Final Reflections

I have found this course so interesting. I had a little background knowledge of climate change when I started, but I've discovered that half of what I thought I knew was either wrong or so out of date that it was useless.

The different feedback loops and causes of climate change gave a good base on which to build the knowledge. The aspects affecting people, such as food security and sea level rises were combined with other influences such as population increase to show that these changes in our future are not independent. All the factors will combine to produce the challenges we will have to face.

Lovely woodland in Devon

The different forms of mitigation were fascinating, from the simple (painting the roof white) to the incredibly complicated and controversial geoengineering. Steps to reduce the effects of climate change can be done on individual, community, national and global scales. This last week has spurred me on to thinking about how I can have a part in this on an individual scale, and possibly on a community scale too.

The causes of climate change are global and are fed by our desires to develop in industry and standard of living. But it seems to me that by making life more comfortable now we are creating serious problems for future generations.

This course has been an eye-opener and this topic is one I hope to follow, now feeling a bit more informed, to see what happens and what I can do to reduce its affects.

Thank you to the staff and students at Exeter University for the hard work put into this course. And thank you fellow FutureLearn students for some really interesting discussions.

8.6 Is the future of our climate still in our hands?

There are some very interesting comments from people this week on the discussion board and ways in which we can act as individuals and societies.

It is still in our hands. We have created a global warming effect that we can’t stop. The levels of CO2 in the atmosphere are enough to keep temperatures rising for a while yet, even if we did switch everything off today. So should we all just carry on? No (obviously!). It is up to us, globally, to try and change the progression of this issue. We can act to keep the changes from reaching a tipping point. We can do this in a number of ways, starting with our own choices and actions. Saving the world can happen a little bit at a time by everyone.

8.5 Take action

2.06. Not the best score, but probably not the most accurate… I know I would increase my “planet number” if I took into account the flights made in the last few years. But then, for the time spent in-country in between these flights I have been living very simply, eating local food, traveling mostly by foot. No heating; no air con; no house, in a couple of trips; a small fire to cook food; electricity from solar panels…

This test has made me think about the things that do affect climate change. The metals mined to produce jewelry and electronics as well as the more obvious flights and meat-eating. I could certainly do better, and will make more of an effort from here on in!

http://footprint.wwf.org.uk/
http://conservationandecology.blogspot.co.uk/

8.3 How will it affect you?

Sea-level rise

Living in the UK I think I can safely say that a rise in sea level would have huge impacts on our island nation. Even those living up a hill in the most central part of the UK will be affected by the disruption in infrastructure for the delivery of food and goods. I live in Devon, where nowhere is very far from the sea.

It’s estimated that over 600 million people live in coastal areas that are less than 10m above sea level. Added to this, two thirds of the world’s cities with populations over 5 million are, in some part, in this impact zone. So, that’s already 1 in 10 people directly affected, before you add other inhabitants of cities. The effects will be felt globally.

As well as people there will be a huge impact on wildlife and habitats. Sea-level rise is also not an isolated event. It will come hand-in-hand with temperature changes, precipitation changes and an increase in natural events.

References and links:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9162438
http://www.climate.org/topics/sea-level/