Catherine Carter, Business Manager

Photo by Gabby King

We can be the generation that turns the tide on global warming. This was the message brought to students on Thursday, Dec. 3, as John Bernhardt with the Alliance for Climate Education (ACE) spoke to students about the effects and possible solutions for climate change.

The ACE organization travels around the country educating high school students about climate change. Science teacher Melissa Donham arranged for ACE to make their presentation to students earlier this month.

As most of the public is already aware, global warming is a real problem. It is caused by greenhouse gases, which trap heat in earth’s atmosphere. This outer layer of gas, which is made of primarily carbon dioxide, regulates the earth’s temperature like a thermostat. It keeps climates, ocean currents and the seasons in a perfect cycle to sustain our planet.

So obviously the gases themselves are not detrimental, but too many can cause too much heat to be trapped, raising the global temperature of the planet.

The question is: What can be done to lessen the greenhouse gases?

And the answer is: Plenty, Bernhardt says, and the time for action is now.

“Our generation is the generation to solve [climate change],” Bernhardt said.

Bernhardt explained that for the past 50 years humans as a whole have been “living large.” By this, he meant that we take up a lot of space. We take up space for growing our food, for growing our raw materials, for harvesting our fuels and for dumping our garbage.

Each person takes up 21 football fields to simply survive, Bernhardt said; understandably, this is making our planet extremely crowded.

And taking up all this space requires a lot of energy, which is provided in the form of fossil fuels (oil, coal, natural gas). To attain fossil fuels, which will deplete eventually, we often corrupt the landscape and use violence.

When we use these fuels, carbon dioxide (the greenhouse gas discussed previously) is released into the atmosphere. If the levels of carbon dioxide are high, then the temperatures are higher, and if the levels are low, the temperatures will be at their appropriate levels.

“Earth can only handle so much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere,” Bernhardt said.

If the carbon dioxide emissions stay at the same levels they are now — or increase — our planet could be in serious trouble. Polar ice caps could melt, raising ocean levels and possibly wiping out costal cities. Ocean currents could stop moving water, therefore creating huge climate changes like extreme droughts.

Some examples of these natural phenomena have already been seen. Severe storms and hurricanes, like Katrina, have increased in the last decade. Another example is the rampant wildfire problem in California. We could see these occurrences get more intense in the coming years if we do not make improvements in the treatment of our planet.

“We are in the middle of a planetary emergency; we didn’t want it, we didn’t cause it,” but we can start the movement to save it, Bernhardt said.

In all this dire news, there is some hope. It is not to late to make serious changes and motivate the whole world to care about our planet.

“It can be as simple as changing a regular light bulb to an LED,” he said.

And it is not just about being more environmental by yourself.  A very important part in making a difference is by spreading awareness and having a voice.

“By making these changes you guys are living examples of this movement,” Bernhardt said.

In the presentation, Bernhard explained that the nation’s youth are the perfect people to start the movement to encourage living green and heading toward a clean, sustainable future.

“Climate change will be the issue that defines your generation,” Bernhardt said.