Climate

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https://thefederalist.com/2017/03/30/taxpayers-cant-talk-climate-change-policies-neither-can-scientists/

1. "Temperatures are rising more than twice as fast over land as over the oceans. They are rising faster in the Northern Hemisphere, where most of Earth’s land area is, than in the Southern Hemisphere. Temperatures in the Arctic have risen fastest of all, four times as fast as for the rest of the world at large."

Robertson, M. (2017). Sustainability Principles and Practice. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, 74.

   The thing that I find the most interesting about this quote is that tmeperature in the Northern Hemisphere have rise much faster than it has in the Southern Hemishpere.  It is really interesting to me that the temperature changes are directly related to the areas where there is more land, and thus more people. I do not think that very many people realize just how much the temperature effects the various environments around the world. Temperature changes determines a lot as far as what type of ecosystem is in a certain area. It determines how much rainfall occurs on average, as well as the types of life that can be sustained in a given area. Temperature plays a huge role in the climate, and we must be conscience of how big of an impact we humans have on it. With a population that is growing exponentially, we produce tons of greenhouse gases that cause the earth to become hotter. If we are not careful, we could totally change the ecosystems all around the world. 

 2. "For measurements before 150 years ago, scientists use proxies: indicators that stand in for temperature."

Robertson, M. (2017). Sustainability Principles and Practice. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, 75.

   I think this statement is very interesting because I never knew that temperature could be measured by the rings inside a tree or by the layers of coral. I knew that the trees' rings help us determine the age of them, but i never knew that they were effected by temperature changes as well. I also did not know that coral could provide information about temperature or even that it made layers just like the trees. Coral is a very sensitive organism and can be manipulated by even the slighted touch of a finger. With all of the pollutants that are found in the ocean, it is no wonder that we have killed a great amount of the coral around the world. We fail to realize that coral is a very crucial to the survival of many marine life forms. Reefs are usually home to thousands and thousand of fish, and if we continue to destroy them, we will destroy the population of those fish as well. Reefs are also very important for producing oxygen as well. Any adverse effects that we have on the ocean, and the environment overall, come back to have adverse effects on use even though we are oblivious to it. 

3. "Earth’s surface is constantly on the move, with continental plates rafting about on top of heavier oceanic plates."  

Robertson, M. (2017). Sustainability Principles and Practice. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, 75.

     I actually have  had the opportunity to study a lot about the continental plates as I took Intro to Geology a few semesters ago. It was very cool to see how the continents actually move about and form volcanoes and trenches and things like that.  We also studied a lot about how the components of the plates melt and turn to magma that flows underground. Most people do not understand that the land we build and live on is constantly moving. This is because the movement is so slow that it can only be measured over a very long period of time. I am very happy that I got to take part in such an informative class. Studying different aspects of how the planet come together to form our home has always been fascinating to me, and I look forward to learning more about it in the future.