The Race For Clean Energy

In the past few decades, it’s become common knowledge that fossil fuels are unsustainable and horrible for the environment. Dirty energy stands alongside animal agriculture as one of the biggest causes of climate change.

Every day, 10,000 people die from air pollution that is caused by fossil fuels. If you walk around India or China on an average day, you’ll see everyone wearing face masks.

Image by: World Economic Forum

Millions of people worldwide are hospitalized every year due to pollution-related sicknesses and health defects. But things are looking up.

With the right amount of collaborative dedication and drive for a move towards full sustainable energy, we can do this.

This entry is inspired by the ideas and research presented in the environmental film "Before The Flood" and is supported by additional research. 

Picture the Problem

Environmental issues have become the biggest reason for mass demonstrations in China. China is the industrial hub of the world and has grown to be a leading trade partner with some of the most influential nations in the world.

China got to where they are today because of their fossil fuels; yet, that’s one of their leading political issues. China has reached the point at which the environment has surpassed their most prized assets—economic gain.

Image by: Sydney Morning Herald

But not everyone has this advantage of being able to prioritize, and therefore stand up for, what is needed.

India is one of the top nations who produce greenhouse gases and every citizen knows it. Indian citizens don’t have to recite the statistics, all they have to do is walk outside or travel into the city.

But coal is all they can afford. Imagine feeling the problem and breathing it in every day, while not being able to do a thing about it because the price would be to give up your basic needs.

Image by: DW

There is a moral obligation that lies in the pollution from fossil fuels. Those who can, need to do something to make the world safer for everyone.

So what are we doing?

The Goals

The 2016 Paris Agreement stated an international goal to keep the global temperature rise to below two degrees above pre-industrial levels.

This is the first modern, legally binding climate agreement that truly addresses the core issue of fossil fuels and greenhouse gas emissions.

Additionally, Stanford University and University of California Berkley worked together to formulate a goal of using 100% renewable energy by 2050 in 50 U.S. states and 139 countries.

Stanford professor Mark Jacobson has made it clear that there would be significant benefits if this goal were to be successful. A 100% move to renewable energy by 2050 would eliminate 4.6 million air pollution-caused deaths per year worldwide, save $22.8 trillion globally in healthcare costs, create a gain of 16.8 million long-term jobs worldwide, and create energy-independent economies. We could save $26.9 trillion per year in projected climate change mitigation and adaptation measures.

All of this could come from further investments into wind and solar energy technologies.

What We’re Doing

From innovative architecture and electric cars to giant energy factories, we have a chance.

Who would have thought that architecture could do anything for climate change? It turns out that, in America alone, the buildings use up 42 percent of the nation’s primary energy and use up $400 billion per year in energy costs.

It turns out that simple thoughtful design can naturally reduce energy costs by 80 to 90 percent and save almost $2 trillion in energy costs.

Image by: Asia Green Buildings

Natural Resource Defense Council senior policy adviser Deron Lovaas has reported that, in the way of cleaner transportation, the U.S. Department of Transportation has worked on a plan that requires the 400 state and municipal transportation planners across the country to measure and reduce carbon pollution in their zones.

A big way people are trying to reduce carbon pollution is by buying electric or hybrid vehicles. In fact, the amount of electric vehicles on the road grew about 54 percent to 3.1 million in 2017.

Image by: Current Ev

The International Energy Agency predicts we will have 125 million electric vehicles by 2030.  There are still some issues with electric vehicles, like many houses not having sufficient power to properly charge electric vehicles, but new energy-supporting technologies and advancements are becoming more accessible to people as every year passes.

Elon Musk has created the idea of massive factories that produce renewable energy parts and technologies. He calls them “gigafactories” and there are three in existence as of 2019.

According to Musk himself, we would only need 100 gigafactories to power the entire world. The problems in India and China and Bangladesh and all other countries suffering from extreme pollution could be given options.

Image by: Wikipedia

If officials worked together and dedicated resources to developing the remaining 97 gigafactories needed, millions of people would be given access to the renewable energy parts and technologies we need to reach the 100% clean energy by 2050 goal.

We need a miracle to pull off the necessary emission cuts for climate change remediation. The good news is we have what we need to achieve that miracle.

As long as the climate is a priority, governments and officials work together, and communities advocate for these necessary changes, we have good odds at adapting to climate change. 

Why You Need to Worry About the Global Water Crisis

It’s becoming clear that we have every water problem you can think of. Groundwater, seawater, drinking water—you name it, we’ve got a problem with it.

Over-pumping groundwater for agriculture has caused California’s ground to begin collapsing and some of the world's largest groundwater aquifers to deplete. Globally, one-in-nine people lack access to safe water and sea levels are expected to rise drastically.

Entire countries are already going underwater and water feuds are already among us. The population is only expected to increase, and so is global water insecurity.

It’s undeniable that we’re facing a water crisis. It's certain that we will all feel the effects of it at some point, and if not us, our children.

So what are we going to do about it?

Rising Sea Levels

Global sea levels are expected to rise 10 to 30 inches by 2100. This is drastic, considering the oceans have only risen eight inches since 1880, but it’s not surprising since three of those inches have been within the last 25 years.

This leads to natural security threats, drinking water issues, and food insecurity.

Countries ranging from the Netherlands and Japan to Kiribati and Vietnam have already experienced severe flooding and are expected to completely go underwater once the water level rises higher. More developed countries like the Netherlands are able to spend large sums on flood control, but less developed countries have no other option but to encourage their citizens to migrate.

If the global sea temperature increases just four degrees, 34 million Japanese citizens will be left homeless. 

The Mekong River Delta in Vietnam is home to thousands of people and is the source of half of the country’s food supply; yet, it is expected to be completely inundated by just a few more inches of sea level rise. At this rate, mass migration is likely.

Image by: Borgen Magazine

                                           

The governments of Kiribati and Palau are already urging their citizens to relocate because they don’t have the financial resources needed to implement proper flood control. We can only expect massive numbers of refugees to cram in with less-affected nations if the sea levels continue to rise like they have been.

At this point, national security is at risk and political turmoil is to be expected. The already 150 million homeless people and 1.6 billion people who have inadequate shelter in the world are expected to rise in numbers if we don’t do something soon.

Agricultural fields and wells will be flooded with saltwater, leaving entire populations with massive food and water shortages. Not only will our lands be crowded, but they will also be suffering. 

Drinking Water Crisis

Just within our current population, one-in-nine people lack access to safe drinking water. What about when our population reaches the 9 billion mark that is projected by 2050?

As seawater begins flooding more nations, wells and other water sources will be contaminated and unsafe to drink.

South Africa’s struggles have hit the news hard, but they aren’t even ranked in the top 36 countries with the greatest water insecurities by the World Resources Institute. Countries like Bahrain, Jamaica, and Singapore are only a few countries that have alarming cases of dehydration and deaths from unsanitary water.

Image by: Lifewater

Most of the countries who have notoriously struggled with water insecurities have been less developed, but nobody will be safe when sea levels reach their projected heights. U.S. coasts, the United Kingdom, Japan, Ireland and many other more developed countries are expected to suffer tremendously in only a few generations of time.

Groundwater Depletion

Here, we reach the topic of massive food insecurity, and geographic degradation.

Groundwater is used for a large portion of agricultural irrigation systems. According to The Washington Post, the Ogallala Aquifer located in the Great Plains of the U.S. is used to produce one-fifth of the U.S.’s supply of wheat, corn, cattle and cotton.

The Ogallala Aquifer, being one of the largest in the world, isn’t expected to last another ten years with the rate at which we’ve been extracting water from it.

The easiest, short-term solution would be to dig deeper aquifers, but this is highly expensive, unsustainable, and would raise costs of simple things like a loaf of bread by entire dollar amounts.

Image by: World Resources Institute

California’s land is sinking from the amount of groundwater being extracted from the state’s soil. The lack of groundwater has weakened the soil so much that some areas have sunken over 13 inches in just eight months.

There have been fights in Peru between farmers because of water pipes that are taking groundwater from one farm and giving it to another. We can expect this kind of thing to become normal as groundwater depletes further.

More than half of the planet’s largest 37 aquifers have depleted since 2003.

Solutions

1.       Vote for climate-focused government leaders

The best thing you can do as a citizen with power is elect decision-makers who will make decisions that focus on the global water crisis. You can do all you want, but if your leadership doesn’t have the goal in mind, you can only get so far.

2.       Support better desalination technologies

One of the most effective ways to deal with rising sea levels would be to take out the salt so that it’s drinkable, safe, and better for the land. However, our current desalination technologies require a ton of energy, and are mostly powered by fossil fuels that emit greenhouse gases and warm the plant even more.

 Innovations to make desalination plants run off of renewable energy like solar are in the works, but they still need development. Another big issue is figuring out how to draw water from the ocean without sucking in marine life.

You can help by supporting and donating to organizations who do this type of research, or by contacting your government to support these initiatives.

3.       Climate education

The most effective water advocate is an educated one. We need to make this crisis a huge topic of conversation, which means educating people. Advocating for environmental awareness in public schools or even hosting community meetings in which members of the community can get together and learn about the water crisis could go a long way.

At the very least, I urge you to just talk about it.

4.       Government plans/alliances

A hopeful option for less developed countries to be able to combat the water crisis involves government and community alliances. A prime example is the Niger Basin Climate Resilience Plan that is an alliance plan between countries near the Niger River Basin.

If we build transnational plans and alliances now, we can support future refugees and try to prevent citizens of developing countries from becoming refugees in the first place.

5.       More sustainable agriculture

As seen from the over-pumping of groundwater, we need another method of agriculture that doesn’t draw from groundwater. A method of agriculture that doesn’t get harmed by seawater flooding would be optimal too.

The solution, then, would be indoor vertical farms. Detailed in my sustainable agriculture post, vertical hydroponic farms are the way to go for our water crisis adaptation initiatives.

We use 70 percent of our water for agriculture. According to Water Nexus Conference co-director Felix Dodds, we will need an extra 30 to 40 percent of food compared to today by 2030. We need a change.

Animal Agriculture: The Ultimate Climate Killer

Animal agriculture needs to be exposed as climate change’s partner in crime. 

There is no single cause of anthropogenic climate change, but many sources have suggested that animal agriculture is a major culprit. If you want to learn about how animal agriculture contributes to climate change, get informed on how animal agriculture destroys the environment, and find out how you can feel like you’re making a difference for the environment every day, you’ve come to the right place. 

Animal agriculture is the practice of breeding animals for the production of animal products. Animal products include anything that is made from animals, such as meat, eggs, dairy and skins. 

According to the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, Livestock contributes to 40 percent of agricultural output in developed nations and 20 percent in developing ones. Nearly half of the land in the United States alone is used for animal agriculture. 

There is no doubt that the global human population relies heavily on animal products for our livelihoods every day. But at what cost?  

The statistics used in this entry are inspired by the documentary Cowspiracy and are supported by organizations such as the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and others. I have sorted through some of the questionably exaggerated claims from the environmental film, and have chosen to write about a few of the documentary’s well-supported highlights. 

Image by: Wilder Utopia

Animal Agriculture’s Role in Climate Change

Carbon dioxide has taken the bulk of the blame for climate change, but methane causes just as much harm to the climate, if not more. 

Livestock is responsible for 65 percent of all human-related emissions of nitrous oxide – a greenhouse gas with 296 times the global warming potential of carbon dioxide, and which stays in the atmosphere for 150 years. Supported by the FAO and the U.S. Energy Information Administration, this Cowspiracy statistic poses an alarming issue, considering the world’s projected population growth.

Image By: What's Your Impact

Agriculture produces 4.5 million tonnes of nitrous oxide per year, much of which is due to animal manure. At this rate, 5.8 million tonnes of nitrous oxide will be produced every year by 2050, when the world is expected to reach 9 billion people. 

These heightened emissions rates will amplify the effects of global warming and continue to impact the Earth well past the year 2200. 

The effects of natural gas and carbon dioxide on climate degradation are heavily focused on by environmental groups such as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Green Peace, and the Sierra Club, but U.S. methane emissions from livestock and natural gas are nearly equal. 

The best known cause for methane emissions is cow flatulence and burps. According to the FAO, there are 1.5 billion cattle being used for animal agriculture in the world today. 

A single cow releases 120 kilograms of methane per year. Cows, only a fraction of animals used for animal agriculture, emit 180 billion kilograms of methane per year. 

This number is only expected to increase. 

Image by: TRT World

How Animal Agriculture Harms the Environment

Animal agriculture is the leading cause of species extinction, ocean dead zones, water pollution, and habitat destruction.  

About a third of the planet is desertified, with livestock as the leading driver, the leading causes of rainforest destruction are livestock and feedcrops, and we could see fishless oceans by 2048. This is a lot to unpack. 

A desertified planet means that the entire global agricultural industry is going to suffer with their annual yields—an ironic impact of an agricultural practice. 

Farming makes up 50 to 90 percent of jobs in developing countries. The impact of the animal agricultural industry on the economies of developing countries is catastrophic.

                                                       

                                                        Image by: IPCC

Everyone was frenzied when the Amazon rainforest was burning, and for good reason. The world’s rainforests hold over half of all life on Earth. 

We need to be worried about the mass destruction that is happening to our rainforests because of the animal products we are consuming. Thousands of species live within our rainforests, and acres of their homes are being destroyed every day because we need more grazing fields for cattle that we are just going to kill for production. 

Image by: IUCN

Perhaps the most alarming statistic is that we could see the end of our favorite fillets in 28 years. This fact, supported by National Geographic, brought the global fish crisis to my attention for the first time. 

A single serving of salmon has 100 grams of omega-3—one of the only foods with such a high amount of this essential nutrient. Not to mention, a huge portion of coastal regions depend on their fish markets for income.

The impact of animal agriculture on the global fish market and population is unsettling. 

Image by: SeaChoice

What You Can Do

The simplest answer to solving these issues is to cut your consumption of animal products. If you want to dissolve the industry, you need to cut off their profit.

Whether you choose to cut them from your life entirely is up to you, but the less animal products you consume, the better.

A person who follows a vegan diet produces the equivalent of 50 percent less carbon dioxide, uses 1/11th oil, 1/13th water, and 1/18th land compared to a meat-lover for their food. Each day, a person who eats a vegan diet saves 1,100 gallons of water, 45 pounds of grain, 30 square feet of forested land, 20 pounds of CO2 equivalent, and one animal’s life.

This isn’t to tell you to go completely vegan, but it does go to show that any cuts to animal products in your daily life would go a long way.

The biggest step would be to cut out beef and dairy. Only buying chicken and pork products is definitely a sizable decrease, but it allows you to maintain meat consumption with a lower footprint.

Another method would be vegetarianism. With this lifestyle, you would still be consuming dairy products, but all of your meat consumption, including beef and fish, would be completely cut. 

Whether you decide to partake in meatless Mondays or just decide to go all in and try a whole foods, plant-based vegan lifestyle, your diet decisions matter. 

If you’re interested in learning more, I recommend you watch Cowspiracy or What the Health on Netflix. Some great resources for plant-based diet planning can be found by looking at Dr. Michael Greger’s “Daily Dozen” and by visiting the "Forks Over Knives" website. 

Indoor Agriculture: The Future of Our Food

Indoor agriculture is the savior to predicted food insecurity.

The Problem

Climate change has many scientists concerned about what the future of our food is going to look like.

Rising global temperatures in some places disrupt natural systems, leading to more severe droughts, flooding, wildfires, and superstorms. The projected heating and cooling of regions will inevitably upset growing conditions for many staple crops.

In fact, climate change is expected to alter the very base of traditional farming—soil composition. Until the increasing levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere catalyze microbial production in soil enough to balance out these composition changes, we could be facing uncertain periods of mass infertility.

A 2017 study projects rising temperatures and increasing extreme weather events could reduce global production of corn, wheat, rice, and soy by 9 percent in the 2030s and up to 23 percent in the 2050s. A drop in the production of these staple crops could skyrocket the prices of a basic loaf of bread, bag of rice, or can of corn.

We’re facing a future of mass food insecurity because of the changing outdoor climate, so the logical solution is to move crop production indoors. Indoor vertical farms and hydroponics have been making huge waves in the agricultural industry within the past decade.

  

                                             Image by: Farmers Guardian

Indoor Farming Is Making Waves

Abandoned inner-city buildings are being renovated into massive buildings with stacked shelves of hydroponic crops spanning the interior. Indoor farms are producing the same yields that acres of traditional land would.

Green Spirit Farms and AeroFarms based in the U.S., are using up to 95 percent less water and 50 percent less fertilizer than traditional soil farming. Badia Farms in the Middle East is successfully combatting rampant food insecurity in the region, and is using 90 percent less water than conventional farming to do it.

Image by: Arab News

The Green Power House detailed in the film "The Need to GROW" is a self-sustaining greenhouse that represents an indoor, localized farm that produces great yields in conservative space. Ultra-localized approaches to agriculture like this and abandoned building farms could reduce transportation cost, while reducing the use of water and pesticides and increasing the availability of fresh crops to local city populations.

                  

                Image by: Algae Aqua                                                      Image by: Inhabitat

By 2030, 70 percent of the world’s population is expected to live in urban areas.

City populations have always been especially distant from their food source. The implementation of local indoor vertical farms could reduce food prices and increase the quality of produce in city markets.

The Potential Fallbacks

What about the cost of these indoor systems? The questionable organic nature of hydroponics? What about growing traditional outdoor crops like wheat and corn?

It’s true that the upfront costs for indoor systems can be substantial, but many farms, such as Green Sense Farms in Indiana, create ties with investors like Whole Foods. The demand for organic foods is growing dramatically, so investor support and funding for indoor initiatives is likely to increase as well.

                                     

Some hydroponic places do use conventional methods, rather than organic ones. However, these nutrients are just pure base elements, such as nitrogen and phosphorus, in different forms. Both forms are safe and healthful.

Crops like corn and wheat continue to flourish best in the current outdoor environment, but that environment is expected to change. Advancements in hydroponic corn and wheat have been fueled by experimentation and have shown promising success.

                                                             

                                                                                                    Image by: Aquaponics World

Try growing something hydroponically and see the encouraging results for yourself.