What is Climate Change ? What is Global Warming ?

What is Climate Change ? What is Global Warming ? Well to sum it up it is a crisis, one that will not go away for a very long time, if  at all. Climate Change is basically an environmental issue that has grown to global proportions. Climate Change is the Global Warming affect on the planet and its reactions. The big question is how are these two issues related and it is a question many people are trying to answer. So much has been affected because of these two issues everything from the everyday person to the economy and even government.  Before Climate Change became an issue or Global Warming became a concern a lot of governments were just going about their regular lives as if everything was ok. It was not until Hurricane Katrina and the Tsunami in Japan that we began to look at the real issue.

     Plenty of organizations have been arguing that this has to come about due to our national dirty practices. Dirty practices such as the burning of coal and fossil fuels. The brunt of these two issues have been more or less localized. A lot of people attribute Climate Change and Global Warming as issues that have overgrown their time. When I say local issues I speak of the polluted rivers, overflowing trash into our oceans, land fills and even worse the unknown variable which is mass production of food and abuse of child labor. All of the local issues all have to do with extreme socioeconomic disparities that have over stood its time. Climate Change and Global Warming are two issues that can not be joked about. I remember my old supervisor telling me that if we did not do something on the local level that we would be screwed. To be exact he said that “our summers are going to be rare but powerful storms.” I believed him and over the last two summers we have experienced some unlikely storms and global events. Everything from Tornados in Brooklyn  and Queens to catastrophic Earthquakes in Haiti and even one here in New York City.

     The question is no longer what we have to do but rather what are we going and are  doing today to change the impact we are having on our planet ? Most of the answers have been small solutions that have huge impacts. China and Japan cutting down on fossil fuel use and building state of the art sports venues. We in New York City instituted a 30 year plan called PlaNYC 2030. For those who do not know PlaNYC it is a plan by 2030 that is made up of huge and bold agendas by the city of New York.

     Climate Change and Global Warming was the topic last weekend Saturday, September 22nd, 2012 at the Brooklyn Heights, Brooklyn Public Library. An event called Eco-poetry: Poetry of Ecological Study. At this event lots of poets came and performed poems that had something to do or related with Climate Change and Global Warming. The poets that were on stage had elements of shock factor and elements of truth and originality. The poets that performed all had some connection to the Global Warming and Climate Change movement or what us organizers on the local level call Environmental Justice

     I think that it is great that people are beginning to address real issues in real ways. One of the principles of Environmental Justice speaks about relevancy and how we must educate the masses. That principal is the sixth or twelve principles that were developed as standards of doing environmental work. The best ways to solve Climate Change and Global Warming issues are to educate the public and the people who are destroying our planet. Another way the government can stop Climate Change and Global Warming is to sanction and tax the heck out of these bad companies that are polluting our environment. People in the public could also boycott companies like BP aka British Petroleum, the same people responsible for the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and other places in the region.

     Education was the idea behind the poets who performed on Saturday. Poets like Daniela Gioseff. Gioseff spoke and performed poems that had to do with the melting Glaciers. She also mentioned labor law violations that companies like Nokia and Samsung who use children to mess with dirty, toxic materials in the Congo to make cell phone batteries in the fossil barrons. Alfred Corn, performed poetry that had to do with the extinction of birds and how it continues to hurt our planet. The same sentiment was shown when George Guida spoke about disappearing bees that help our plants thrive through the harsh conditions we continue to endor. The issue of mass food production arose when poet Eliot Katz spoke about the Occupy Wall Street movement and Romneys 45% idea. Katz went on to talk about how mass food production was making us sick and how it all has to do with money. He stated “sleep tight don't let the bacteria bite” to close out his poem, showing the effectiveness and impact climate change is having on us all. Is the world angry and is the party over ? asked poet Nancy Mercado, which is a great question if you think about everything that we are affected by Nuclear Power Plants from Indian Point to Georgia and as far as Massachusetts and the loss of beans and food crops also animal life. If we do not change our practices we will be screwed as soon as 2030.

      Bill McKibben founder of 350.org and world renoun Climatologist united with Al Gor’s organization to fight against climate crisis, gave an interview to PBS “The Reckoning: The New Math of Climate Catastrophe” and in this interview he sheads some light on the issues of climate change and Global Warming. He says “If the pictures of those towering wildfires in Colorado or the size of your AC bill this summer does not convince you here are some hard numbers about Climate Change.” The numbers were large and indeed are historic, in June we broke or tied 3,215 high temperature records across the united states. North Hampshire had the warmest May on record. Meteorologists reported that this spring was “Largest temperature departure from average of any season on record.” The question remains could it get anymore serious ? Well...... it can so much so that politicians can not even get their heads straight, three conferences in the last twelve years and still no solid commitment just compromises.

     In closing it was a great experience to see such a concern for a real issue. You knew once you stepped into the room that the event was going to be a real serious hot topic even because the atmosphere was filled with environmental thinkers. There were banners for two different organizations one being 350.org and the other for poetsusa.org. The poets who performed were fairly elderly to middle aged males and females who could be considered activists in our modern society, they also got really serious when they performed. Just like our friend Bill Mckibben I to stress the importance of monitoring what activities we do and what our planet is doing event if 2 degrees celsius is not cool enough for you !

Picture of a flooded area under the Bronx River Parkway due to the heavy rains and back up of the Bronx River (Burke Bridge)