The Climate Reality Project- Dr. Michael Edelstein - Ramapo College, NJ

Climate is a reality, there is no reason for it to be a political debate. Climate change has hard facts associated with it, there is no question to "if climate change is actually happening." The first major program dedicated to climate changed was called The Kyoto Protocol but, unfortunately, the United States Congress shut down this project and did not sign it into coming into operation. Today, the atmosphere is 405 ppm (parts per million) of carbon dioxide, which is way past the tipping point. Once we pollute the air, there is no going back, there is no reversing or taking back.

Once a year there is a 24-hour telecast all around the world focusing on climate change. Al Gore is the main lecturer who talks about this issue. He discusses how using education to promote and take action against this issue is the best route to go. Teachers need to educate their students about what is happening and what any and everyone can do about it. They need to explain to their students just how habitable the earth really is, for us and other species. The less habitable the earth becomes, the more problems and challenges arise. The less habitable places become, the more people and animals are relocating and finding new places to live.

The Apollo mission was the first time we ever saw an actual picture of the planet we live on. It was the first time climate change was put into perspective. We were able to see everything that was on earth, all the water and land we were supplied. As humans, we don't act like we actually live on earth, a place where our main resources are in a constant cycle. Humans never really paid attention to the fact we live on earth. How are we going to live in the future if we don't focus on our limited resources now? If we act quickly, we can't fix it, but we can make it less of a problem.

Earth is primarily a water planet, although we are a land species. All life depends on water, which is constantly going through phases on earth. Water continually cycles, it is always moving, changing forms. To understand the land, you must understand water because water is what shapes the land. Although water is limited, it is finite. All of the water we have is here now and has been on earth since the beginning of time. If we change a supply of water, such as contaminated it, that is it, the earth doesn't get any more.

The earth is full of systems, closed and open. Systems begin with an input, progress through a throughout and end with an output. In the end, bacteria eat the output and the cycle continues, it is constant. Systems can be used to track back and find out everything that the input involved, literally everything. We can change the world's climate just by our diet and what we eat, our input. We can even trace back the energy we use to make our meals through a system. System theory can uncover thousands of details about simple everyday things such as eating a bagel. Earth is both open and closed system. Earth is a closed system in regard to matter but an open system in regards to energy. So, what are the consequences of having a system that has to import energy from fossil fuels? Contamination, run out of them, greenhouse gases, etc. How do we and all our students survive the future? By changing the way we live now.