Change Your World Week Winter 2022 (Archived)

Climate change is a change in global or regional climate patterns, in particular, a change apparent from the mid to late 20th-century onwards and attributed largely to the increased levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide produced by the use of fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and gas. The industrial revolution was great for human advancements, but these methods are bad for our environment and climate. Climate change has occurs naturally over time in the past. However, the changes we are seeing now compared to past climate shifts have never reached the levels they are at now. Furthermore, organisms cannot adapt to the changes caused by climate change fast enough. Humans rely on their ecosystem for resources and environmental stability. As a result of the increasing global temperatures, humans are feeling the effects directly.

• In 2020, Earth's surface temperature was 0.98 degrees Celsius warmer than the 20th century average surface temperature. That is almost 34 degrees warmer!
• In 2020, China was responsible for over 30% of Earths CO2 emissions
• CO2 emissions started to rise more steeply in the 1950's, and over 25 billion metric tons of CO2 had been released by 2000, that is an average of 500 million metric tons a year. By 2020 the total rose to nearly 35 billion metric tons of CO2, which averages and increase of 500 million metric tons a year between the years of 2000 and 2020!
• The United States, Russia, Japan, India, and China are the world's top five polluters creating 60% of the global CO2 emission in 2020.
  • China is the country that promotes the most pollution. In 2020 China released approximately 10.7 billion metric tons of CO2 in 2020, that was more than The United States, Russia, Japan, and India combined.

"Climate change involves human societies in problems of loss: depletion, disappearance, and collapse" (The Sociology of Climate Change as a Sociology of Loss).

Climate change can affect societies around the world by causing losses such as dwindling resources, vanishing species and vegetation, and disintegration of entire ecosystems! "There is less biodiversity, fewer species cohabiting the planet with us.... Loss also encompasses the qualitatively distinct, the disappearance of ways of life, landscapes, places, and cultures, which can be memorialized but not recovered, recouped, or compensated." This means that not only is climate change happening around us without us even noticing, but when we do see it, it is too late to change anything due to how long and how advance the effects are. Take Michigan for example: Our elders always talk about how when they were kids, they had to trudge through 4 feet of snow up hill both way to school and back. While the uphill both ways part we know is not true, it is true that they may have had to go through 4 feet of snow. The historical average for Gladwin MI (about 51 min from Delta) was 44.4 inches. The record amount of snow for a single day is 32 inches (occurring on January 27, 1978)! That means that in a single day, Gladwin got 2.66 feet of snow. Climate change is affecting us every day and are cause losses through out societies and thus are effecting Sociology as a whole. 

• Hotter Temperatures
• More Severe Storms
• Increased Drought 
• A Warming, Rising Ocean
• Loss of Species
• Not Enough Food
• More Health Risks
• Poverty and Displacement

Record numbers of people are migrating, primarily in Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. According to a recent study, 15 percent of the population of those three counties - over five million people - are making concrete plans to migrate north. What's causing them to flee and why now? This Central American crisis illustrates the direct connection between climate change, migration, and health. And it's a story that is playing out across the globe.

The map on the left shows areas of Guatemala impacted by hurricanes in 2020. The darker the color, the more people impacted. the map on the right shows communities facing food crises and high levels of malnutrition. the darker the color, the more severe the crisis. Together, these maps show how layered crises are worsening health outcomes and increasing the potential for migration out of the region.

Suddenly communities that had been combating drought for nearly a decade were overrun by water. Rivers were overflowing and bridges were collapsing. Soil was so saturated that mudslides were engulfing entire communities. Crops that were only weeks away from being harvested were gone in an instant.

One of the main reasons people cite for migration is looking for economic opportunity. Without the ability to make an income at home, parents can't provide the most basic necessities for their families. Things like food and medicine.

As a humanitarian health organization focused on serving displaced populations, this is where Medical Teams meets the need. We working to ensure that people who have been affected by crisis have access to life-saving care. Sometimes this means setting up clinics to treat disease like malaria and pneumonia.

Simple things you can do: bring your own bottle or mug, replace inefficient bulbs, turn off some lights, save energy at home (weatherize home), throw away less food, choose eco-friendly products, speak up, save water

There are many ways to help and one way is to Donate. The Impact of Climate Change on Migration and Health has an option in their article to donate so much at the time that would medically help an individual. There are options to volunteer, attend an event, involve your company or workplace, involve your church, the real-life exhibit, and even careers. There are many different organizations that have similar options for donating.

https://www.medicalteams.org/blog/the-impact-of-climate-change-on-migration-and-health/?gclid=CjwKCAjwopWSBhB6EiwAjxmqDeHKM_mLMW1G6AtEW2lKtb2flVJEgwgU1yK6v4W3RUy8SfKMKOjdZhoCWJoQAvD_BwE

The Sociology of Climate Change as a Sociology of Loss

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/european-journal-of-sociology-archives-europeennes-de-sociologie/article/sociology-of-climate-change-as-a-sociology-of-loss/B16D58EC8D7F9AEE3227A35F4A9A5E20#

The Impact of Climate Change on Migration and Health

https://www.medicalteams.org/blog/the-impact-of-climate-change-on-migration-and-health/?gclid=CjwKCAjwopWSBhB6EiwAjxmqDeHKM_mLMW1G6AtEW2lKtb2flVJEgwgU1yK6v4W3RUy8SfKMKOjdZhoCWJoQAvD_BwE

Weather in Gladwin

https://www.wunderground.com/history/daily/us/mi/freeland/KMBS/date/1960-1-5

Global Historic CO2 Emissions

• Global historical CO2 emissions 1750-2020 | Statista 

What Is Climate Change?

https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/what-is-climate-change

The Causes of Climate Change

https://climate.nasa.gov/causes/

Is It Too Late To Stop Climate Change? Well, it's Complicated.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbR-5mHI6bo

Can YOU Fix Climate Change?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiw6_JakZFc