AMU Emergency Management Health & Fitness Opinion Public Safety Resource

Do You Melt Arctic Sea Ice?

Hint: Yes, you do. Here’s how much.

The Difficulties in Attaching Human Activity to its Impacts

One of the most difficult issues in motivating climate action is convincing everyday folks that they have an impact on the climate. After all, we’re all pretty small humans and it’s a pretty big planet.

But make no mistake: If you light a fire in your fireplace, or even light a candle–you’re contributing to global warming. You’re converting chemical energy stored in wood and wax into heat energy, and that heat radiates out into the world. Any given candle might only contribute a trillionth of a degree to warming, but that trillionth is added to everyone else’s trillionths, and pretty soon there’s a noticeable impact.

Your Contribution to Arctic Ice Loss

It’s useful whenever science can establish that link that brings cause and impact together in a meaningful way. To that end, [link url=”https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/11/03/heres-how-much-of-the-arctic-youre-personally-responsible-for-melting/” title=”researchers have now connected everyday individual activities to ice loss impacts”].

In summary:
— Driving a car 2500 miles or flying roundtrip from JFK to Heathrow will melt about 30 square feet of sea ice.
— Emitting the per-U.S.-citizen average of 16 metric tons of CO2 in a year melts enough sea ice to cover 500 square feet of your home.

Learn More:

[relink url=”https://amuedge.com/climate-in-case-youre-not-convinced-yet/” url2=”https://amuedge.com/butterflies-and-black-swans/” url3=”http://edmdigest.com/adaptation/positive-feedback-loops-how-todays-candle-becomes-tomorrows-inferno/”]

[relink url=”http://edmdigest.com/adaptation/sunday-media-reviews-ice/” url2=”https://amuedge.com/greenland-ice-and-feedback-loops/” url3=”https://amuedge.com/education/feedback-loops-climate-change-on-steroids/”]

What to Do?

What to do really hasn’t changed very much. We’ve known what to do for a long time. In sort-of priority order, they include:

  1. Know your personal impact and role in fixing this. You have an impact. And because you have an impact, you have a role to play. If you’ve been hiding or have been in denial, it’s time to wake up.
  2. Convert energy sourcing from fossil fuel to renewable. Despite everything that fossil fuel companies have tried to tell you, this will not harm our economy. In contrast, it opens up whole new avenues of economic opportunity.
  3. Green your city and community. You know how. You know why. Working on everything from recycling initiatives to avoidance of food waste to driving less will all make a difference. So make a difference.
  4. Take pride in your Spaceship Earth. Don’t pollute it; don’t run it out of water; don’t ignore it when it tells you it’s hurting by sending droughts, floods, heat waves, and so on. All of these inputs mean something, and they are at least partially related to your actions.

We are in no position to assume these issues will be addressed by government at any level. This is going to be up to us. So let’s get to work.

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