The Environmental Challege

              Global warming and greenhouse emission has been a large part of the public awareness movement since Gore’s movie “An Inconvenient truth.”  Though many people argue that the movie paints a skewed picture of the current condition of the carbon emissions situation, a majority of people no longer deny the that greenhouse gases are playing a major role in changing the ecological landscape of the planet.  From rockslides due to deforestation to the bleaching (death of the algae) of coral reefs due to the increased ocean temperature, many people do not realize that the coral reef is actually a $172 billion business. That means that the destruction of this important natural wonder would be a major blow to the Oceanic reason.

                Awareness moved to the forefront of the environmental movement.  Sack’s believes that the amount of CO_2 in the environment would be doubled by the end of the 21^st century.  However, how can people control something that is simply a consequence of their existence?  For instance, just by living people increase the CO_2 levels in the atmosphere.  Also, many people believe that at our current state complete reliance on renewable energy simply is not realistic.  The second article posted talks about a wind farm being created in Britain that would be able to provide enough electricity to handle the electrical demands for 20,000 homes.  Many people would argue that wind farms are just not sensible because even with the farms, on days with a lack of wind a power plant would be needed to run them.  However, that understanding fails to acknowledge that the purpose is to lessen the dependence on nonrenewable resources, so that they last longer and pollute less.