Looking back on the past year, I have found a new perspective on the environment with regards to public awareness. I have been heartened to see that many of my classmates have a familiarity with many of the issues about which I have been blogging for the past few weeks, and I believe that I have reason to be optimistic about the chances that future generations will be even more aware of the environmental problems that we face as a species. That being said, our job is far from over. We still face a number of issues that need to be addressed in the future.
We are still burning fossil fuels at an alarming rate. Currently fossil fuels account for 82 percent of the world’s demand. The move toward cleaner renewable resources has been stifled by a lack of proper infrastructure, the high startup costs, and the inability to store large amounts of generated energy. Additionally, there are still many applications where alternatives to fossil fuels seem unlikely in the short run. Completely electric cars still face criticism that they require an hour or more to charge their batteries and only go a few thousand miles on a single charge. Possibly this criticism will be addressed in the future with technological development, but currently we rely on fossil fuels to keep moving.
Additionally, water is still an issue for many Americans, as California has actually just introduced water conservation measures to try and sort out their drought problem. On the other side of the US, flooding poses to be a great risk for the state of Florida, as global warming causes a national rise in sea level. Additionally, the fact that agents of the Florida state government are not allowed to speak about global warming is indicative of a problem in government that still needs to be addressed.
Finally, we are still experiencing problems associated with the biodiversity around the world. Globally, the rates of extinction are higher than they have been in recorded history, and this is a major problem that needs to be addressed.
Personally, I will continue to stay informed about these important issues and I hope all of my readers will as well. We have only one world, and unlike science fiction movies, we have no deus ex machina reset switch that will sustain human life after we have destroyed our home.