Week 9: CO2

This blog will likely be a little shorter and with less humor than some of the regular blogs that I have posted.

Week 9

1/3) List some of the indirect ways in which you contribute to global warming? What are some of the ways you contribute to air pollution?

I impact global warming through chemical impacts, such as I learned today (4 december) in class that water pollution is related to air pollution in some ways. Anyway,

• I use plastics, the production of which goes into the atmosphere
• Use paper, let me explain-I believe that some trees are harvested for paper, thenthat releases CO2; and also the machines that cuts them also puts CO2 into the atmosphere
• I use energy and fuel for driving, heat...etc. Some of this energy comes from coal, which can also contribute to global warming.
• Obviously, I drive a car which contributes to Global warming
• Chemicals can also contribute to CO2, such as sulphourous acid which creates acid rain
• Burning wood/or biomass products

2/3) How could you realistically reduce your contributions of greenhouse gases? How could you reduce your impact?

This is a seemingly hard question (at least for me). Anyway...the most obvious, and I may have written a dozen times about driving a car which puts CO2 emissions into the air...

• is to reduce driving, and either walk or take a bus and save fuel. Walking to a grocery store is hard here because they can be at least 20 minutes away up hill. Whereas in Thame, England where couple of my relatives live, you can easily walk into stores in the town. Most everything (except the mall) is there, this is what I like about some cities in Europe, where transportation by train and buses are sometimes more reliable than cars and where you can walk.
• Reduce chemical use. Hence if I wanted to use pesticides (which I never use), I would have to think twice. Could these toxic chemicals be released into the atmosphere even if you sprayed plants with them? Maybe most likely.
• Use less fuel/energy. Burning biomass can release carbon emissions as well
• Use less paper-which would actually be hard, but I could use more e-mail, since trees are harvested, and they release CO2.

3) What could Seattle/Bellevue do to reduce air pollution?

They could do a number of things. I think this is one of Mayor Nickel's goal, which is to reduce Global warming. These things could be:

• Improve transportation, such as providing a better train system or bus system (keep in mind, I don't take the trains or busses)
• Develop better and safer bicycle route

These two are to lessen cars, and encourage more people to walk, cycle or take a transportation

• Reduce pesticide/chemical use. Lawns don't always need to have heavy doses of chemicals to be kept green, although I guess cities want to make their cities welcoming
• Maybe reduce industries, since they also emit dangerous toxins into the atmosphere
• Planting more trees
• Careful planning with developments

These are some of the suggestions.

I wasn't sure whether question number 3 was related to questions number 1 and 2, since I thought they were similar to one another. Anyway, if I think of anymore answers I may write more.