Hi I’m SustainaBelle! I am here to show you how important STEM is in Sustainability!
STEM stands for: Science, Technology, Engineering and Math! We rely on these academic disciplines to build a more sustainable planet!
The purpose of science is to help explain and understand the world we live in. Without science we would not be able to have things like TV and cars. Science has done a great deal for our species!
Unfortunately science also helps us discover things that are not so positive.
Global Climate Change
Global climate is the average temperature through the entire planet. Scientists have recognized the earth’s global average temperature has been increasing faster than ever before. The scientific community has linked this warming to human causes. These causes are coming from the release of green house gases. These gases trap heat in earth’s atmosphere, causing the earth to experience a global warming.
Weather vs. Climate
Weather is the temperature and conditions we experience on a daily basis. It is always changing.
Climate is the big picture. This describes conditions over a long period of time (at least 30 years).
Green house gases
Greenhouse gases come from burning of fossil fuels.
For example, when you put gas in a car and drive it, the car burns the fossil fuels for power. Once the fossil fuels are burned, greenhouse gasses are released into the atmosphere.
Why does this matter?
The earth warming seems like a good thing, summer all year round right? Unfortunately that is not the case, even a slight increase to earth’s global average temperature has devastating effects on the environment and human civilization!
That is why we must do everything we can to help protect our planet and reduce our greenhouse gas emissions! Luckily, with the help of science, solution to this problem do exist!
Renewable energy is going to be a vital as we transition away from our heavy reliance on fossil fuels to power our planet to more sustainable solutions!
Here’s a few examples of renewable energy:
Solar power takes advantage of the energy from the sun provides. These panels take in sunlight and convert this energy into electricity. Essentially creating free energy with no harm to our planet!
Wind power harnesses the energy of moving air. Wind causes the blades to rotate which turns a generator inside the wind turbine, creating electricity!
Understanding what climate change is and why it is occurring is an important part of living sustainable. We must learn from our mistakes to begin our transition into a greener, healthier and happier world! If you would like to learn more about climate change please visit here.