Climate Theology

One reoccurring theme I found to be essential to On Care for Our Common Home and to the Catholic social teaching was how we all are interconnected and must take care of the poor and vulnerable first.  I think it is extremely important that when looking at climate change we don’t just look at how it is affecting America but how it affects everyone and everything.  I realized that what I personally am doing can aid or hurt climate change.  Professor Bernie Evens asked the class a very difficult question: how can each of us students help take care of the environment?  The first thing that came to mind was a project a club did last year here at CSB.  Students volunteered to be stationed at the dish return at Gorecki where they would ask people to dump their uneaten food into a bin before turning in their tray.  Food recordings were taken from breakfast, lunch and dinner.  The next day the numbers were up in the cafeteria informing of us how much food was wasted in pounds.  I can’t recall the numbers but I remember being astonished by how much food we wasted even here at CSB.  I didn’t feel as if it was my responsibility until I saw this project unfold.  This year I have to make all of my own food and am much more conscientious of how I use my food.  It now makes sense that I am being much more aware of my wastefulness this year I am (or at least my bank account is) directly effected.  This week really got me thinking about how each of us can play a role in helping the environment and it starts with myself. 

Past and Present Climates

This week has been extremely beneficial to understanding the past of the climate.  I was so astonished to see how far we could go in a class to seeing the earth and how little of a time humans have been on earth.  It really puts things into perspective for me.  I did not know that the earth is continuously flowing between a patter of cold and warm times and that we currently are in an ice age.  One thing I found particularly interesting was when we looked at the different aspects between the sun and the earth.  I learned that the change in distance between the energy intensity from the sun and the distance of the sun is not linear.  Rather, once there is a certain distance from the sun it is much colder and remains that way as the distance increases.  Another thing that I found interesting was the fact that 31% of solar radiation from the sun is reflected back into space.  I had no idea that the reflectivity of the surface (ex. changing the land from forests to a corn field) could make the earth more reflective.  I also had the idea that all greenhouse gas is bad but I learned that the greenhouse effect is responsible for 33 degrees Celsius for warming of the earth and that is critical to our survival.  Without this added warmed the earth would be at 18 degrees Celsius.  It was very helpful for me to get the big picture of climate change and to understand the patterns of earth’s climate.  It was also very informative to learn about the different ways in which we know about past climate. 

Climate Culture/ Climate and Society

From this weeks readings I gained a very real idea of some of the serious problems are experiencing currently as well as the issues we could be facing globally in the future.  From reading "The Collapse of Western Civilization" I have a new understanding of the politics behind climate change.  I learned a great deal about the attempts the global community has had in trying to reduce the heating of the earth and I now see it is much harder than getting people to see your side.  There are a lot of economic reasons as to why nations might not what to limit their CO2 emissions for the long-term benefit.  Honestly, it was slightly frightening to read about would the future holds for the globe if we stay on the same track we are and there continues to be such heating of the earth.  I never thought as far into the future as this books goes to explain the social problems of climate change.  I only ever thought of climate change as the melting of ice caps but I had never thought of nations becoming more and more engulfed by the sea and therefore causing mass migration.  COP21 meant nothing to me two weeks ago and now with only this little knowledge of the subject I have so much hope for the steps that could be taken in Paris.  I really hope that all nations can agree on a legally binding agreement to limit greenhouse gas emissions this December because our future is on the line. 

Why Climate Matters

My knowledge of climate change is extremely small at this point in the year.  However, before I started this class I had an idea of the problems associated with the climate change.  After reading the texts for this first week I am now getting a glimpse of how society views climate change and what scholars have to say about this.  Don't Look Away by Naomi Klein brought up some serious questions to ask myself.  I had always liked the idea that one person can make a difference by taking the right step in their individual life choices to help create a better environment.  However the article says that there needs to be policy changes and getting all nations on board.  I would classify myself as a denier to climate change currently.  I absolutely recognize the reality of it however I easily push it aside as a problem for someone else to deal with.  That was a little tough for me come to terms with since no one likes seeing himself or herself as the bad guy. This article was the motivation I needed to see that the climate really does matter.

In the article entitled Climate Fight Won't Wait for Paris by Bill McKibben, I got an idea of the politics involved with the climate and some examples of divestment.  I found his arithmetic about climate change to be really interesting.  McKibben shows the exact problem and offers a solution, which made it really easy for me to see what needs to be done especially since I am unaware of much of the information on climate change.  The whole idea of climate change appears to me to be so complex but after reading this article I saw the problem broken down into easily digestible information.  To be honest, I didn't realize the full extent of what was happening to the world and the predictions for climate change; this article cleared much of that up for me.  

My Bio

My name is Maddie Rainey and I am a junior at CSB.  I am from Cedar Rapids, Iowa.  I am a social science major with a minor in secondary education and ESL education. I am a member of the hockey team and a member of S.A.A.C.  I work for the athletic department as a club sport accountant and a strength and conditioning assistant.  In my free time I like to read, try to cook and eat new food and spend time with friends and family.  I am looking for ways to not only take the information and tools I learn in this class but to be able to use this topic in my future teaching experiences.