How Should Humans Interact With The Environment?
Earth's Spheres
Human Impact
Interface areas are places where all of the four spheres interact. This occurs in most places, and it is pretty rare to find only one or even two spheres acting alone. One example of an interface area is the ocean. The ocean clearly is part of the hydrosphere because of the huge amount of water, but it also has a ton of life. There are over 33,000 species of fish living in the oceans, lots of plant life, and many hard to see types of bacteria. The atmosphere can be found in the ocean through air and oxygen in the water. The geosphere is all of the rocks and sand in the ocean, and all of these things work together to make the ocean the place that it is.
Earth has four spheres which are the building blocks of our world. The Atmosphere is the air and the gasses that make it up. It has five different layers that all do different things, Troposphere, Stratosphere, Mesosphere, Thermosphere, and Exosphere. The Geosphere (or Lithosphere) is the rocks and other pieces of solid Earth. The Biosphere is all of the living things that we see, or may not see. It can be anything from the tallest tree to the smallest bacteria, so we are part of the Biosphere. Lastly there is the Hydrosphere, and this includes all of the water on Earth. This includes rivers, lakes, and oceans, but also frozen water in glaciers and all of the moisture in the air and ground.
Feedback loops are changes to a system that have different effects on the system. There are two kinds that work in very different ways. The first is amplifying feedback, and it works like a domino effect. If something happens and it triggers something else, and so on, that is amplifying feedback. An example of this is a savings account. You start with a certain amount of money, and as time goes on the interest builds upon itself, and it continues to get bigger and bigger. The second type of feedback loops are stabilizing feedback, and it is a change that returns to its normal state like a cycle. It can be pushed away in opposite directions, but it will always try to return to its original place. An example of this is a thermostat in your house. It is set at its normal temperature so that when it gets hotter or colder, it knows to get back to its set temperature. No matter how far it gets pushed hot or cold from the outside temperature, it always returns to normal.
Carbon affects the environment because it is almost constantly moving. Carbon movement can be shown by the photosynthesis of plants, the burning of fossil fuels, and even the bubbles made in the ocean. Burning fossil fuels affects our environment in a negative way. This is because carbon rises into the atmosphere and acts like a blanket on top of our planet. It causes Earth to heat up because the carbon does not let much heat escape from our atmosphere. Photosynthesis is an example of a good effect on our environment. Photosynthesis is the reason we have oxygen to breathe, without it we would be doomed.
There are many ways that we could help our environment, but there are five that could really make a difference. The first is using Greener Transportation. This means using public transportation like buses, trains, and many more to cut down on individual carbon emissions. It could also mean switching to electric vehicles. The second way is using solar panels, wind-energy, or hydro-energy to sustain your energy usage. The third way is to eat local and less processed foods to help yourself and the environment. The fourth way is to reduce your plastic usage, reuse whatever you can, and recycle plastics when available. The final way is to bring natural ecosystems back to their homes. I could use the option of greener transportation to help lower my carbon footprint.
The things I do everyday affect the environment, and I know this by calculating my carbon footprint. One of the things that contributes the most carbon for me is my use of transportation. I drive around a lot because I have lots of places that I need or want to be. Driving releases carbon emissions into the air because of the use of gas. One of the things that I do not have to worry about is housing. I have a pretty small house, and my family and I do a pretty good job of not wasting energy. This is one of the things that really helped my carbon footprint and overshoot day. Someone's overshoot day shows them the day of the year that they would run out of Earthś supplies if they were away from Earth. My overshoot day is April 13th. If everyone lived like me, we would need 3.5 Earths to sustain our lifestyles,
The symbols to show stabilizing and amplifying feedback
A picture from Crash Course showing the four spheres
(original image)
There are four spheres that work together to make up everything on Earth, and some things that affect our Earth can be described by feedback loops.
The individual lifestyles of people affect our environment because of the resources we use and the things we do.
The ocean is an example of an interface area
A picture of me (original image)
Public Transportation is a great way to cut down on carbon emissions
Photosynthesis and Fossil fuels (original image from "What Now?")
Friends is an american sitcom that ran from 1994 to 2004, and contained 10 seasons. It was about a group of 6 friends named Rachel, Monica, Ross, Chandler, Joey, and Phoebe. A lot happened during the show, but it was packed with jokes, emotion, and connections to the characters. I chose to connect Earth Systems to this show because I really enjoy it, and I think it fits really well with the subject.
Humans should Interact with the environment in a way that respects the four spheres by letting them work how they should, and we need to know how we affect and can positively help the Earth.
The group in the show Friends
I think that each individual character in this show can be placed into categories based on the four spheres. Monica is in the Geosphere category because she is like the rock that holds the group together. Ross is in the Biosphere category because he is a paleontologist, so he works with life and things that used to be living. Rachel and Chandler are apart of the Hydrosphere category because they both are able to go with the flow. Phoebe and Joey are apart of the Atmosphere because their heads are always in the clouds, and they are never really focused on the conversation.
Similar to Interface areas, the people in the show were put together, and they thrived like interface areas. One of the best examples of this is Monica and Chandler's relationship. Monica is very controlling and clean. Chandler on the other hand is go with the flow, even if it means making a mess. When they lived together, they pushed each other outside of their comfort zones, and they were better than ever together.
There were multiple types of feedback in the show. One example of Stabilizing feedback would be Rachel living in Monica's apartment. In the beginning, that was where Rachel lived, and it stayed that way for a while. In one episode, Joey and Chandler beat Monica and Rachel at a trivia game, and they won their apartment. Eventually, the girls got their apartment back. When Chandler moved in with Monica, Rachel moved in with Phoebe, and then with Monica, and then with Joey. This is like stabilizing feedback because no matter what happens to Rachel, she always moves back to Monica's apartment (or close). One good example of amplifying feedback from the show was when Ross said Rachel's name during his wedding with Emily. One little misspoken name caused the whole wedding to be cancelled, and ended Ross's relationship. The one small thing spiraled into a huge problem.
I think that the characters from the show would have a similar carbon footprint to me because of the lifestyle that I have seen them live. One of the things they do well is their lack of individual driving. Throughout the show they are mainly shown walking around. I am guessing that if they needed to take public transportation, they would take the subway because they live in NYC. They also live in apartments, so they would not waste a ton of energy heating and cooling a whole house. I think one of the things they could do better with would be eating more local foods. This would probably be very difficult for Joey, because he eats a lot of processed foods that probably aren't locally grown or raised. This would be the easiest for Monica and Phoebe because Monica needs to cook with fresh ingredients for her restaurant, and Phoebe is very conscious about what she puts into her body.
Similar to how there are positives and negatives of carbon movement, there are also positives and negatives to the show. One big positive aspect is the exposure to new things. The show in general exposed me to sitcoms. This was one of the first sitcoms I watched, and it opened my eyes to a whole new genre of media. It also exposed me to subjects that I wasn't familiar with. This included depression, divorce, the commitment of relationships, and the value of true friends. One main negative of the show was that some parts were really cheesy. Some of the lines sounded really scripted and not genuine. THis is one of the few things that knocked this show a few spaces down of my ranking list.
There are a few things that the characters could have changed about their lifestyles so that they were more environmentally friendly. First of all, they live in a big city with lots of concrete and not much natural ecosystem. Second, the lights are almost always on in their apartments, even during the day. This wastes a lot of energy that could be saved by utilizing natural light. We never saw much of their recycling situation, but we did see the characters being conscious about using reusable plates, cups and silverware at home. We also see them drinking out of reusable mugs at Central Perk. That is a very good first step to being more environmentally conscious.
It is very easy to look at Earth's declining health and brush it off as something we cannot change. That is what I used to think when I would hear people talking about our impending doom. I know now that there are many things we can change about our lives that would help Earth work like it is supposed to.
Resources
1- Earth's Spheres (4 spheres part 1 and 2)
2- Soil Farming Factors (Definition of Interface Areas)
3- Feedback Loops
4- Carbon Footprint (Footprint Calculator)
5- Carbon Cycle
6- Climate Solutions Debate
7- Four Spheres Part 1 (Image)
8- My Phone (Image)
9- Footprint Calculator (Image)
10- What Now? (Image)
A picture of nature from the footprint calculator (original image)
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Friends went on for around 10 years. It had its good and bad episodes, and its happy and sad times. In the end they tied up all of the characters stories, and gave them happy lives after the show.
A picture form the final episode of Friends