I noticed Six Degrees’ chapters are essentially arranged in little horror stories that occur when the global temperature rises one degree. Chapter two touches on the following: China’s Thirsty Cities, Acidic Oceans, The Mercury Rises in Europe, Mediterranean Sunburn, The Coral and the Ice Cap, Last Stand of the Polar Bear, Indian Summer, Peru’s Melting Point, Sun and Snow in California, Feeding the Eight Billion, and Silent Summer.
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| Save the plankton! |
The case study I found most interesting was the Acidic Oceans section. I had never put much thought into how global warming would effect the life in our oceans, let alone what the animals in the oceans do for us. Lynas cites a biology professor from Denmark who stated “These marine creatures do humanity a great service by absorbing half the carbon dioxide we create. If we wipe them out, that process will stop. We are altering the entire chemistry of the oceans without any idea of the consequences” (p. 78). Phytoplankton is suffering because of climate change, and as a vital part of the ocean ecosystem, this is distressing. If we ruin our oceans, they won’t be there to help us in the future.
I do agree with Shannon and Nick in the sense that Lynas does focus on case studies, but in doing so never really seems to hold humans accountable for their contributions to the Earth’s decaying. I felt less guilty for all of the issues pointed out because they either seemed to be natural biological processes or too far away to relate to. Other than that critique, I found the chapter intriguing.
To close, I’ll highlight the five concepts I found most interesting from this chapter:
- Large continents like Asia are usually one degree higher than the global average (p. 75), so technically when we suffer from the effects of the global temperature raising two degrees, places like Asia will have it worse than most.
- We need to protect phytoplankton! They serve many functions in the ocean’s ecosystem, but the acid in the oceans AND the raise in heat are both killing them. (p.78)
- By 2040, summers like the heatwave in Paris that caused thousands of deaths will be more common. (p.61)
- “California will no longer be the Golden State once global warming begins to bite.” (p. 110)
- “We are living through what biologists have termed the sixth mass extinction of life on Earth...” (p.114)
Woah, this is really scary stuff. Ocean acidification is a huge problem, but I never realized how much it affected. Really excited to discuss this further in class.
ReplyDeleteI feel Lynas never had the intention to come up with a solution to these problems. As a writer he did his job of spreading awareness. Perhaps in hopes of the reader to be interested/concerned about what he presented. Forcing the reader to do their own research and possibly sharing it with people that they know.
ReplyDeleteAs for the second chapter, the acidic oceans I too had never really put much thought into how it would effect oceanic life. It's also sad to realize that the effects on the oceanic life is going to exponentially increase the rate of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
I think that you make a good point - people have to be aware of a problem if they are going to do anything about it!
DeleteThe idea of splitting each chapter up into sections where he tells about different topics is interesting. However, I found it even more interesting that both you and Nathan talked mostly about the ocean acidity issues.
ReplyDeleteI really like how you formatted this, very easy to read and interesting information. I wish these things were not true and I was wondering if anywhere in the book did it mention Animal Agriculture?
ReplyDeleteDefinitely scary stuff here that we've also seen in Dr. Karowe's presentation this week. I like that you included the mini topic titles in your blog post so that we would have an idea of what was covered :) "Last Stand of the Polar Bear" is so sad!
ReplyDeleteI really like your format on this it was very easy to read! The heat waves and lack of carbon sequestering by the oceans is scary. That is counter intuitive though, if the book presents is as though we have no hand in this, when we are speeding up so many of these natural processes.
ReplyDeleteWhen I went to the Great Lakes Basin Conference for Geographers, there was a really interesting presentation about the dangers of heat and rising temperatures. People get more violent and angry when it's excessively hot out (which sounds weird, but it's true!), older people are at risk for increased heat stroke, and heat, like Dr. Karowe talked about on Monday, can deplete resources! Rivers and tributaries dry up, the soils will become dry and unable to sustain life, and the crops that are already growing will die. Heat is a really scary thing, and people should shift away from the mindset that it'll be "enjoyable" because everyone likes warmer weather.
ReplyDeleteI am glad that you addressed Lynas's approach. It is interesting to see how much that and the information presented really changes how you the reader feels while reading.
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