WE MUST CHANGE!
By: Sabrina Floccuzio and Breeona Boyd
Climate change has a major impact on the spheres and our planet. After listening to guest speaker, Malia Brown, discuss “The Climate Reality Project” to our class, we are much more aware of how urgent the problem is. Ever since World War 2, there has been a dramatic increase in the burning of fossil fuels and the releasing of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Fashion is the second most polluting industry in the world, therefore, as Fashion Business students, we need to make a change. That being said, summer temperatures have shifted, with extreme temperature events covering more than 14.5% now. Places, such as Arizona, have been experiencing flight cancellations due to this insanely hot weather. Brown mentioned that 93% of extra heat trapped by man-made global warming pollution goes into the ocean. Due to this, we then experience significant devestations, such as Hurricane Sandy. By the end of the century, the U.S could see up to a 400% increase in downpours.
Did you know that the same heat that pulls water from the ocean also pulls it from the soil? This is why we are seeing all of these droughts. Higher temperatures and droughts can cause toxin accumulation in plants and livestock, threatening the health of humans and animals. Not only do hotter years typically have more fires, but they also cause icebergs to melt, which results in a rise of sea levels. Food supply is another important factor in climate change, because as temperature increases, corn supply decreases. Water scarcity affects more than 40% of the world’s population. Global water use consists of 12% domestic use, 19% industrial and 69% agriculture. As temperatures rise, so does water use for crops, energy, industry, and animals. The number one threat to the global economy is the cost of carbon. It’s terrifying to hear, but worldwide air pollution kills 6.5 million people every year, and allergies are expected to become much worse by 2040.
The solution is us. The U.S. has 44.7GW of solar energy capacity, enough to power 8.7 million homes. Companies such as Starbucks, Microsoft, Google and REI are powered by 100% renewable electricity. In 2015, virtually every nation in the world agreed to work together to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by committing to “The Paris Agreement”. Twelve states representing one third of the American people have formed the United States Climate Alliance, with Washington, New York, and California as the founding members. You may have heard this plenty of times, but we need to reduce, reuse, and recycle. Three easy steps, yet somehow, they are so hard to achieve. We are having this conversation now in order to make a change to the future of fashion!
USE YOUR CHOICE. USE YOUR VOICE. USE YOUR VOTE.
I really like your post and how you first talk about the problems that WW2 bring to the society. We have to be more aware of the impact of the consumption of fossil fuels and turn it into renewable energies such as solar panels or use wind energy which is much more better for the health of the Earth.
ReplyDeleteI really liked how you incorporated facts and numbers to spread the urgency in which we need to help our planet. Tying it back to the fashion industry with that graphic was great, sometimes people are not aware of how the contribute to contamination simply by buying and wearing clothes. I think these numbers can be an eye opener to many.
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