Long Rant & Request for Facts/Evidence Re: Global Warming

[veggieprincess]

Okay, so let me start off this discussion by saying that I am really NOT interested in this turning into a debate in whether or not Global Warming is real and in fact happening or it isn't. I am looking for concrete evidence/arguments/studies showing that it is. I realize SOME people don't believe in it, and I'd like this to not turn into that kind of thread. I really need some arguments supporting it and here is why....

 

So I'll start off by saying that I became a Vegan because I came across some studies that showed that the Methane and the Factory Farms were doing more damage than the C02 gasses that we are focusing on reducing, and how if everyone became Vegetarian we could actually reverse some of the manmade causes of climate change. Also that Methane is a much stronger gas than C02 (I think it's 17%) and somewhere between 20 and 40% of all Methane is caused by the Factory Farms... mostly from the livestock we raise as food. These studies were compelling enough for me to turn Vegan the very next day and I've never looked back.

 

Okay... so my daughter just started the 4th grade. She came home telling me that her teacher said that Global Warming is make believe and it isn't really happening. That a bunch of guys in a room were bored one day and made it up....

 

He went on to say that anyone who believed it was real is full of baloney.

 

Okay, so as you can imagine I had a major... MAJOR problem with the teacher telling a class of over 30 4th graders that Global Warming was a big scam. I mean, aren't we an extremely apathetic socieity anyways? Now he has convinced an entire room... our FUTURE GENERATION.... that he is right and that Global Warming doesen't exist and that we are absolutely powerless to do anything about it.

 

So I scheduled a conference with the teacher and told him that if he was going to take such a stand on the issue and go as far as to say... "Anyone who believes Global Warming exists is full of baloney"... then he should give me the floor to present an opposite viewpoint than his.

 

He reluctantly agreed that he should give me the floor and now I've been given the opportunity to present the class with the opposing viewpoint. (Man, it sucks to be passionate about your beliefs sometimes... kidding... sort-of )

 

So I would like some links/suggestions, etc... and to here from some people who can help me say some intelligent things to the class. Here is what I would say so far... (and I'm a bit rusty cuz I don't read up on this stuff everyday, so that's why I need help from people who are more well versed than me in the subject.

 

I would tell the class that I believe there IS some naturally occuring cyclical things going on in nature that shows we may be in a natural warming trend, etc.

 

HOWEVER... I also believe that we are contributing to the warming of the planet. (Okay this is where I need facts to back it up). I did read an article a few months ago that we took tests under the ice and the C02 and dangerous gasses that are trapped under the ice are off the charts from our waste.

 

I also want to present that it's naive to think that we can live in a world of Gluttony and Greed (of course I'll put that in kid-friendly 9 year old words...) and expect that we are doing nothing to contribute to what is happening around us regarding the change in temperature and the depletion of the ozone layer. I want to present the kids with the fact that recycling, reusing and reducing what we buy, eat, etc CAN help reduce some of the manmade causes of Global Warming. I am obviously going to gently present that factory farms are harming the environment more than the C02 and that by eating LESS MEAT (I don't want to get the teacher in trouble by telling the whole class to become Vegan... baby steps) we are helping to drive down the Supply/Demand for meat which could cause less meat to be produced and eventually less damage to be done to the Environment.

 

Anyone have anything to add? Articles? Ways of phrasing things? I can't get too sciencey with a room of 4th graders... but I do want them to feel that they CAN make a difference... that they CAN help undo some of the damage. I have a small window of opportunity to plant a seed in 1 or 2 childrens minds that what they do and how they live DOES matter.

 

Again, arguments supporting this discussion only, please...Thanks.

[beforewisdom]

http://beforewisdom.com/blog/?p=287

[Im Your Man]

wow that's great VeggiePrincess. I'm glad it is you who will be in front of the class and not me, because I'm so shy I would waste a great opportunity like this to explain some common sense to a group of people. That's awesome because they will hopefull understand, and will talk about this to their parents, friends, etc...

 

I don't have any study with the source right now, but I will search. Right now, I can only tell you stuff that I remember having read in studies, articles, etc... But I think they're powerful arguments. But why do you say that you only need proofs of global warming linked to humans? I tought he doesn't beleive in global warming at all, not even from nature. Anyway, just bring a graphic showing the the temperatures in the last century, he'll see that it's going up and up, especially in the last 2 decades.

 

That's quite incredible that an adult actually believe that actions don't cause effects.

 

I'm glad you understand that global warming is not all natural or all human, some think it's just one or the other or none. It started as a natural cycle a bit before our industrial era, then with our insane activity (transports, meat production, etc) we're making it worse: it goes faster (so species don't have time to adapt and they extinct) and more extreme: colder, hotter, more storms and more devastating, the ice is melting in the 2 poles, the flow of the oceans is paralyzed and reversed, animals don't know anymore when to migrate, etc...it's endless, it has consequences even in every little details of life.

 

Ok, sorry, I know you wanted proofs of human activities... First, before telling about facts, stats, studies, invite them to use their common sense; we're nearly 7 billions of people, producing wastes even in our homes, we're also polluting by producing lots of energy with nuclear power, etc... and our cars, planes, boats produce waste, there's often ecological disasters such as oil spills in the ocean. We're cutting so many trees that the planet can't breathe anymore and will soon die of an heart attack, we exploit the soil until it become useless, we pollute the air we're breathing and the water we're drinking...

How could all this have no impacts on the natural order of things? People like to live in an illusion we're they don't have to worry about anything outside of their life. Perhaps they should think about the future of their children.

 

I found some facts on my computer, will look for more later. It's easy to find facts that tell about pollution, but it's harder to find a study showing what exactly these things directly do on global warming. We need to understand and explain what Co2 does to ozone layer and atmosphere, on plants and everything. What methane does. The more pollution we create, the more heat stays on Earth because it can't go out through this cloud of pollution. At the same time, the pollution blocks some heat from the sun, and it cools the planet... So it's more complex than it seems. But one thing is sure, pollution makes everything fucked up.

[Im Your Man]

FACTS

 

According to a study, the annual cost of environmental damage caused by industrial farming in the U.S. is $34.7 billion

 

A study of over 8,200 university field trials showed that farmers growing GMO soybeans use 2-5 times more weed killer than farmers growing natural varieties

 

The following facts are drawn from Diet for a New America by John Robbins:

 

(to grow all these wasted grains, we produce Co2 with the trucks, etc, we spray chemicals...)

Percentage of corn grown in United States eaten by human beings: 20

Percentage of corn grown in United States eaten by livestock: 80

Percentage of soy grown in United States eaten by livestock: 90

Percentage of oats grown in United States eaten by livestock: 95

Percentage of protein wasted by cycling grain through livestock: 90

 

(less trees, more Co2 )

Number of acres of U.S. forest which have been cleared to create cropland to produce a meat- centered diet: 260,000,000

How often an acre of U.S. trees disappears: Every 8 seconds

Amount of trees spared per year by each individual who switches to a pure vegetarian diet: 1 acre

Estimated area of rainforest destroyed annually: 125,000 square miles

The driving force behind the destruction of the tropical rainforests: American meat habit

 

================

 

(knowing that Methane is 21 times more powerful than Co2):

(or is it more ??)

 

Facts about shit from cattle, quantity produced, etc

 

Facts from the movie the 11th Hour

 

Article on Treehugger about meat eating effect on global warming

 

Animal farms use 70% of all water we use. Also, all manures pollutes our water.

In their Greenhome project, the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) suggest that removing just one 150-gram serve of beef a week would culminate in a saving of 10,000 litres of water and 300 kilograms of greenhouse gases. (That’s 5oz, 2,642 gallons and 660 lb for our non-metric brethren.) Possibly those figures are so high because Aussies chow down on an average 110kg (243 lbs) of meat yearly.

[Im Your Man]

After they agree that we're in part responsible for global warming, some will probably say : "I can't do nothing, one person doesn't make a change" ...

 

Each person produce 232 kg of greenhouse gazes per week (I think this number does not include methane from meat production, probably to protect the meat industry). If each person reduce his emissions by only 24kg per week, that makes more than 1 ton per year. So a country of 250 million of citizens, that makes 250 million tons of less greenhouse gazes.

 

By reducing 10% of meat consumption, you can easily reduce more.

 

Each person eat about 100 animals per year. A vegetarian: 0.

1 million of people that stop eating meat: 100 million animals saved per year.

Or you can say: eat 50% less meat, it still makes a huge difference.

 

"Be the change you wish to see in the world."

[veggieprincess]

thanks so much I"m Your Man and BW....

 

really good comments. I've read all that you said I'm Your Man and will definitely be taking pieces from what you wrote.

 

BW, I'm going to read the "How to Talk To a global warming skeptic" in detail... that is awesome!! Your blogs are great!!!

 

thanks for the support everyone.... We have to show the kids that they can and should stand up and try to make a difference....

[Im Your Man]

Cool , I'm happy it helped you. You only need to explain how Co2 and methane molecules act on the atmosphere and the planet, then you can present all the mountain of examples showing how much we produce Co2 and methane... Tell us how it went with the kids and if the teacher changed his mind. When will it be ?

[RawVgn]

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)is the UN consortium that analyzes global warming; it includes all the worlds leading scientists working in the climate change area. They publish many, many papers (free online)discussing all aspects of climate change.

 

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization(FAO) published a 430 page report recently analyzing the environmental impacts of livestock agriculture: "Livestock's Long Shadow" also available as a free online download. One of its key conclusions: livestock agriculture is the second or third most environmentally destructive industry in the world! By simply changing to a plant based diet (preferably trees and not annuals), we can be far more ecologically sustainable.

[veggieprincess]

Update:

 

So how the teacher and I left our conversation was that he would get the approval from the principal to let me come in and speak.

 

So, 2 nights ago was "Parent-Teacher Conference" night. I listened politely to him talk about how my daughter is doing in school... yadda, yadda, yadda. As we were wrapping up, I asked him... "So, did you get a chance to ask the principal about having me come in and present the other side of the Climate Change issue? He said, "Yeah, I was hoping you weren't going to bring that up.... she said 'no' ". I said, "Would you mind reiterating the conversation to me so I know how it was handled?" So to make a long story short he apparantly just told the principal that I wanted to come and speak to the class about climate change. No conversation as to WHY I want to speak to the class. No conversation about his role in any of this. Just "Hey, a parent wants to come speak to the class".... So I was trying really hard not to make him look bad and not to get him in trouble and now I had to schedule a conference with the principal. All the while I'm really hoping there is no passive-aggressive backlash that my kid is going to experience from the teacher as a result of this.

 

Also... one of the teachers at her school is a VERY VERY good friend of mine because I helped her lose 50 lbs... and she said to be careful in the office, cuz now I'm known as that trouble-maker parent because of the global warming issue. This has been a really eye-opening experience as to why people just keep quiet. Chances are good I will get a "no" from the principal and then may have to take it to the school board and risk pissing off the principal. All because I'm trying to do the right thing by showing kids that some of us believe climate change IS real and not made up... Or undo the comment made by the teacher to the class which was...."Anyone who things global warming is real is full of baloney".... I gotta go TRY to make that right so my kid can see that I practice what I preach..... sigh....

[Im Your Man]

damn that's crazy ! I hope you'll find a way to say what you have to say. If you do speak to the principal and that she/he is not a jerk like that teacher, I think you will be able to talk in front of the class, but you're right, that teacher may be offended because you went to talk to the principal on your own and it may have an impact on your child; maybe the teacher won't trafficate the results of the exams but there's other ways...

 

Anyway, if all this don't work, here's my idea. You wait until the last day of school, when all the results are given, etc. Write about 30 small postcards wishing a great summer and vacancies to the kids, you give these to your kid that morning so she can distribute them to all the kids at the end of the day. But on the cards it's written also the truth about the global warming... lol maybe not the best idea, a little weird but anyway...

[Vegan Joe]

Why the hell does this teacher think he has the right to push his personal view points on young children?

[Vegan Joe]

http://www.worldviewofglobalwarming.org/pages/glaciers.html

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shishmaref,_Alaska

[RawVgn]

Bizarre that a teacher would deny a belief that about 97% of the world's leading climatologists agree is happening. In informed circles, anthropogenic climate change is not a debate; it's a fact beyond dispute like evolution. Even Bush finally acknowledged it's true!

[veggieprincess]

Bizarre that a teacher would deny a belief that about 97% of the world's leading climatologists agree is happening. In informed circles, anthropogenic climate change is not a debate; it's a fact beyond dispute like evolution. Even Bush finally acknowledged it's true!

 

I think its more that he's denying the "man made" portion of the argument. He is of the camp that believes its just a cycle.

 

At the parent teacher conference, I couldn't help but give him a little jab when I said:

 

Me: "By the way... did you catch any of the Vice Presidential debate"

 

Teacher: "Yeah, just a few pieces though"

 

Me: "Yeah... I only caught one portion.... the one where Sarah Pallin says we don't know if Global Warming is man made or not and Biden said without any hesitation... "OF COURSE ITS CAUSED BY MAN".... Did you catch that part??"

 

He didn't have an answer....

 

Yeah, I told him before when we talked about it the first time that I found it really peculiar he would take such a stand with no opposing argument when he is in fact the MINORITY opinion these days amongst those who think man is in no way responsible for Global Warming.

[RawVgn]

Umm, the "anthropogenic" part of my post means man-made. So 97% plus of the worlds leading climatologists agree global warming is man-made. The debate is long over in informed circles. The real debate now is how much damage it will do to the natural systems we rely on for survival and well being, before enough people take serious action, and whether it will be too late to matter at that point. There is a substantial delay between carbon dioxide release into the atmosphere and when its peak effects occur; so if the world suddenly stops emitting carbon dioxide into the atmosphere today, global temperatures will continue to rise for another century until the earth reaches a higher mean temp equilibrium. The concentration of green house gases already in the atmosphere may prove catastrophic; to continue pumping them into the atmosphere for decades to come is literally insane. The earth our grand children inheret will be far different from the earth we know today, which is already seriously degraded ecological from human activities.

 

Another looming ecological disaster is the loss of topsoil. The US, and most of the world, have lost about a third of the topsoil in the past 200 years. It takes, on avg, about 1000 years to grow an inch of it, so it is essentially non-renewable. If we continue to loose topsoil at the current rate, widespread starvation will occur as less and less land is suitable for agriculture. Vegan agriculture produces about 15 times as much food per acre as livestock agriculture, so far less land has to be tilled and far, far less topsoil is lost. Eating tree fruit is even more productive than growing grains and other starches for human consumption, because trees produce food 3 dimensionally (theyr'e much taller than grain), they're perennial and do not require repeated tilling, and they're deep rooted and actually anchor the soil holding it in place. Trees also sink huge amounts of carbon dioxide and release large amounts of oxygen. So if you want to make a huge difference ecologically, the best thing you can do is eat lots of fruit. Nifty coincidence that the food that is best for our health is also best for the environment.