Why You Should Give a Frack About Climate Change
Recently, I visited the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago as part of a special event. During that event, participants were allowed to visit the offices of some of the movers and shakers at the museum. I was able to meet with the director in charge of the research and planning for future exhibits. She advised me that in 2017 the Museum of Science and Industry would be hosting a temporary exhibit on ice formations, specifically those affected by climate change. A sneak peek at some of the pictures revealed immense changes to ice formations providing visual proof of global warming.
Climate change in the political realm is always a hot topic. Topics such as fracking, carbon tax, and renewable energy have become mainstay issues during political debates and on campaign platforms. Based on ProCon.org, here is where the four presidential candidates stand on each of the issues:
| Gary Johnson (Libertarian) |
Jill Stein (Green) |
Hillary Clinton (Democrat) |
Donald Trump (Republican) |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Climate Change | Climate change is real and caused by human activity. |
Climate change is real and caused by human activity. |
Climate change is real and caused by human activity. |
Climate change is a hoax. |
| Fraking | Supports fracking. | Against Fracking. | Supports fracking with proper requirements met. |
Supports fracking. |
| Carbon Tax | Against | Supports | Against | Against |
| Renewable Energy | Against | Supports | Supports | Against |
Why move to renewable energy?
What is a carbon tax?
According to Carbontax.org, a carbon tax is "a fee intended to make users of fossil fuels pay for climate damage their fuel use imposes by releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere". In other words, the more fossil fuels a company uses the more money it has to cough up. The tax's intent is to get those who use a large amount of fossil fuels to make the switch to clean energy.
What is fracking and why should we want to ban it?
The technical name for fracking is hydraulic fracturing. Basically, a high pressure mixture of sand, water, and chemicals are injected into a shale rock layer of Earth to release gas. Fracking is appealing because it has allowed the U.S. to tap into gas and oil reserves that were previously unreachable. However, there are many downsides such as air pollution, water pollution, soil and oil spill contamination, and earthquakes. Fracking produces methane gas which is 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide. Chemically tainted soil from drilling waste increased 5100% over the past decade.
Is global warming and climate change real? And if so, why should we care?
According to the EPA (and pretty much the ENTIRE scientific community), climate change is real. The global average temperature has increased 1.4 degrees over the past century. This has lead to intense rain and flooding, severe and more frequent heat waves, more acidic oceans, and rising sea levels. Scientists believe that by the year 2100 average temperatures on Earth will rise 2-12 degrees. For every 2 degrees of warming, there is up to a 15% reduction in crop yields, up to a 10% decrease in stream flow in some river basins, and up to 400% increases in the area burned by wildfire in parts of the western U.S. Rising sea levels will slowly eat away at land mass and the acidification of the oceans will lead to more warming.
What can I do?
There are many things you and I can do to help combat climate change.
- Use less energy. Turn off lights, unplug appliances, walk instead of drive, etc.
- Change your energy source. Look into solar panels or windmills or other renewable sources.
- Contact your government officials and push for legislation that moves towards the use of clean energy.
And that's just a small sample size of what can be done. For more visit USEPA.
