Climate Change and the Classroom

                                                                       
  

     Today, I had the privilege of getting to hear a lecture from Dr. Michael Edelstein from Ramapo College in New Jersey on climate change. It was engaging and informative, but also a little startling. Climate change is real, and we're starting to really see its effects. Temperatures are hitting record highs, sea levels are rapidly rising, and we're running out of fossil fuels. What does this mean for my generation? And more importantly, what does this mean for the future of our planet?

     The first thing that Dr. Edelstein discussed with us was that the science surrounding climate change is convergent, meaning that everyone agrees. However, if you turn on the news, or even read about it online, you'll find plenty of "experts" trying to debunk climate change as a real and immediate issue to our planet. These people are put out in the media by oil companies like Exon to try and disprove climate change and keep making themselves money. However, these "experts" can't do anything about the cold, hard truth that our atmosphere is at 405 parts per million (ppm) of carbon dioxide. The big issue with this is that there is a ton of evidence supporting the theory that once our planet's atmosphere exceeds 350 ppm, there will be irreversible damage. We're way past that point now, which should definitely scare the climate change naysayers into rethinking their position.  We're just now really starting to see the effects of our damage to Earth, and the question remains; what can we do to keep our planet habitable for generations to come?

     That question has no easy answer, and the sad truth is that it may be too late to really ensure that Earth stays habitable for upcoming generations. However, that doesn't mean we shouldn't try. We all need to do our part to help our planet survive and thrive. This can be something as simple as buying a reusable water bottle instead of using bottled water, or using a hand dryer instead of paper towels. It can also be something as simple as carpooling more, to lessen the impact the car exhaust has on the atmosphere. You can also go as far as to use renewable energy like solar panels for your home. This creates clean, renewable energy that will never run out (at least to the best of our knowledge) and will not harm the environment. As a future teacher, I will do my part in my classroom to keep our planet clean and habitable for generations to come. I will educate my class on climate change through experiments, so they can really see what is happening to our planet with their eyes. As a teacher, the easiest way for me to help our planet is to educate my students on this issue and help create a generation of students who care for our planet.