A collective effort to stop pending climate crisis

Anna Moseley | 12/07/2018

The problem: Climate crisis

With all the news about the National Climate Assessment lately, you may be wondering what you can do to help the planet.

Dodd Galbreath, assistant professor and founding director of the Institute of Sustainable Practice at Lipscomb University, provided some ideas for first steps to take towards more sustainable behavior.

“The most important thing for students to know is this is a collective effort,” said Galbreath. “There are a lot of changes we can make as individuals, but we have to hope and pray for a societal level response.”

He encourages us to ask ourselves ‘what is the most wasteful thing I do that hurts something or somebody?’ Answering that can lead you to what you should cut out of your lifestyle first.

Some other simple tips include:

1. The first thing you should do, according to Galbreath, is cut out plastic. Plastic is not actually recyclable; it is not infinitely recyclable. Plastic usually ends up in landfills and can release harmful chemicals into the soil, then into groundwater where it affects the ecosystem.  An easy start is to stop buying plastic straws and plastic to-go containers.

2. Buy alternative products made from durable, recyclable materials.

3. Switch to energy efficient light bulbs. These bulbs may cost more upfront, but because the bulbs utilize less energy and last longer, they actually help you save money over time.

4. Buy products from companies that are doing it right. Try to reward the companies that use biodegradable products and are hitting those renewable energy quotas.

5. Ask politicians and the university to invest in things that will keep our planet healthy.

6. Instead of shopping for the cheapest clothing possible, research and buy from companies that make clothing out of natural, durable fabrics. Clothing is a huge waste and is really hard on the environment.  Companies like Patagonia make things that will last 20+ years.

7. Hold others accountable because, like Galbreath mentioned, we cannot change the world unless we have a societal level response.

Galbreath explains what life will be like society does not make a change

The National Climate Assessment was 1,000 pages built from the work of over 300 authors breaking down the climate change and its impact across the country.

The earth is already one degree hotter than it was before the Industrial Revolution, and if that kind of change continues, the climate could become catastrophic, says the report.

Galbreath said there is less than one percent of carbon in our atmosphere currently. Many Americans may wonder how the atmosphere of the planet can change so dramatically when is has only minute quantities of carbon. Galbreath compared the earth’s temperature to a person’s body temperature.

“When we get sick our temperature changes one or two degrees,” said Galbreath. “Those tiny increments of temperature change can still give us a fever. The planet is the same way.

Imagine your body being as big as the planet. When you are as big as our planet, your fever will be experienced worse in all the extremities.”

As the temperature of our planet rises, areas that already have more extreme climate conditions will be the first to experience a hard hit. Places with milder climate conditions, like the continental United States for example, will see little change for a while.

“Where most of the people live who are admitting most of the carbon have the least incentive to change,” said Galbreath. “It is people who live on islands, on coasts, in deserts and rainy areas that will receive most of the consequences. However, eventually, even the temperate zones will start fluctuating wildly. Life will get really hard to live, food will be hard to grow and the planet will start do what it did in the past and swing wildly from ice ages to tropical ages.”

Although it is difficult to see the effects of carbon in our atmosphere, Galbreath explained that in the next 82 years, the extreme parts of the planet will become very unlivable and the temperate areas will become more erratic.

Galbreath mentioned that much of the changing climate is invisible. Because these changes cannot be seen, there is a lot of apathy in society behind changing carbon footprints. Even though we cannot see a lot of these changes, students can spur society into a new mindset and lifestyle by adopting some of these tips into their own lives.