Exposure

            Quite frankly I’m not the biggest fan of cli-fi types of books. Not only that, I’m not the biggest fan of fiction too. Though this book drew me in simply by its name, Exposure. I thought for a moment that this could be a fictional book about exposing some of the hidden truths about climate change in the future and what wasn’t expressed to the public until the climate was changed permanently. Though I was completely wrong.

            The book actually seems to be about contradicting the idea of climate change. The main character is a scientist who is on the road to expose the “truths” or what he considers the flaws that arise from renewable energy sources. In this altered future, energy has been changed to more reliable sources and has pushed out fossil fuels. With fossil fuels being removed from society, the economy moves in a different direction. This scientist is out to prove that the claims about climate change are false and because of that society suffers greatly from the altered economy. With knowing this information, he is constantly trying to evade terrorist/criminal elements that are trying to stop him from revealing the truths behind climate change.

            Up to this point, I am not that far into the story, but I find it interesting because it takes a whole new way of looking at climate change. Even though it is fiction, and as a class we have learned that climate change is a real entity in our lives, it strikes my interests in seeing a story made up to see the other side of climate change.

            The author of this book, Dr. Rex Fleming, is scientist with a Ph.D. in Atmospheric Science from the University of Michigan. He is also a mathematician, with 45 years’ experience in government and industry that dealt with weather/climate research.

The Grapes of Wrath

            The book I chose to read was called The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. It is quite an interesting book taking place during the 1930s. At this time in history, the Depression was going strong and plays a big part in the story.

            During this time in the Depression, many farmers living in the southern plains were being hit with a massive drought. States like Oklahoma, where our story starts off, are having huge problems with crop failure. The farm lands in this area were being over used, which was causing loose topsoil to form. When the drought hit, the soil wasn’t getting saturated with water causing dust storms to flourish and is where the term “Dust Bowl” originated from. People couldn’t grow their crops, which was their one source of income and also their way of feeding their families.

            With the issues that occurred, people had to figure out a way to get food on the table for their families. During the Depression, there wasn’t much work for anyone in our country, so people became desperate for anything they could get. Food was hard to come by because no one had money and the shortage from the crop loss.

            The one big movement that arose during this time was by farmers and just about anyone that needed a job moved west to California. California was a newer land that had better soil, that wasn’t over used like in the Dust Bowl. People came by the thousands, looking for work, a lot of them though would not even reach California. Those that did were competing for work, which ended up leaving the majority still unemployed and struggling to survive.

            This book follows the Joad family through their journey westward. After their family farm is destroyed by the drought and perceiving dust storms, they start their way west. This book takes you on the journey with them, through all of the good and bad, as they proceed to California for a new life.

An Inconvenient Truth

       I would first like to start off by stating that An Inconvenient Truth was a very well done documentary film. Al Gore did a fantastic job on explaining many of the causes that scientist have clinically proven to be causing global warming or what is also considered climate change. This film does an excellent job at showing hard core facts that are irrefutable to those who put climate change out to be a sham. Through Gores experience as a child, to his travels as a Politian, he has seen what us humans are doing on a first hand basis which has promoted him to take the initiative to help educate the people of the world, one city at a time.

            Al Gore brings many different topics to the table which all encompass the information we have already learned about in our class. I found it pretty interesting that he used the example about the hottest years up until the year 2005. Where the statistic showed that the hottest ten years had happened in the last 14 years. I remember our class seeing how this statistic changed for the years leading up to 2015 and how every year since has been hotter, ending with 2015 being the hottest on record.

            One really interesting thing about watching this movie is seeing how things have changed since this film came out in 2006. How some things have gotten better, like fuel efficiency of automobiles and forms of alternative energy. Also seeing how somethings have still trended in a negative slope, like the fact that each year has still gotten warmer and the ice caps are still melting at a record rate.

 

Gore makes a statement that really questions why people would

choose money/economy (the gold) over the planet that they inhabit

and contains everything in our lives.

           Gore defines what global warming (aka climate change) is and many specific issues that contribute to the ongoing change in our climate. Some being about the amount of carbon dioxide that is being put into the atmosphere, the burning/cutting down of trees, politics (Money/Economy), the melting of the ice caps, ocean levels rising, animal extinctions, powerful storms, drought, extreme heat and flooding were some of the topics that were addressed by Gore.

            This documentary was extremely powerful, because it used facts and statistics to show the undeniable true behind the problems, us humans have contributed to the changed planet we live on. Even after digging at the viewer with all of this information, Gore does it with a unique way to educate us but not scare us to a panic. He shows that there is plenty that can be done to change our situation. It was very encouraging seeing this film because I knew that I could make a difference with the tools I already have and that our society has the technology and tools as well.

            I want to end things by quoting Gore after a scene in the movie about his son being in a car accident. He states, “This turned my whole world upside down and then shook it until everything fell out. My way of being in the world, it had just changed everything for me.” (An Inconvenient True) I saw this as a powerful quote that could be put into the context of our planet and what we have done to it. The recent changes that have occurred are mostly because of us humans and I don’t think a lot of us see this as a serious issue. This planet is in such a bad shape and is leading into an even worse direction. We have to realize that the Earth is our home, our planet, our everything. Without it, we are nothing. You get so close to seeing it all disappear, then you realize it is time to make a switch. Hopefully this film might have helped spark that idea in your mind or was a wake up call and encouraged you to participate in changing our planet for the better.

We must change our climate because this is the only Earth we have.