We all need to fight global warming

By SEAN NAGLE-MCNAUGHTON
DAVIS HIGH SCHOOL

I’ve been interested in the environment as long as I can remember. I’ve written papers on pollution, put on skits in classes, and worked to reduce my own contribution by recycling, carpooling and reusing anything I can.
Last year, when I was in eighth grade at Discovery Lab School, I wanted to do something big for my final project. Learning about and working to address global warming seemed like a good fit.
Global warming is a human-powered threat. It’s also a complex problem. Global warming is the process by which greenhouse gases warm the Earth, trapping increasing amounts of heat around our planet that otherwise would have been released into space.
Here’s how it works: Sunlight passes though the Earth’s atmosphere, the thin layer of gases that surround our planet. The Earth absorbs the sun’s rays, and this energy is changed into heat, then released back into the atmosphere.
Some of this energy escapes into space. Plants, animals and surface water also absorb some of the energy. But more and more of the heat is becoming trapped in the atmosphere, remaining there like the heat inside a greenhouse.
Greenhouse gases include methane, water vapor, carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide and chlorofluorocarbons. Without these gases, the average temperature on the surface of the Earth would be 0 degrees F.
However, the balance of these gases is changing. Carbon dioxide levels are 30 percent higher than in 1860, according to “Global Warming: A Threat to Our Future” by Paul Stein. This is primarily blamed on humans burning fossil fuels.
And it is a threat to — and the responsibility of — the entire Earth.
“The most efficient use of energy is now an obligation upon humanity,” Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda said at the World Economic Forum in January. “The whole world must make efforts to maximize the improvement of energy efficiency.”

I’ve always loved places such as Mount Rainier National Park, where I’ve spend entire days wandering the woods, and White Pass or elsewhere in the Cascades, where I go on long hikes to hidden meadows.
If humans destroy pristine environments like these, there will be none left to enjoy. This is the main reason fighting global warming appeals to me. There is something each of us can do to reverse this dangerous trend.
For me, the most shameful fact about trying to halt global warming is that our country — the largest, most industrialized, and therefore polluting, country — has not formally pledged to reduce greenhouse gases by ratifying the Kyoto Protocol.
Global warming may have some limited positive effects, such as a longer growing season in some places. And some controversy still exists over the potential long-term impacts of global warming. But there is increasing agreement in the scientific community that global warming is real and that its causes are man-made.
According to Stuart D. Jordan, a senior staff scientist at the NASA Goddard Space Center in Greenbelt, Md., global warming could stress Earth’s ecosystems, “especially if the changes are rapid.”
In 2006, he wrote, “From the point of view of the ecosystem health, rapid change is extremely unlikely to be beneficial.”
Rising sea levels are among the scariest potential effects of global warming. If polar and glacial ice continue to melt at current rates, oceans could rise anywhere from 20 to 50 feet, according to the book “An Inconvenient Truth” by Al Gore. Even at the low end of the range, millions of people could be forced from their homes.
Some of the smaller Pacific Islands, such as Tuvalu, which has implemented an evacuation plan, are already being covered by the rising sea. Highly populated areas such as cities located near sea level are particularly at risk.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicts Glacier National Park will have no more glaciers by 2030, when I am 37 years old. If the melting of the polar arctic ice continues, there will be serious problems for species that live in this habitat, such as polar bears.
Already, there have been reports of polar bears drowning. This is particularly alarming given the fact that polar bears can swim 30 to 40 miles at a time.
Polar bears hunt on ice. Polar ice reductions place them at risk of starvation. This loss of habitat as a consequence of global warming has resulted in listing polar bears as a “threatened species” by the United States on May 14, 2008.
Polar bears aren’t the only animals affected. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, if global temperatures rise by a mere 6.3 degrees, between 40 percent and 70 percent of all species could disappear.
Our present lifestyles and locations of our cities are a result of existing weather patterns. If the world’s climate changes as scientists have predicted, there could be serious alterations to those weather patterns, affecting the way we live and where we live.

The term “carbon footprint” refers to the estimated amount of carbon dioxide that an individual or organization creates in a year. A number of tools have been developed to calculate carbon footprints. The hope is that by raising awareness of how our daily choices impact carbon emissions, individuals, organizations and communities will take steps to minimize their production of carbon dioxide.
This brings us back to my final project. I estimated Discovery Lab School’s carbon footprint by searching the Internet for a calculator that worked especially for schools. I eventually found “The School Neutral” carbon calculator that you can download for free onto Excel. It can be found at www.earthteam.net.
The spreadsheet required that I enter certain information about the school. So I contacted Deb Lavis, the principal, and asked for her help. She provided me with info on school enrollment, the number of students who ride the bus, bus routes, the size of our garbage bins and the number of times garbage is picked up.
She also gave me a summary of the school’s electricity and natural gas usage for one year. There were no exact measurements of the bus routes, so I plotted them on a map of Yakima and calculated how far each bus travels each day.
To estimate the miles traveled in cars to transport students to and from school, I conducted an e-mail survey using the Discovery Family Connection e-mail list. From the 15 responses I received, I was able to calculate an average number of trips per week, the average distance traveled and the average number of students per car to come up with the estimated total miles driven by cars each year.
The weight of the landfill waste generated each year by the school was calculated using a “Volume-to-Weight Conversion Factors” table from the National Recycling Coalition Measurement Standards and Reporting Guidelines. I estimated the amount of recycling based on my experience doing school recycling each Friday. Removing potential waste from the landfill by recycling gives you a credit to reduce your total carbon emissions.
According to my calculations, Discovery Lab School creates approximately 143,536 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions per year. This comes out to about 699 pounds of carbon dioxide per student.

To slow global warming, each of us must take steps to reduce our carbon dioxide emissions and reduce our “carbon footprint.” Individual actions, however, are not enough to influence global warming. Governments must also play a lead role.
With President Barrack Obama in office, people like me can hope for increased actions to address global warming. In mid-December, Obama announced the members of his climate change and energy team, including Steven Chu, a physicist, Nobel laureate, expert in biofuels and advocate for comprehensive scientific solutions to global warming.
Hopefully, environmental issues and climate change will be given a higher priority in the new administration and the United States can emerge as a world leader in fighting against the potential negative impacts of global warming.

• Sean Nagle-McNaughton is a member of the Yakima Herald-Republic’s Unleashed team. He attends Davis High School.