Global awareness

Environmental Protection and Global Wellness

Journal Assignment

This course affects my understanding on environmental issues because the “greenhouse effect” or as “global climate change,” is widely recognized as one of the most important issues on the current international environmental agenda. Although the extent and timing of effects are uncertain, climate change is thought to have effects for parks including food and water supplies, energy production, ecosystem, species survival, human health, and social and political stability. Second, since people generally have little direct contact with global warming, it is probable that many rely on the mass media as a primary source of information about this topic. Third, this topic has generated considerable scientific and political controversy. Although there is now a large degree of scientific consensus that some degree of global warming is indeed occurring, there is less agreement about both the exact consequences of unchecked global warming and the consequences of strategies to mitigate negative effects. This allows considerable leeway for public confusion over the causes, consequences, and viability of possible solutions to the problem. In addressing the role played by mass communications in solving environmental problems such as global warming, a better grasp of what constitutes “understanding” of an environmental problem is clearly needed.
I’m very optimistic and very pessimistic about the future. I have spent years trying to decide which of these feelings is the right one, but I have come to the conclusion that there are certain questions that naturally arouse an indecisive response, and that rather than trying to reject one in favour of the other, I need to accept both. On the one hand I see the global awakening that is occurring, the thousands of fantastic projects that are being made and the incredible new inventions that suggest we really can turn things around. On the other hand I see the mass extinction of species that is occurring, I see war, starvation and the destruction of the Earth continuing unaided, and I can see nothing but a bleak future for our grandchildren. Somehow I have to hold both those feelings in my mind, to only focus on the positive seems like denial, and to focus only on the negative would just be a recipe for unhappiness.
Climate change may be a big problem, but there are many little things we can do to make a difference. If we try, most of us can do our part to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases that we put into the atmosphere. Many greenhouse gases come from things we do every day. As we have learned, these greenhouse gases trap energy in the atmosphere and make the Earth warmer. Driving a car or using electricity is not wrong. We just have to be smart about it. Some people use less energy by carpooling. For example, four people can ride together in one car instead of driving four cars to work. Here are some additional ways you can help make the planet a better place! Save electricity, bike, bus, walk, talk to your family and friends, plant trees, and recycle. So yes individuals can make a difference to protecting the environment.