Social Issue / Technological Solution

There is one social problem that could literally cause an Armageddon if it is not fixed. Some scientist says we might be too late and our end is near. This problem is no other than Global Warming, the increase of our planet’s temperature. Global warming is no longer a gimmick, it’s real and it has cost too much destruction already. The good news is that we might have a chance to save ourselves if we act quickly. The destruction is of Global Warming our technological advantage to solve it, and our individual choices will determined if the Armageddon will soon be here. I suggest you open your eyes and try to analyze this problem even if for just a minute so that you will truly understand the issue.

Our planet’s temperature has been increasing forever, but not like this. For the past 100 years we’ve dramatically accelerated. Global warming is cause by the release of Carbon Dioxide (CO2) which traps the sun’s heat making our planet’s average temperature increase. Carrier of CO2 are industries, cars, power plants etc. We humans contribute drastically to Global Warming. Global warming causes our weather to go awry, our ocean current to mess up, and natural disaster strikes more often. This disease to the earth has the power to change a simple rainfall into a hurricane or increase the chance and might of a tornado. Disastrous phenomenon such as tsunamis can occur more frequently in the future.

The technological solution obviously to reduce the amount of CO2 we emitted into the atmosphere. Technological solution are already being develop such as hydroelectric, wind power, solar power, thermal power etc. We've come up with cleaner renewable sources of energy that practically emits no CO2. We need to head into the direction of renewable sources of energy as soon as possible to save our lives.

My solution to the problem involves cheaper way to extract hydrogen from the air. It’s actually hard to find a renewable source of energy for cars that uses oxygen and hydrogen, but hydrogen is just too expensive to make. Many researchers are being done to find cheaper was to extract hydrogen. If they do find a way then that will be the key to the solution. My solution is for scientist to study plants and animals that does a similar process so that they could apply it. This might be possible because scientists are looking at nature for a solution. The closet to thing they found was a simple leaf; they’re studying how it transfers sunlight into energy with just a simple genetic makeup and a few chemicals. If this is solved then we could be driving cleaner friendly fueled cars in the future.

There is also one more thing I will envision that could also save us and that is just doing our own part. We could do a lot to reduce the CO2 emission right now by using less energy such as turning off a light or walking instead of driving. Companies should distribute information all over, though the news, internet, television, etc to make thing a big deal. The movie “a innocent truth” has done a good job at this. Everyone will have to work as a term to escape this one because a technological advance will only go as far as we will push it.

Cooling the Earth

Mohamed Arshad Alli
ITSRG
8/14/09
Environmental Newspaper Article Summary
Cooling the Earth

Two months ago President Obama and a group of international leaders sat down and discuss the warming of the earth. They plan to decrease the earth's temperature by and unbelievable two degrees. As you may know cooling the earth by even one degree at the cores can have major impact to the earth. The world leaders plans to achieve this in two ways. First increase awareness by talking about the weather and always making this problem a priority and second actually do something about the weather.

The second method is referred to as geoengineering. Geoengineering would have been laugh at about ten years ago because it sounds like science fiction. Can scientist really block sunlight with particles in the sky or use science to change mother nature? Today most science fiction are becoming reality. China has already use high tech engineering to stop rain during the past Olympics. What's next? What are the consequences of tampering with mother nature? Questions like these concern skeptics and scares the public as well. Nothing with this sort of technology has not been done yet but it is being considered. Slowly reducing carbon emission while using technology to cool the planet may seem like a great quick solution but it cost billions of dollars, about one hundred billion to be exact. Obama's administration has certainly promised to look at this idea but they are far from giving so much money to this technology.

One solution to lower the earth's temperature is already on paper. A group of scientists published a report showing the use of aerosol particles to reflect solar radiation into space. It can cost eight to thirty billion a year to fire these particles into the air to keep the planet cooled while we lower carbon emission. The problem with this is that scientist doesn't know the side effect it would have. A solution it to test on a small scale first or to only use the technology on a small scale, the perfect target for a small scale test is the Arctic.

Another solution that may carry more hope is to spray seawater mist upwards to the clouds. The clouds would become more bright and reflect more sunlight. This method is much lower in cost and the technology may possibly be built into ships already traveling across the sea. The cost is around nine billion dollars. Skeptics says that these engineering projects could be impossible because of its large scale of uncertainty. Politician are scare to promote these projects because they don't want to be blame for the next hurricane or drought.

However, there is still hope for this ground breaking task. One that may be the safest and cheapest. It's simply extracting the carbon dioxide form the atmosphere. Some scientist have already found ways to do this.

All in all, when push comes to shove and the day after tomorrow is the forecast we need to make a decision fast to save our planet. Most likely we will use a geoengineering technology and we'll just have to wait for the effects.

Source
JOHN TIERNEY, JOHN. "The New York Times Log In." The New York Times - Breaking News, World News & Multimedia. Web. 14 Aug. 2009. <http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/11/science/11tier.html?_r=1&ref=science&pagewanted=print

>.

Questions and Answers

What problems are presented in the article?
-The problem is the finding the safest and most economical solution to the heating of the earth.
What is the main point of the article?
-The article presents different methods of geoengineering to cooling the entire planet by two degrees. The first two is two throw particles into the atmosphere to reflect the sun heated rays back into space and the third and final is to extract the CO2 directly from the air.
What is your final impression on the main points?
- I believe that geoengineering is a great idea and these methods should be tested and applied.
Is a solution presented to the problem?
-Yes they are the three methods that are present but none of them are in effect due to political issues.

Environmental Engineer Group

We interviewed the Environment Engineer Group today. Their mission is to promote awareness of the environment and conduct research specifically on the Exxon Valdez Alaskan Oil Spill. The problem with the oil spill is that the oil is trapped in the ground and the soil just keeps it there. So the team are looking at soil samples taken from the beaches where the oil spilled to see what exactly make the soil so impenetrable.Check out their blog at http://www.templeengineer.blogspot.com/

Senior Safety Group

We interview the senior safety group on Monday . The mission is to provide senior citizens with safety tips in the case of an emergency and to prepare them with a plan in the case of a disaster. Some of tips they share was to always stay indoor during a heatwaves and to always have a emergency contact. They plan to visit about 10 senior citizens home before August 14 and present their tips. Check out this awesome group at http://seniorsafety09.blogspot.com/

Wagner Free Institute of Science

Today we visit the Wagner Free Institute of Science which a is science museum from the 18 hundreds that has a wide collection of fossils, bones, insects, and creepy aquatic life. The exhibits can be seen through glass cases or around a chain barrier on the cherry wooded floor. Walking around you'll also hear the creaking of the old wooden floors , see the ancient architecture and can't help but laugh at the old technology. The entire building itself is an awesome museum which is very cool. Check is out if you're interested.

Energy Audit

Yesterday our group interviwed the Energy Audit Group. They work with the office of sustainibility on Temple Unversity and conduct research for them. They go into office and conduct an energy audit, which is looking for places where energy is lost the most or wasted such as not having a recycle bin, computer monitor with no screensavers or outlets with no power strips. They take back there data to the office of sustainibility and they make new rules and guildlines to follow. There may even be a person at every building to enforce the energy saving guildlines. They show you how to save the environment, money and enforces you to do it, what there not to like about the this awesome group. Check them out at http://phillygreen09.blogspot.com/

One of the biggest issue today towards the environment is global warming. We’ve all heard that global warming could cause floods, increase the intensity of hurricanes and even cause a new ice age. Is all this true? You first must know what is global warming and what causes global warming.

Global Warming is the gradual warming of the earth’s atmosphere. It is cause by the burning of fossil fuels and industrial pollutants. Mainly by the gas Carbon Dioxide but also from other gases such as Methane and Nitrous Oxide. As carbon dioxide and these other gases enter the atmosphere they trap the sun’s heat, causing the planet to warm up.

The source of carbon dioxide from power plants and automobiles. Power plants which are the largest source of carbon dioxide. In Australia alone produces more than 11 tons of CO2 per person and the USA produces 9 tons per person. Automobiles which is the second largest source produce 1.5 billion ton of Carbon Dioxide every year. The country that produce most of the world’s Global Warming pollution altogether is the United States. Although the U.S makes up only 5% of the world’s population it produces almost 25% of the fossil fuel burning.