Save the Planet

We want to help reduce the populations carbon footprint!! It's easy to do, and you can shrink it with only a few small changes~~ A carbon footprint is the total amount of greenhouse gases produces both directly and indirectly to human activities. Want ideas on shrinking it? Just ask! From your admins, Tilltana's Ark.

[oupacademic]

The ethics of climate change

The Anthropocene is above all a task, but how should we understand this task? Obviously we need to go beyond the claim that it is imperative for us to become more aware of the effects of our technological interventions into the natural and social worlds, though that is a good place to start. The next step is the really difficult one because having grasped the fact of our influence we must then realize that we have options among which we must choose. The task of the Anthropocene is most basically to recognise that the future is open to our collective agency in a way unprecedented for our species.

From  The Anthropocene Project: Virtue in the Age of Climate Change by Byron Williston. Addressing climate change goes far beyond science.

Image credit: Photo by Ann Baekken, CC BY 2.0 via Flickr.

[sanwik]

My photography.

[ocevns]

  forests and oceans

[deletingmyself]

[ocevns]

  forests and oceans

[globalawarenes]

Why Tumblr?

Our message is trying to get to as many people as possible, we choose a social media platform in order to attract individuals who want to change the world and hope it then spreads. Many people are on social media, especially teens who are our future. If they can take a moment to see this and appreciate the idea, they can easily take it and create their own ways to combat climate change.

[globalawarenes]

The taiga biome is paying for overuse of natural gases and fossil fuels. The increase of temperature has made the taiga a much dryer and warmer place than it was when it was given the name “winter forest”. This makes forest fires much more frequent. The forest fires do not only destroy the plants we need to live but it also helps feed the cycle by adding more co2 in the atmosphere. It's a vicious endless cycle. The increase in temperature is also good for harmful insects like the pine beetle. The pine beetle is killing lots of trees and although the winter kills off most of them each year, warmer temperatures means more bugs survive winter. The beetles then reproduce rapidly and kill more and more trees. The loss of these trees leads to less carbon dioxide being converted back to oxygen, and this greenhouse gas remains in the atmosphere for an even longer period of time. The result? The winter forest loses not only the “forest” part, but the “winter” part as well. 

[globalawarenes]

Other Sites:

http://www.climatechange.gc.ca/default.asp?lang=En&n=F2DB1FBE-http://m.earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/GlobalWarming/page2.php

[globalawarenes]

Repercussions of the Enhanced Greenhouse Effect

The greenhouse effect is caused by the behaviour of natural gases found in Earth's atmosphere as they affect the way heat energy from the sun is radiated back into space and how much stays in our atmosphere. As it passes through the atmosphere it is absorbed by gasses such as water vapor, methane, nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide. This causes traps the energy which warms Earth and then whatever is left gets radiated back into space. This is a natural occurrence but over time humans have lead the gases in the atmosphere to build up and warm the Earth at a rapid rate. The earth was at an equilibrium state for a centuries before the industrial revolution which lead to the increase usage/burning of fossil fuels, agriculture and rise in population. This ongoing human activity has created a significant change in the atmosphere as usually the rise of these gasses in the atmosphere would take thousand thousands of years, and gradually let organisms adapt to their homes but because this has been so rapid, an adaption may be impossible. Other consequences for the increase is that sea levels will increase and global weather patterns will rise to the extreme. These will lead to adversity between agriculture, human health, biodiversity with regions and loss of habitat for many specimens. For example the marine ecosystem would exhibit a change in water temperatures rising about 0.1 degrees Celsius over the century. This puts stress on marine life as coral reefs are susceptible to these changes and can make them bleach which means they are releasing their symbiotic algae. This can cause large scale reefs to die off and many organisms would be found without homes or ways to hide from danger. Also krill can be affected by these changes as they tend to not reproduce in warmer areas which leads to a disruption for krill eaters as they would face food shortages. Since there is an abundance of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere much of it is also absorbed into oceans which cause the chemistry of the oceans to change and become acidic. This causes marine life to adapt quickly or die off, which could then lead to food shortages for humans as certain countries such as Japan rely heavily on seafood for their diet. Weather and climate globally will also be affected due to the greenhouse effect. Many places such as the Middle East may become hotter and drier, which can then cause it to be inhabitable by humans which forces them to relocate in order to survive as they have not had the time to adapt to the sudden changes. Coastal countries with large populations may be forced to move inland which can cause over-populations and they may not be able to adapt to certain circumstances. This can cause certain places to be affected by drought, floods and storms but it is uncertain which specific regions will be affected as it is unknown how long humans will continue to ignore these issues.Certain plants, animals and humans will be forced to move, adapt or perish as they are all of sudden exposed to these changes and they will find it difficult to survive. Crops will be affected as certain plants grow in warmer climates such as rice and colder climates such as sugar cane. This could lead to more food shortages and cause more people in countries such as Africa and China to suffer from hunger. Sources: http://ocean.nationalgeographic.com/ocean/explore/pristine-seas/critical-issues-sea-temperature-rise/ http://www.nova.org.au/earth-environment/enhanced-greenhouse-effect http://www.toxipedia.org/display/toxipedia/Greenhouse+Effect

[globalawarenes]

Since the 1950s the amount of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere has skyrocketed immensely increasing almost 100 parts per million in a short time frame of 50 years. The extra carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is trapping heat in (green house effect) making the average temperature increase all around the world.  This is due to humans over using fossil fuels which release CO2 and other gases out into the environment. This over consumption started during the industrial revolution where factories and such were starting. With the high demand for products, and cars it boosted the economy, but the price to pay was the Earth growing exceedingly warm and losing much of our tundra biome. The increased temperature is melting glaciers and ice caps in the tundra increasing sea levels by 20 centimetres in 100 years. The melting of ice caps result in the death of species such as seals and polar bears. Polar bears and seals live on the ice caps and without a place to move and live the animals swim for days until most die.

The melting of ice and loss of tundra is notable on a global scale, not just a local one. With massive amounts of ice melting sea levels will rise, flooding coastal cities and towns. This changes the daily life of populations in these areas, maybe even forcing people to move their homes. 

With ice levels going down there will be some profits. Companies will be able to access the oil believed to be under the frozen oceans that is not yet reachable. But once it is accessible and this oil is reached it will inevitably be burned, releasing more greenhouse gases. 

[globalawarenes]

Photo

Carbon is one of the most abundant elements on earth and the backbone of life. It is also a major contributor to the elevation of the greenhouse gas effect in the form of carbon dioxide. 

Even without human activity carbon would leak slowly into the atmosphere naturally. By burning coal and natural gases as well as high levels of deforestation, humans have accelerated this natural process. 

Carbon dioxide does admittedly have fewer effects than other greenhouse gases such as water vapor, remains a gas far longer than water vapor which eventually returns to earth as rain. 

Some carbon does diffuse into the oceans rather than the atmosphere, but the effects are not lost. The oceans become more acidic and harm sensitive marine animals and habitats. 

[globalawarenes]

[earthstory]

Dead water

When sailing in the Fram on one of his expeditions in 1893, the explorer Fridtjof Nansen (1861-1930) noticed an odd phenomenon. The boat slowed mysteriously in certain patches of sea, when no wind or contrary current was against him to bleed away his speed. The phenomenon is called dead water, and is due to internal waves oscillating within layers of sea water of different temperature and salinity in stratified zones.

Keep reading

[narcodigitalhedonist]

Abandoned City

by DariusK

via DrawCrowd

[globalawarenes]

SPOTLIGHT:

Greenpeace is a non-governmental organizations dedicated to ensuring the sustainability of Earth and nurturing all of life’s diversity. They are independent and do not rely on any government funding, only on supporters and they have over 40 offices all over the globe. They focus on worldwide issues such as climate change, deforestation, commercial whaling and many other issues. They use direct actions, lobbying and research in order to support and explain their motives and or goals. More information about the roots of this organization: http://www.greenpeace.org/canada/en/About-us/ Campaigns: Greenpeace is working on several major campaigns at the moment. One of which is the Arctic and how the dangers of global warming, the oil industry and over fishing is causing the home of many animals and indigenous cultures to die. Due to these “destructive exploitations” , our country must move away from them in order to have a bright sustainable future for the Arctic. Another issue they are trying to bring light to is the use of nuclear energy and the over use of fossil fuels. These companies bring the risk of safety and health issues to our ecosystems and community. Their Energy [R]evolution act is a set of solutions in order to combat issues that will arise from these used and provide a cleaner future. More about their campaigns and how you can get involved: http://www.greenpeace.org/canada/en/campaigns/ Sources: http://m.greenpeace.org/canada/en/high/
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenpeace

[globalawarenes]

Use a reusable waterbottle instead of a plastic one or in a case where i have to use a plastic bottle, re use it at least twice

This is a great one, thank you!

[globalawarenes]

Our Initiative: To launch an app where individuals can interact with one another about their goals and ideas to pursue a better Earth. Many are glued to their phones and social media so this app would provide them another way in which they can do so, while connecting them to people with the same beliefs. Since it can be another form a social media, the teen community would get into it faster while introducing it to their peer and so forth, spreading the news and disasters of climate change. You would be able to follow/have followers based on your page, while looking through a news feed to see what was up.

Features: - Followers/following - Newsfeed with all the latest news on what society is doing on helping the planet right now and what your peers are doing - Ability to share photos, quotes, pieces of text, videos, etc in order to help raise awareness on what you believe is essential to climate change. - A section where information about climate change is provided, certain terms that are important, and links to special sites that can help better your understanding - Challenge section: join with people all over the world for a major monthly challenge or a minor weekly challenge to improve climate change, such as recycling, reducing the amount of non-renewable fuels, eliminating certain products that add harm to earths biomes. - Goal setting: daily goals to check into, such as turning off the lights would result in a check mark for that day. They add up and if you miss a day you have to start all over causing more motivation for rewards and badges. - Personalized profile: pick what you believe in and what is right for you. The choice to keep your account private. Teach others on what you know and learn for yourself - Calculating your carbon footprint and see how your actions are causing the early fall of Earth.

[birdwings]

Clean drinking water from rain water (via Barefoot Photographers of Tilonia @ flickr’s creative commons)

Water.org is a non-profit organization whose mission is “to draw attention to the world?s number one health problem, unsafe and inadequate water supplies, and to raise funds to help fight this immense problem ? one community at a time” (Mission & Vision, 2011).

Areas that have benefitted from water.org

Kenya: Kisumu, rural Eastern province

Uganda: Kampala area

Ethiopia: Tigray, Amhara

Bangladesh: Dhaka, Rajshahi, Manikganj

Ghana: Volta Region (around Lake Volta), Upper East Region (border between Burkina Faso and Benin)

Haiti

Honduras (all in the west): Lempira, Intibuca

India: Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, and Tamil Nadu

[theglobalsoundproject]

Check out the site and see how you can get involved! Learn about all the ways you can record sounds and submit them to The Global Sound Project by visiting our website (“Participate” section)!