The Big Picture: Technology For Climate Change

While in Roskilde University I was introduced to project based learning, and it's exactly as it sounds. One of the first things Professor Tyre taught us was mind mapping - a technique of drawing lines and connecting ideas to see the bigger picture. The goal is to to cultivate the issue and find where you can fit a solution, which brings me too...

My Mind Map for Climate Change Solutions:

It was conceived a year ago and only now have I decided to put it down. Yes, it's small, but it's a work in progress.

Whenever there is a problem the consensus is technology will fix it. It's a complicated analysis, but for as many solutions that technology offers, it also can provide new problems. Too many examples to consider but the biggest one would be the car. When the Model-T first rolled out of Detroit the world was changed forever, people could make cross country trips in half a day, patients could be transferred by ambulance to hospitals quicker, and food could be shipped at a higher pace. Now nearly 100 years later the release of carbon from automobiles and manufacturing threatens the planet. Technology is helpful, but as I've described, if it isn't fully understood it can wreak havoc for us and our environment.

Global warming is our current problem, and if technology were the solution, we should be done, but we're far from it. When I first heard renewable energy was the solution to climate change I was relieved to hear that we have the technology to solve the problem, we're just not using it enough. We're also not using enough energy efficient technology like halogen lightbulbs, either. Supposedly, if the entire world would switch to halogen bulbs we would solve the climate crisis once and for all. If only we could. Back to renewable energy, how hard can it be to put up some solar panels and wind farms? Not very hard. We have the technology we need.
We just cannot just rush into adopting technology without fully understanding it.

For example, we can make a million electric cars to lower emissions, we have the technology for that, easy. But, what do we do 20 years from now when we have to toss out all those lithium batteries? I'll make a prediction and say it's going to harm the environment, and if it's in a landfill (likely) it will poison our freshwater supply. Did we consider the technology before we made it available on a large scale? Again, we have the technology to solve climate change, we just need to fully understand the drawbacks, it's sustainability, and discover repercussions ahead of time. We have the pieces of technology we just need to put them together in a system that covers all the bases. The right plan will require global cooperation between governments, business, and regular people. Let's understand the big picture because a global problem deserves a global solution.

Habits & Change for Climate Change: Sustainability Determined by Everyday People

I decided to surf today because of a tsunami warning due to the Samoan earthquake. My prayers go out to the victims and their families, thankfully California will be spared. As I was driving I noticed my Air Conditioning was on, something I almost never do, and it really got me upset that I drove 14 miles from my home neglecting to notice the extra cool air emitting from the air vents. Realization of my habits and my reaction had me thinking: How had I become someone that so adamantly hates energy inefficiency?

I was different after some classes and viewing a couple of documentaries namely: Who Killed The Electric Car and An Inconvenient Truth. That still represents a considerable amount of time, energy, and money to come to a lifestyle change and attitude adjustment. I realize I had lived in a bubble called college, shielded from three hour drives every day to work in Los Angeles and a forty hour plus work week. No not mine, but I've heard if it. Throw in the responsibility of raising kids and I wonder where is there time for my family or the average American family to pickup any cause, let alone change daily habits or raise awareness regarding climate change.

While in school I  administered a seminar regarding social issues for a quarter and even in a dense population of do good, feel good students in one of the epicenters of social change advocacy there was resentment to understanding problems and difficulty creating meaningful solutions. Often time at the end of a series of discussions the only way to create change for the better was determined to be education and specifically at the earliest stages possible. My personal work mulling over society's issues arrived to that same conclusion. But, we are faced with a problem that needed to be addressed 30 years ago. It's like we're at the top of a roller-coaster with bad or no tracks coming ahead; We're just starting to build a solution as our troubles rush towards us.

We are at a location where we can still ignore the problem, and unfortunately those of us that do continue habits and practices that slow down decision-making. A recent article I found on Justmeans.com, regarding climate change ignorance, had me nodding my head in approval. As I progress through life I notice more and more of that kind of strong division on issues that have very complicated consequences. Simply put, you cannot change peoples' minds easily even if the health of the planet depended on it. We can't just wait for the next generation to handle climate change as there aren't any brakes on our way to the future. All our goals of implementing renewable energy technology and sustainable designs to lower emissions and improve climate change require a new outlook on how we use energy and carry out our daily habits from: cooking to driving (with the AC off), and all the in-between.