In the second part of The Uninhabitable Earth, written by David Wallace-Wells, he discusses many different elements of chaos that could eventually leave catastrophic damage to the earth. One of the elements that he brings up is the element of hunger. He discusses a few different scenarios that could happen in the case of the planet warming by a few degrees which could lead to less food being produced. He cited the United Nations and how the planet will need nearly twice as much food in 2050 as it does today. This is very concerning because Wallace-Wells also stated that the population will continue to grow which means that we will have even more people and even less food. He also talked about the problem of a drought happening which would make the food production problem even worse. He stated that even just two degrees of warming would harm the Mediterranen and a lot of India, corn, and sorghum. This would cause a huge strain on the global food supply. He then mentioned that at a raised 2.5 degrees, the planet would enter a global food deficit which means that it will need more calories than the planet can produce. This is terrifying to think about because food is obviously one of the most essential parts to survival and without it, survival is impossible. 

Wallace-Wells cited Jeff Goodells book, The Water Will Come, which listed off many monuments that will be underwater during this century. He mentioned places such as the White House, most of Bangladesh, and much of South Florida. This is very unsettling to me because my family just moved to Florida. Whether or not this does happen during this century, when it eventually does happen our world will be completely changed forever. Entire families will have to relocate which will make some cities become overcrowded. He also talked about how the Greenland ice sheet could reach a tipping point at just 1.2 degrees of global warming. This would result in the ice sheet being melted which would raise sea levels six meters. This would eventually drown large cities such as Miami, London, and Shanghai. Also, many populated states in the U.S., such as New York, Florida, and New Jersey, would be almost completely underwater. San Francisco and Sacramento would be completely underwater. While this is unsettling to think about, we need to start finding solutions now in order to fix the problem that we have created for ourselves. These issues will eventually occur and we have to find solutions now in order to save as many lives as we can. 

In The Uninhabitable Earth the author discusses unbreathable air and the negative effects that it will have on an individual in the future. Wallace-Wells stated that by 2090, there could potentially be 2 billion people that will be breathing in air that is above the WHO safe level. This is unsettling because this will affect such a high number of people. Even short term exposure to pollution can increase the rates of respiratory infections dramatically. The author also claims that currently there are more than 10,000 deaths that happen daily due to air pollution. When thinking about this and comparing it to the fact that air pollution will increase in the future, it is concerning that this number is already so high. 

The documentary, Before the Flood, depicted Leonardo DiCaprio interviewing different experts on climate change. He taught the audience about the driving forces of climate change and the carbon footprint humanity is leaving upon the earth. In one scene, DiCaprio went to Greenland to look at the water that went down into a moulin. He met with Jason Box, a professor at the Geographical Survey of Denmark and Greenland, and he told DiCaprio that if the climate stayed the way that it was then Greenland would be gone at some point. This documentary was very eye opening and showed that places, such as Greenland, would eventually disappear if we did not do something about it. Another eye opening fact was that if Greenland does melt, that would raise the global sea levels by several feet which is very concerning. If we do not want things such as the sea levels rising then we have to do something about it now. We have waited too long already to make a difference for the earth. I think it is important that we each start to do our own part in helping the climate such as eating less red meat and voting to put people in office that support climate action.  

In the podcast From Stream To Sky, Two Key Rollbacks Under the Trump Administration, the hosts discuss the rollbacks that Trump’s administration has done. Ephemeral streams among other types of waterways will no longer be protected under the clean water act. Trump’s administration limited the number of waterways that would be protected which led to roughly half of all wetlands no longer being protected by the federal government. This is a huge problem because waterways that are not protected, although seen as small and insignificant, can eventually lead the pollution into bigger areas of water such as the Mississippi River.  

In the podcast The surprising Origin Of Some Timely Advice: Wash Your Hands, the hosts discussed the childbed fever and how it was killing women after giving birth. It was found that more women were dying in the clinic run by doctors than the clinic run by midwives which was odd. It was later found that the doctors were not washing their hands after helping each patient and would immediately help another patient without cleaning their hands. In today’s world this sounds completely disgusting and cringeworthy but it is important to remember that they did not understand what germs even were. People did not understand the importance of washing your hands thoroughly. The hosts discussed this story because of the widespread panic that is happening because of the coronavirus. They mentioned that the CDC had said that washing hands is the number 1 step to avoiding the coronavirus. This has made me realize the importance of washing my hands after everything that I do in order to keep myself safe from germs and diseases.  

The Nova documentary, Earth from Space, gave us a very interesting viewpoint, seeing earth from perspective in space. This documentary showed us the data that was taken from satellites and showed us how interconnected the land, sea, and air are on earth. It was so fascinating to me to see the actual evidence that the dust storm traces of the Sahara desert can lead to different weather events in North America. It was also interesting to find that the oceans warming off of the east coast of Africa can lead to hurricanes along the Gulf coast and east coast of America. It is so fascinating that weather changes can be effected by such small instances. The satellites have also helped us so much by helping to predict earthquakes and volcanic activity. This can be so beneficial to helping people in these cases and it is concerning that the satellites are nearing their end and will most likely not be replaced. The fact that we are not trying to extend the satellites presence in space is concerning but also speaks to how we take care of our own environment. After taking the ecological footprint quiz it has really opened my eyes to how much we mistreat the planet and we have to make a change before it is too late.

This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.

You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.

Why do this?

• Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
• Because it will help you focus you own ideas about your blog and what you’d like to do with it.

The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.

To help you get started, here are a few questions:

• Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
• What topics do you think you’ll write about?
• Who would you love to connect with via your blog?
• If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?

You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.

Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.

When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.