warming. 

 

    1. According to the United Nations Emissions Gas report, global greenhouse gas emissions need to drop by 7.6 percent each year to keep warming under 1.5 degrees celsius. With that being said, the oil industry has been reported to produce 120% more oil, gas, and coal by 2030. This is a detriment. However, in order to stay below this warming, governments need to act now by not allowing the licensing and permitting of new oil fields and gas wells, begin to develop phase out plans, etc. 

 

3. The oil industry has been aware of the climate crisis for decades.

    1. This reason might be off-putting for those who support the industry. However, this reason also eliminates any plausible deniability from companies like Exxon. Investigations have recently found that these companies were doing research into carbon emissions and were well aware of the dangers of rising global temperatures. This issue is not just the fault of the companies, but also the fault of the government as they have allowed and supported this industry from its inception. Furthermore, it has been found that this industry is also partly responsible for the spread of pseudo science concerning the very tangible affects the oil industry has on the climate. 

 

4. Environmental racism is driven by the oil industry

    1. Families of color are hit the hardest by the oil industry due to the climate impacts the industry causes to the environment. Power plants, toxic wastes sites, and pipelines that pollute the drinking water are more often than not placed in areas where the community has little economic or political power. Additionally, race and poverty have been correlated with being significantly more exposed to air pollution caused by the oil and gas industry.

 

Conclusion

Phasing out the oil industry is one of many ways that we as a society need to do in order to halt the Earth’s warming. It goes beyond politics and the economy at this point. Overall, despite the rhetoric being used to say otherwise, there are several other alternatives to oil and gas. 

Maybe We Should be Vegan? 5 ways Veganism is Beneficial for the Environment

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While going vegan is the root of several memes and criticisms, it might actually be a way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In fact, food production makes up one quarter of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. Furthermore, meat and dairy products make up 14.5% of global greenhouse gasses. 

 

However, it is totally understandable that switching diets to this extreme would feel uncomfortable. But, research has been pointing to this diet in particular as one of the most individual effective ways to reduce those greenhouse gasses. In fact, according to Carbon Beef, a diet shift is actually necessary to limit global warming to “well below ” 2 degrees Celsius.

 

Below is a graph that illustrates how each diet would effectively cut into greenhouse gas emissions.

 

  1. Food distribution and World Hunger 

Furthermore, going vegan would aid in world hunger as most of the food grown in the world is not distributed in a way that everyone can eat. But that’s a different issue in and of itself. In fact, research gathered has shown that 700 million tons of food that could be consumed by humans actually goes to livestock instead. The land used to raise the livestock could be used to grow more plant based food that would be just as nutritiously diverse as eating meat. 

 

2. Water Conservation

It is no surprise that a vegan diet would conserve water. The amount of water used by plants pales in comparison to how much water we use for livestock. In fact, 93% of the world’s water supply is used for livestock. Now, this might surprise you but, but it’s been proven that one person adopting a vegan diet alone can save 200,000 gallons of water!

3. Deforestation 

The meat and dairy industry is one of the biggest driving forces behind habitat loss. Cattle ranching in particular is damaging to the world’s tropical forests as trees are required to be cut down to create pastures. In fact, it has been estimated that by 2050, Asian and African countries will need a 30%-50% increase in land to support the growing meat industry. 

 

4. Reducing Energy Consumption 

There are several activities within the meat industry that use an unnecessary amount of fossil energy. These things include producing feed, breeding, electricity use, producing and spreading fertilizer, etc. However, converting to a plant based diet uses 8 times less energy than a meat based diet.

 

5. Cleaning Waterways 

While other industrial pollutants contribute to the pollution of our water, animal agriculture makes up most of the pollution. What happens is the surrounding waterways are polluted with high doses of chemicals that create “dead zones”– primarily from livestock feeding. Unfortunately, going vegan won’t eliminate the issue, but it will help to make great strides. 

What Is the Physical Evidence of Climate Change?

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By Taylor Arnold

Edited by Brianna Cruz

While the topic of climate change has become intensely controversial, the evidence for it is unequivocal. Over the last 650,000 years, the Earth’s climate has seen glacial periods which ended abruptly and began the modern climate age. However, the climate change that we are seeing daily is anything but natural. But, it can be confusing when you don’t know what exactly is the evidence for climate change when there is so much misinformation in every circle we encounter.

One way you can counter misinformation is knowing what the concrete evidence is for climate change. Below is data and information synthesized from NASA that will make understanding what the evidence for climate change is!

Global Temperature is rising:
Since the late 19th century, the Earth’s average temperature has risen by 2.12 degrees Fahrenheit which is a direct result of increased carbon dioxide emissions. In fact, the biggest increase has occurred over the last 40 years, the last 7 years have been the warmest of that (“Climate Change: How Do We Know”).

The Ocean Warming
This might not be something we think about, but our oceans have warmed more than 0.6 degrees since 1969 Fahrenheit according to experts at NASA.

Shrinking Ice Sheets and glaciers

This is one of the most evident sources of the existence of climate change. For years, scientists have observed the ice patterns in glaciers and have noticed a tremendous decrease in glaciers in places like Olympic National Park. However, NASA has really noted the melting of Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets. In fact, they have lost 279 billion tons of ice per year between 1993 and 2019.

Sea Level Rise

Additionally, global sea level rose roughly 8 inches in the last 100 years. Not surprisingly, the last two decades have seen the rise nearly double.

Extreme Events
As the residents of Texas know, there has been an increase of drastic weather events in areas where there shouldn’t be. Texas experienced a devastating winter storm that is a direct result of climate change.

Ocean Acidification

The Industrial Revolution brought more than what it bargained for. Since then, the surface of the ocean waters’ acidity has increased by 30%. Aside from the effects of acid rain brought on by the burning of coal, the ocean has absorbed between 20% and 30% of total anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions in recent decades

All of these reasons are brought on by humans as the accelerated consequences of climate change have never been to the magnitude that they are now. While this is an abbreviated list, you can find more information on NASA’s website!