On average, teens use the equivalent of twenty football fields’ worth of resources to live, said Rouwenna Lamm, an educator from the Alliance for Climate Education.
Lamm gave presentations about the Alliance and climate change on Tuesday, Oct. 20 in the Film Lecture Hall.
“We have inherited an America that’s about living large,” she said.
“But everything we buy, use and throw away has to go somewhere. We use up that space, too.”
In most countries, the population is booming, Lamm said, and these populations are convinced that “living well is living like us.”
“To live large like we do, we need a lot of fuel,” she said. The most popular form of fuel is fossil fuel, which is created when the bodies of animals decompose, Lamm said.
However, the use of fossil fuels can “turn up the Earth’s thermostat,” she said.
When the Earth is warmed by the sun, it gives off heat, which is stopped by greenhouse gases in the atmosphere; as long as there is the right mix of gases, the planet’s environment stays the way it is, Lamm said.
“The most important of all greenhouse gases is carbon dioxide,” she said.
“We produce literally tons of carbon dioxide when we burn those fossil fuels.
“We’re producing more carbon dioxide than every before, so much so that our atmosphere is filling up with carbon dioxide, trapping in more heat and causing temperatures to increase,” she said.
Although plants, oceans and other “carbon sinks” absorb some of the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, they cannot keep up, Lamm said.
Lamm then showed a video about the effects of climate change and the consequences if nothing is done.
These consequences include more severe weather, like droughts and storms, than has already been witnessed in California with wildfires, in New Orleans with Hurricane Katrina and in Europe with the 2003 heat wave that killed thousands.
Species are also going extinct at 1,000 times the normal rate, according to the video.
Lamm then spoke about what students can do to prevent these changes from occurring.
“We already have the power to turn wind, waves and solar power into electricity,” said Lamm.
“You have the ability to make an impact,” she said. “Simple things, like changing to CFL light bulbs, can make a difference.”
Another way students can make a difference is by “raising their voice” and inspiring others to make changes, Lamm said.
“If we speak with a united voice, our politicians will listen,” she said.
She also spoke about the American Clean Energy and Security Act, which was by Representatives Edward Markey of Massachusetts and Henry Waxman of California into the House of Representatives, she said.
The House of Representatives passed the bill June 26.
There was also a Senate climate bill, the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act, introduced by Senators John Kerry of Massachusetts and Barbara Boxer of California in September. This bill is still being negotiated in the Senate, she said.
“I think the fact that they are seriously discussing what should happen with energy is important,” she said.
She said that the government is “moving in the right direction.”

This post is tagged Ellen Sarkisian