How Climate Change Has Affected New Berlin
I have mixed feelings regarding climate change. Honestly, my feelings on climate change fluctuate by the day. Somedays, I have no care about climate change at all. I forgot about this issue often, too often if I am being honest. Also, I have always felt like that is a grown-up problem, and me still being a college kid will not help the situation at all. I feel like I do not know enough about the full extent of climate change, and I know that either way, some group of people will not be happy. If we were to fix this issue of climate change immediately, we would have to put a stop to a lot of energy production, which would cause hundreds of thousands of people in that industry to be extremely upset.
However, there are other days where I feel very strongly against climate change. I wish that climate change would just stop. I like the world as it is right now, and I would not want it to change. I enjoy outdoor activities throughout all of the seasons. The thought of me not being able to ski during winter break just because snow has not fallen yet makes me upset. I also love just being in nature. The thought of all of the peaceful animals losing their homes because of the actions of humanity makes me feel ashamed.
Overall, climate change provides me with mixed feelings. I know the consequences of it, but I also do not think that mitigating it completely is the best option for everyone involved.
In my hometown of New Berlin, I have noticed some changes in the weather. The first one is that snow falls later on in the winter season. When I was a young kid, around kindergarten age, I vividly remember snow being on the ground in November. Oftentimes, for our families Thanksgiving get-together, the driveway and yard would be covered in snow, which made it perfect football conditions. Now, snow falls later in the season. It was actually my dad who first discovered this, as he told me one day a few years back when we were getting ready to shovel the driveway. He said that a few years ago he would be out here shoveling in late November. He then told me that the first time he shoveled this year was in the middle of December. That made me think of global warming, and how it is affecting my own state of Wisconsin. Diving into this issue further, I found that the main reason for the late snows is due to the increase of greenhouse gases. As we have all learned in this course, greenhouse gases re-emit heat into the atmosphere as infrared radiation. (1) If we have more of these greenhouse gases, then it only makes sense that we have more heat in out atmosphere. Greenhouse gases are emitted in gasoline, and since America (and the whole world) consumes a lot of gasoline, more and more greenhouse gases are emitted every single day.
https://www.sauguspubliclibrary.org/dec-17th-no-front-door-pickup-due-to-snow/snow-falling/
I have also noticed that there are more severe thunderstorms during the summer months. I noticed this myself, because my brother and my dad have this tradition of sorts where during a thunderstorm we open up our garage doors and just sit there, watching the the storm. I really enjoy these moments, and I have noticed last summer we shared a lot of them together. I then asked my brother if he noticed more storms as well, and he told me that he did. Yet again, the main reason for these frequent thunderstorms is the increase in greenhouse gases (2). They heat up the Earth's surface, causing the areas to get hot and humid (3). This combination causes thunderstorms.
My family has noticed these changes in the weather here, and I am sure that others notice as well. Skiers have noticed that the ski season is getting shorter by the year, and farmers know that the growing season is getting longer. So I do believe people are aware of this situation.
The most interesting thing I learned in this course was how the glaciers put sand in Central Wisconsin. Before this, I thought the only sand to be found in Wisconsin would be in beaches by bodies of water. I thought it was very interesting how the glaciers put sand in the middle of Wisconsin. Also, the driftless region is super cool too. I have been there only a few times, but now I know why it is so beautiful: the bluffs did not allow for the glaciers to move through them.
Sources:
(1) https://weatherspark.com/y/13402/Average-Weather-in-New-Berlin-Wisconsin-United-States-Year-Round
(2) https://www.bestplaces.net/climate/city/wisconsin/new_berlin
(3) https://www.bestplaces.net/climate/city/wisconsin/new_berlin
Hi Andy, it was nice reading your post. I also find myself to not care about climate change as much most of the time. I hear about it quite often, but it is never defined in simple terms that will be under stable by many and not just some people who are deeply into this topic. I love skiing and ice skating as well! When I was a kid, I used to spend all my winter break skiing with my parents. I've noticed changes that Winter has shorten in Wisconsin and we no longer get as many snowy days as we used before. The idea of not being able to ski and just enjoy winter is scary to me as well and I wish there was something we all could do to just stop the warming.
ReplyDeleteHi Andy!
ReplyDeleteIn my post I sort of wrote about the sometimes care, sometimes don't care, ideas. I feel like there was such a push to care a few years ago that was just completely overshadowed by all the events in 2020. I wish there was an easy way to get the world to understand that climate change is likely the biggest issue we could focus on considering it involves the lives of every single person on earth! I think people notice but they are able to shrug it off easily and return to their busy lives.