Know Your Stuff

What's Hot (pun . . . intended) in environmental news.

Global Warming Affects Every Cause:

• Poverty: Poor communities are and will be affected more by global warming, even though they’re the least responsible.
• Hurricane Katrina is an example of how these communities are affected more by “natural” disasters—disasters that are becoming more frequent because of humans’ impact on climate change.
• The effects of global warming (pest infestations, flooding, etc.) will be disastrous for low-income farm workers.
• Global warming will cause the loss of homes because of increased flooding, droughts, and fires, but people with lower incomes are much less likely to have home insurance, which means they won’t be able to recover their losses and homes.
• Global warming increases the costs of living for everyone
• Because of temperatures rising, people who can’t afford air conditioning are more prone to heat-related deaths in the summer.
• Health:
• Global warming creates worse health conditions for everyone, but especially those in lower income communities.
• For example, inner-city residents already suffer more from asthma, and increases in air pollution and temperatures worsen respiratory illnesses and ozone-related deaths.
• Food will become more expensive because of stresses on agriculture, and increased temperatures causes increased demands for energy, which will make paying for electricity more expensive).
• International Impact:
• Tens of millions of people around the world will be flooded out of their homes each year because of rising temperatures and sea levels.
• Hundreds of millions of Africans and tens of millions of Latin Americans who now have water will have shortages in less than 20 years.
• By 2050, more than one billion people in Asia could face water shortages.
• Global warming can also increase wars and conflicts because of competition for limited resources.
• Animals:
• Many animals will no longer have their natural habits because of ice caps melting, more acidified oceans, bleaching of coral reefs, and so on.
• By 2050, most polar bears will only be found in zoos.

Okay, that was scary. What’s the positive side?

• Save money by conserving energy and reducing waste! That money can go towards more and better resources for YOU as students. Families can also save money at home by reducing energy use.
• Schools across the U.S. spend $6 billion on electricity bills—about $110 a year per student, and the second largest expense for schools.
• In one school, students used natural lighting rather than artificial lighting in their cafeteria—that alone saved $7500 on the school’s electricity bill in one year. Imagine how much of a difference your changes in all the parts of the school can make!
• You also save because you can reuse rather than paying for new things. Instead of buying new boxes or storage containers, you can use old boxes to store items. Getting stuff at swap programs and yard sales is free or much cheaper than buying new things.
• Make money every time you recycle. You can get paid for all the bottles and cans that you recycle. Set up an account at your local recycling center so that you can bring that money back to your school! You can also get paid back for recycling stuff like ink cartridges.
• Recycling and conserving energy has already made a huge difference. Now is the time to jump on board!
• Recycling creates jobs and benefits the economy. By 2000, recycling had created 1.1 million jobs.
• Recycling saves energy. In 2005, recycling saved enough energy to power 9 million households for a year.
• In 2001, Massachusetts reduced nitrous oxide emissions by 42.5%, carbon dioxide emissions by 20%, and sulfur oxide emissions by 7.8% by recycling and conserving energy.
• By recycling, New York saved 37.6 million trees and a total of 3.8 million tons of resources (iron ore, coal, and limestone) in one year.