Running Head: ACHIEVING A STEADY CLIMATE

My Actions Attempts toward Achieving a Steady Climate

Dustin Vincen
Boise State University
UF 100-005
Michelle Kinney
September 20, 2015

ACHIEVING A STEADY CLIMATE

ABSTRACT
Climate change is being talked about as an epidemic that the world inevitably going to face. With
the government constantly shoving programs and ideas in our face, that often contradict
themselves, its tough to understand if we have an impact individually. America is such a small
area of the world, and many other countries, seem to throw caution to the wind, when it comes to
climate change. What impact can one person actually have? We can do our part morally, to be
cautious, but some of the efforts to avoid it seem costly and drastic, with unknown outcomes.
Some of our readings have brought valid points of our effects on the climate, without discussing
what one person can do to have an actual outcome of the efforts.

Keywords: climate change greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide, climate patterns

ACHIEVING A STEADY CLIMATE

My Actions Attempts toward Achieving a Steady Climate

Aldo Leopolds Land Ethic is a key prose composed that opened the door to the way we
look at our environment. Either we are part of the environment, or we are existing as a second
entity in the environment. The American Indians treated the environment as a gift that should be
respected to receive the gifts earth has to give us. The white man shows up as conqueror of the
land community to plain member and citizen of it he writes, (2). Its strange how two groups of
humans can have such different morals when it pertains to the land? The land is a means to make
money. The environment can be stripped of whatever is needed to line peoples pockets, and
when the cash machine breaks, they scramble to fix the errs that are already so far in the past that
its hard to understand which err has caused the damage. With All of this epidemic of climate
change shoved in our face, the process of deciphering what is relevant, takes away from the big
picture, of how small America is to the world, and everything we do to help the avoidance of
climate change, is overshadowed by the rest of the world damaging the environment to line their
pockets.
Aldo Leopold wrote one of the first pieces of writing, which shed light on humans
interaction adversely affecting the earth. In The Sand County Almanac a section was dedicated
to an idea that humans have strayed from the American Indians view of the earth as a part of
their reality, to mans view of the land being a way to support the reality they wanted to surround
themselves with.
Not all the info shoved into our face is propaganda. Republicans and democrats, are
starting to agree that the world is changing from our lives being lived on earth. The democrats
view that the federal government needs to have many programs enforced to cause people to take

ACHIEVING A STEADY CLIMATE

action. I cant say that I agree with bigger government control on my actions, but Leopold does
bring up the valid point that without government enforcement, people naturally tend to not act.
Republicans tend to stray away from wanting larger federal government to regulate us
when the tenth amendment clearly states that areas of unique interest should be governed by state
governments. I tend to have my views lean more to the conservative side. Marco Rubio, a
Republican Candidate for the 2016 Presidential election, stated something that struck me, during
a debate amongst Republican Candidates on CNN. We're not going to make America a harder
place to create jobs in order to pursue policies that will do absolutely nothing, nothing to change
our climate, Rubio said. America is a lot of things, the greatest country in the
world, absolutely. But America is not a planet. He stated in reply to a question on his stance on
climate change, (Holthaus, 2015).
There are other countries that emitted up to 3 times the greenhouse gases, the United
States in 2008, (epa.gov). And China alone is projected to contribute 3 times as much CO2 gases
than the United States by 2050, (ucsusa.org). While the United States is a large contributor, we
are still accountable for less than 1/4 the worlds greenhouse gas emissions, (ucsusa.org). China
does not seem to want to put too many steps into place to lessen their climate change footprint.
We see many effects in our regions from climate change, but this is a result as the world as a
whole.
I feel that until the world aligns under an umbrella to attack climate change, not much is
going to change. I will continue to do my part, which is something I must do morally. Converting
my home into solar power is expensive. Electricity is a necessity. So is water. I can change my
light bulbs to LED, and shut them off when Im not using them. My thermostat is set a little
cooler than I would like in the winter and warmer in the summer. I try and take short showers,

ACHIEVING A STEADY CLIMATE

and fill the sink, when I do dishes instead of running the water. I can only control what I can
control, though. How long of showers is my neighbor taking? Ive noticed he waters his lawn
twice a day, on watering days, instead of only in the morning. This is completely out of my
hands. People know about the changes in our world, but they have no motivation to change their
routines.
I am saddened by the images of skinny Polar Bears that have changed their diets to adapt
to their changing climates. It saddens me to see the dry winters in my Northwestern region. I
remember when the snow would cover the ground most of the winter. Now we are lucky to have
a full ski season. I am heart broken by the images of the lakes that were in California. I do what I
can, but it is only so much.
The world has faced climate change, throughout its history. We seem to have reached a
time where the exponential growth in population in humans has sped this process up, drastically.
Humans have abused the earth to a point where its as if we feel sorry for it, and want to nurse its
wounds. But an abusive relationship never seems to see the violence stop. We see lots of proof,
examples, and results. We see lots of talk. What we dont see is action. I see dark times in the
future, because the world will not align and take a stand, until it is too late, which it may already
be.

ACHIEVING A STEADY CLIMATE

References
Leopold, A., & Schwartz, C. W. (1987). A Sand County almanac, and sketches here and there.
New York: Oxford University Press.
Each Country's Share of CO2 Emissions. (n.d.). Web. Retrieved September 21, 2015.
<http://www.ucsusa.org/global_warming/science_and_impacts/science/each-countrysshare-of-co2.html#.Vf94RvlViko>
Holthaus, E. (n.d.). America Is Not a Planet: The Only Thing Marco Rubio Got Right on
Climate Change. Web. Retrieved September 21, 2015.
<http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2015/09/17/gop_debate_marco_rubio_s_terrible
_answer_on_climate_change.html>
Global Greenhouse Gas Emissions Data. (n.d.). Web. Retrieved September 21, 2015.
<http://www3.epa.gov/climatechange/ghgemissions/global.html>