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Actions to Mitigate Climate Change - Austin Cruz - Coggle Diagram
Actions to Mitigate Climate Change - Austin Cruz
Green Cities
Vertical Forests
A vertical forest is a building that has nature all over it. This takes away heat, green house gases, and other effect of climate change in cities. This is going to be very important as the density of people increases in city and the value of land increases. With the value of land being so high, nature will have to take the back seat. Instead we can use this nearly useless space to do something that will benefit the environment. If these become common place, there will be a lot of new carbon sinks that can reduce green house gasses in the air.
Energy Efficient Homes
LED Light Bulbs
The traditional incandescent light bulb turns only 2% of the energy used to create visible light. IN contrast, LEDs are 90% efficient. Knowing that light is one of the most used inventions of human kind, reducing the amount of energy needed to power it can drastically benefit the environment.
Properly Insulating Houses
Properly insulating your home can greatly reduce the amount of energy need to heat your house. The insulation traps the heat that has been produced for the house which makes your heating system need to work less. This can greatly reduce the energy needed by a house because half of the energy in a house is used by heating and cooling the house.
Green Transportation
Human Powered
A good example of human powered transportation is a bike, This is already in use in cities like Amsterdam and Copenhagen. Bikes are a proven, and reliable form of transportation that is relatively cheap and easy to use. Bikes are also not very resource intensive to make.
Electric
Electric forms or transportation are a way cleaner way of having transportation. These vehicles are a very fast and rapid way to get around. As energy comes from more green sources, electric vehicles became a more green option. Even though there is an upfront environmental cost, it redeems itself in the long run.
Public Transportation
This is a very effective system because it cuts down on the amount cars and other greenhouse emitting vehicles. By more people using the transportation system could cut down on green house gasses. 85% of carbon dioxide from the transportation industry are from day-to-day personal motorized vehicles. The public transport based society is in use in Singapore where it has found great success.
Food Sources
Reducing Meat
Meat is arguably the worst source of food for the environment. The land meat is raised on is very bad for the environment because of what where it is. The animals produce green house gases from such as methane. Worst off all if how many resources are needed. Every ounce of meat needs 7 ounces of feed to make. Animals also need a lot of water. When we add up how much food, land, and carbon that these animals take up or create, it really is very ineffective.
Reducing Animal Byproducts
Meat and animal byproducts have some of the same negatives. The amount of resources need to produce them are very high. They take up land and cause deforestation. when taking into consideration the amount of stuff that animal byproducts such as dairy and eggs use, compared to what they give back. This is one of the worst ways to feed people.
Less Sugar
Sugar is one of the world's worst plants to grow. The places that sugar cane and sugar beet is grown are very plant and animal rich areas. By cutting down that area, it is destroying massive amounts of carbon sinks. It is also very water and pesticide intensive, Places that have had sugar farming, like Papua New Guinea, have lost up to 40% of soil carbon levels. Which is all now in the atmosphere.
Locally Grown
Locally grown food is a more environmentally sustainable food source because it doesn't need to be shipped. The shipping of food is very bad for the environment because it is moved half-way across the world by planes, ships and trucks before it gets to you. All of these are very large greenhouse gas producers. By eating locally food has to travel a fraction of the distance.
Green Energy
Biofuel
Biofuel is a liquid fuel that is made from natural renewable sources. It can be made from plant mass, algae or animal waste. It is a very cost effective and easy way to make fuel. One of the most common forms is Ethanol.
Since Biofuel comes from renewable sources such as animal waste and plant mass, it doesn't need to be mined which reduces destruction on land. It also has the Carbon already extracted from the earth when the plant are growing. If you get the fuel from animal waste it is already waste and would have been destroying the enviroment.
Synthetic Fuel
Synthetic fuel is made by getting the Hydrogen from water. It releases the Oxygen back into the atmosphere. It then gets Carbon from the Carbon Dioxide from the air. By bonding the Carbon and Hydrogen, you can create hydrocarbons, in other words: gasoline. It works the exact same as regular gasoline because it is molecularly the same.
Synthetic fuel's carbon is drawn from carbon already in the atmosphere. So as it is used and releases Carbon Dioxide, it is not introducing more carbon. The energy used to create this is also usually green, which means that we are converting green energy into gasoline. This can serve as a temporary replacement as we transition to all-green energy. It can also allow people who won't give up their gas engines to stay green.
Better Photo of Diagram
Nuclear
Better Photo of Diagram
Nuclear energy is made by the heat of a nuclear reactor heating up water and making steam. When the the water expands the pressure increase and it escapes through a turbine. The turbine generates energy and the product that escapes the steam stacks are just water vapour. The only downside is the nuclear waste that needs to be disposed.
Since water vapour cools down before it leaves the stacks, it is a much less bad than the Carbon Dioxide that is released into the environment. Nuclear power plants create massive amount of energy, so it might not be perfect but it is a way better way of creating energy.
Solar Panels
Solar panels harness solar power to produce energy. They have a low profile and produce energy from a renewable source. Since they don't need to be on massive farms, they can be put in spare areas such as roofs. The hear amount of places there can be put, this can be a huge source of energy.
Wind Farms
Wind farms are just a bunch of wind mills. If these wind mills are placed properly, they can produce vast amount of energy. For example, if the farm is placed on top of a mountain, it can produce vast amount of energy. For example, Portugal has a lot of mountains, and it produced 23.7% of the countries energy in 2020.
Hydro Electricity
Hydro electricity can be used for massive renewable energy source. There control the amount of water going through the dam and the gravity makes the water rush down. The water spins turbines that produce electricity. These aren't the perfect solution to the energy crisis because only places with access to flowing water can harness this.
Sources
https://www.confused.com/gas-electricity/guides/make-your-home-more-energy-efficient
https://www.energy.gov/energysaver/led-lightinghttps://www.energy.gov/energysaver/led-lighting
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_in_Portugal
https://www.remix.com/blog/8-benefits-of-public-transportation
https://justenergy.com/blog/what-is-green-energy/
https://www.britannica.com/technology/biofuel
