The Environmental Times

As new Baruch students every freshman attended c0nvocation day on August 27, 2013. Though we heard many different speeches that morning, the most important was the speech on making Baruch a greener place. There was emphasis on placing trash into the right receptacles so that Baruch could recycle. As a community, Baruch cares about the future of this planet so they made it their duty to make sure everyone knew about the program. They also introduced programs where students could get involved in other environmental friendly ideas.

Scientist believe that if emission fuels do not decrease by 2047, the temperatures will increase drastically. This change will be so drastic that it will be hard for humans and other forms of life to adapt quicker. Scientist believe that “the coldest year in the future will be warmer than the hottest years of the past.” This means the heat will get so bad that even the coldest days will be hotter than the hottest days today. In order to fix this problem there must be a decrease in emissions fuels globally. This could delay the temperature increase by 20 to 25 years which would give living forms more time to adapt to the high changes

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/10/science/earth/by-2047-coldest-years-will-be-warmer-than-hottest-in-past.html

 

The moose population in much of northern United States has taken a steep drop. The shorter and less harsh winters seem to be a very possible cause of such a drop that caused all moose-hunting to be immediately shut down. The warmed winters can do one of two things: make the moose use more energy leading to exhaustion, or let a very deadly parasite thrive to the point of attacking moose.  Ticks may lead moose to tear patches a fur off of their bodies from the severe scratching or drain the blood from their bodies to the point of anemia. Other insects, including the pine bark beetle, thrive in warmer climates and then have the ability to destroy entire forests that moose call home. The decrease in moose numbers also directly affects the amount of bird habitats, which are formed when the moose search through shrubs for food. Climate change has had a very significant effect on the moose population and it is evident that this, in turn, also affects other aspects of the environment.

 

 

The shutdown of the United States government is affecting all aspects of our society, and the environment is no exception. With less than 10% of The Environmental Protection Agency currently working, more than 60% of environmental projects have been brought to a halt which may cause some very serious problems for the country’s environmental state.  The lack of employees on duty is leading to the lack of enforcement on environmental regulations, causing more of these laws to be broken and damaging the environment.  Included in these regulations are the ones pertaining to the control of harmful pollutions and greenhouse gases released into the air.  Programs such as Energy Star are also experiencing a major slow down, which is affecting their business of helping companies come up with ways to be more “green” with their appliances and buildings. Without these things being enforced, the air is being polluted, and the more energy is being wasted on a daily basis while the government is down.

 

Greenhouse gases not only effect the environment but the international economy as well. The formation of the official United Nations Climate Report began in a deadlock. The deadlock arose after scientists and diplomats could not reach an agreement on the carbon budget. Scientists hoped to create an international cap on greenhouse gases. This would limit the amount of greenhouse gases the world could emit. The climate report draft stated that if humans are not to surpass the international target for global warming, humans cannot burn more than one trillion tons of carbon in the form of fossil fuels. Essentially, this idea would lessen the human impact on global warming. However, it would also cripple the economy of countries like Brazil and Saudi Arabia whose economies rely on the burning of carbon. Aside from this issue, many diplomats did not like the idea of dividing up such a small amount of carbon. Many felt that dividing such a small amount of carbon would pit rich countries against poor countries. In the end, a compromise was made to satisfy both parties. Scientists gave a range of probabilities for staying below the international target for global warming, as opposed to a single budget. This compromise allows countries to stay below the target for global warming while giving them room to conduct business involving burning carbons. This is only a temporary solution to the problem of global warming, we need to find a more permanent solution that will not interfere with the international economy.

 

Although the efforts made to try and reduce our over usage of resources, New York is a huge contributor to global warming. “The heating and cooling of buildings produces three-fourths of the city’s emissions contributing to global warming and sea level rise, city officials said; the 2009 law applies to the biggest energy consumers, buildings of more than 50,000 square feet and multiple-building properties with a total of more than 100,000 square feet.” This is why officials have released energy consumption data for large buildings, so that their residents know just exactly how eco-friendly (or not) their homes are. Buildings are given a letter grade, much like those of restaurants, to show how they are excelling or how they need improvement. ““The benefit is a more informed marketplace,” said Cliff Majersik, executive director of the Institute for Market Transformation, a nonprofit group in Washington that promotes building energy efficiency and advises the city on its rating efforts.” Interestingly, it turns out that buildings built in the 1970s have the highest consumption rate compared with older buildings. Obviously, the highest energy usage per square foot tends to be in households with higher incomes. The letter grades are extremely helpful because although buildings such as Solaire and TriBeCa green market themselves as “green”, they received a D.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/28/nyregion/a-fresh-set-of-grades-measures-energy-use-in-residential-buildings.html?_r=0&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1381866052-D9YFb9iR0+QxHOytVBYxiA

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