Living dangerously episode 5 PDF

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reflection on episode 5, madatory...

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Brianna Centro Years of Living Dangerously: True Colors In the continuation of watching Years of Living Dangerously, even more contributors of climate change are brought to the table, such as the combustion of coal that is intensifying “natural” disasters, ruining homes and lives in the long run. It appears that the science behind elevating water levels, elevating temperature of the water, and all humans are doing to negatively contribute to these factors are just not enough for some people to be pushed to make the changes necessary. Individuals who support the science and see these terrible effects humans are having on the only world we have urge others to accept the fact and move on in ways that are more sustainable. Governor Chris Christy was known as the “savior of Sandy” and “America’s governor” for his actions post hurricane Sandy (True Colors, 2014). Although his goal was great to focus on the people who were without homes and jobs because of destroyed businesses, Christy refused to acknowledge or respond to the idea of climate change, rising sea level, and warming waters causing the super storm. According to Nadakavukaren (2011), temperature measurements gathered from decades past indicate that climate changes are very much underway, with the main causes of human-induced atmospheric changes being due to introduction into the atmosphere of pollutant gasses and particles not usually found there in significant amounts and changes in the concentration of natural atmospheric components (Nadakavukaren, 2011, A p. 285). And in the video, Michael Openheimer said that the usual 100-year increase in water level is now happening every 5 years (True Colors, 2014). Governor Christy was known all over the United States for his efforts with New Jersey, so if he chose to acknowledge these facts and brainstormed easy, doable ideas for individuals of ways

to reduce pollutant gasses and particles, who knows how many more individuals would be trying to live more sustainably in hopes a hurricane such as Hurricane Sandy would never happen again. It’s people in public positions who aren’t accepting the science and who more importantly aren’t using their positions to be proactive rather than just be responsive. Episode 5 also begins with an event unlike any from the past—Jay Inslee, “the first political chief executive in American history to be elected principally on a platform of combating climate disruption,” was elected governor of the state of Washington (True colors, 2014, 3:06). Inslee is a man who appreciates the environment and comes from a family who does as well, and finally is in the position to make changes and educate people on the poor actions of humans leading to climate change which then leads to things like worse “natural” disasters. Before being elected governor, Inslee was a member of congress and was on the climate change committee, even though most of that committee refused to believe the science behind climate change (True Colors, 2014). This episode focuses on yet another aspect leading to climate change, carbon emissions from coal. In Inslee’s first months of being governor, he is faced with a tough decision of whether or not to allow two of the largest coal export terminals to be built in the state of Washington. “Coal is the single largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the world” (True Colors, 2014, 32:58), which must have gotten worse within three years since Nadakavukaren (2011) said coal burning from electric power plants was the second largest source of air pollution in the industrialized world back in 2011 (Nadakavuaren, 2011, B p. 342). Nadakavukaren (2011) also stated that the main product of burning fossil fuels, which includes coal, is carbon dioxide and that the combustion of one ton of coal releases about three tons of carbon dioxide (Nadakavukaren, 2011, B p. 289). So, although the combustion will be occurring in Asia, if Inslee agrees to letting these coal export terminals be

built in Washington, in a way he is still contributing to that amount of carbon dioxide released from somewhere other than the United States to then be released into the atmosphere. This poses the question whether or not this means he would be supporting that occurring in general in addition to the fact it would double the amount of coal being exported by the US each year (True Colors, 2014). Other factors Inslee must foresee before making his decision regards job creation and rain acidification. In building these terminals, thousands of jobs would be created for at least a couple of years just to build them, then even more jobs created to work in them. Herb Crown did have an interesting opinion on creating jobs through allowing the facilities to be built in Whatcomb County and said “if the United States were to halt all coal exports today, it’s not going to stop the nations that are consuming coal to burn one lump of it, all were going to do is export those jobs to other places” (True Colors, 2014, 37:13). Creating all of these jobs would support the local economy, but the potential downfalls of this could be the effects of urbanization that Nadakavukaren (2011) highlights as she states about half of the world’s poorest people live in urban settlements (Nadakavukaren, 2011, C p. 50). With urbanization comes the question of whether or not the small town of Olympia, Washington can hold a decent standard of living, as a large influx of people will result as jobs are created. Inslee must ponder if he and their government will be able to provide basic services and resist overcrowding, violence, and inadequate sanitation—all issues that can result from urbanization in towns that cannot handle it (Nadakavukaren, 2011, C p. 48). On the other hand, Inslee must also think about the effects of having the coal exported. Coal transportation through the trains alone contributes to one of the largest sources of air pollution (Nadakavukaren, 2011, B p. 342). Inslee is very aware of the carbon dioxide that comes from

transportation of the carbon alone and knows that it’ll end up effecting climate change locally, and hopes that in the hands of the town members they realize these ramifications (True Colors, 2014). A consequence that would affect many people in the area comes from acid rain and ocean acidification from coal. As sulfur, an impurity in coal, is oxidized, it forms sulfur dioxide, which is a major precursor of acid precipitation (Nadakavukaren, 2011, D p. 343). While the atmosphere is able to neutralize a certain amount of acid, it’s buffering capacity; the excess amount it’s unable to neutralize ends up being very damaging to the environment getting the acid rain, resulting in reduction of crop yields, damage to aquatic systems, and damage to forest productivity (Nadakavukaren, 2011, D p. 364). It seems that in regards to these factors, more people would be adversely affected by the addition of facilities and Inslee’s decision on deciding between job creation or carbon emissions is an easier one than initially expected. After watching this episode, I realized how I never knew that the transportation of carbon alone could result in carbon dioxide emissions. Initially, I thought Inslee’s decision would be easy considering it would create jobs and would be resulting in the burning of coal actually being done in Asia versus the United States, but quickly changed my mind as the episode progressed to not being in favor of the building of the facilities. I also had no idea the rate that water levels were rising resulting from warming waters because of climate change. It’s sad how as these episodes go on, we’re forced to see how many smart people, such as Chris Christy, who hold leader positions all over the world have scientific facts and history in front of them concerning climate change, but still refuse to talk about it or give it second thought when making decisions. My only hope is that more people like Jay Inslee get positions all over

our country and make changes in favor of reducing climate change and increasing sustainability in the near future.

References: Nadakavukaren, A. (2011 A). The atmosphere. In A. Nadakavukaren (7th Ed.), Our global environment (pp. 281-312). Long Grove: Waveland Press, Inc. Nadakavukaren, A. (2011 B). Air pollution. In A. Nadakavukaren (7th Ed.), Our global environment (pp. 341-377). Long Grove: Waveland Press, Inc. Nadakavukaren, A. (2011 C). Population dynamics. In A. Nadakavukaren (7th Ed.), Our global environment (pp. 33-54). Long Grove: Waveland Press, Inc. Nadakavukaren, A. (2011 D). Water pollution. In A. Nadakavukaren (7th Ed.), Our global environment (pp. 417-455). Long Grove: Waveland Press, Inc. True Colors (2014): Years of living dangerously. Films On Demand. Films Media Group. Web. 27 January. 2016....