Is Rhode Island At Risk?

If there is one thing that I can say about the state of Rhode Island, its that when it is a beautiful day there is no better place to be then this state. I have been living by the ocean in the city of Narragansett now for 4 months, and that may sound like a short time, but its long enough to know how beautiful this place is. From the fresh ocean breeze, to the surfers catching the waves at sunrise, you catch it all while living this area during the right season. With all of the problems associated with global warming, it is just a matter of time before this place may never be the same. While i was doing research on our area, right here in Rhode island i came across a great article that really explains in depth and specifically targets the state we live in. It addresses the problems that our state is facing, and what our area can look like in the future if we don't act on these issues. What if one day, 30 years from now, we walk to the same beach we used to go to and its no longer there? Or the same pond we used to play ice hockey on doesn't freeze as much as it used to resulting in loss of winter activities? With the way our environment looks like now, its a straight path to destruction. Below i have attached the article, please take a look!

http://www.dem.ri.gov/climate/pdf/rigw.pdf

Seasonal Business's

The climate changes that have been affecting our society more and more over the last decade has also spread to economies worldwide. Areas of business such as agriculture, fishing markets, tourism, and government spending have seen unusual and unexpected transformations from the global warning process. It is safe to say that Global warming is an inevitable phenomenon and is caused by so many things, but with drastic climate changes weather patterns can change instantly. For example, when it comes to agriculture a sudden climate change can call for droughts or excessive precipitation, and either of these are good for cropping. Seasonal crops can be affected, and as a result the economy will feel the brunt of this. A shortage will call for a high demand, causing prices to rise and right now with the way our economy is this will only make things worse. Within this decade, different parts of the world experienced the La Nino and El Nina phenomenon reported as heat waves, drought, tsunamis, hurricanes and storms, and especially here in the mid atlantic the temperatures have been unseasonably warm, and over the past 2 years precipitation has been above average as well. While doing research, i came across something that I thought was very interesting, and its that some business's with the understanding of global warming claim global warming as a risk. this means that they plan ahead needing due management to find ways to prevent this risk. It has become a great concern over the years because global warming to business firms would greatly affect viability and profitability. This goes anywhere from a farm, all the way to wall street where commodities are traded on a daily basis. Fishing markets is another small business that is affected by global warming. For example, if water erosion and water temperatures off the coast of new england are above average or even below average this could affect the market for lobster due to a shortage, and prices can rise. This is why whenever you are in a restaurant and you see lobster on the menu there is never a fixed price, its always market price. Tourism can also be affected by global warming and ski resorts is another great example of that, even lake cottages in and around virginia. As we can see global warming has a great impact on trade, and the climate plays a major role in determining the outcome of small business that revolve around the weather pattern.

Chesapeake Bay mid atlantic

The Chesapeake Bay, is one of the nations largest enclosed coastal bodies of water that trickles out into the Atlantic Ocean. Over the years, the combination of Urbanization, loss of forest cover, rebuilding, poor agricultural practices and over fishing has dramatically reduced the health of the chesapeake ecosystem. What is sad about the situation is that there was a point in history when this bay was one of the nations most beautiful estuary's, and now it is barely livable, and we the people are a major reason to blame. Luckily there are people who still care about the Chesapeake and they are doing many things to try and dave it while they still can. An example of this is The national wildlife federation's offices, and they are initiating work to conduct climate vulnerability to help plan an adaptation process to the current climate changes we are seeing and have seen over the past 10-20 years. What people need to realize is that this is a body of water that is home to many species, and these are waters that we fish in. There has never been a problem with fishing because fish are a type of species that reproduce by the dozens, but with the current conditions in the water, many scientists are showing that reproduction is down since the 90's and it is only getting worse as the years go by. At the pace of the current decline in conditions, there might not be any life in these waters due to the fact that this body of water in our area might just not be livable anymore. Protecting wildlife from the effects of climate change is our biggest conservation challenge. today, climate change is already having profound effects on our wildlife and the habitats they call home.

What is for the future?

As I mentioned earlier in one of my other posts, I am currently involved in a group project and our topic of choice is save the bay. While a group member of mine was conducting some research, she came across a great article of statistics and research that shows the affects of global warming right here in our area in rhode island. Now I know I have posted other articles in my blog, but there is not one that is more interesting then this. It shows the affects of greenhouse gases to this date and how it has affected our area over time, it shows how the average temperature has been on the uprise for the past 110 years, and it also shows the melting of the polar ice caps to our extreme north and south. When I came across this research, I was amazed just to see how EVERYTHING is on the decline. It is getting to the point now where experts don't even know if the coast of rhode island, as well as the coast of the mid atlantic will be here 50 60 years from now. With the pace that it has been on, we will not have a coast in the year 2060. Coastal erosion is becoming a major problem and there is only so many sand barges u can build to stop the water from rising. Another great thing this pdf file shows, is pictures of local residences of the future, and what our area would look like if it were to go under water. America has always been the type of nation to adjust to sudden changes, and adapt to certain conditions, but would people be able to handle catastrophic events like these? There has been a drastic change is weather patterns across the mid atlantic with harsh rains, and extreme weather. From hurricanes to tornadoes, to sleet rain and warm weather, our area has just about seen it all, in all types of forms. This is a great article, and if it does something, it sends a very important message, and that message is that these are real life events currently happening in our area. If we don't do things to at least slow down the process, we are going to be in a lot of trouble in the future.


http://www.watershedcounts.org/documents/ClimateChangeInRI_Boyd_CRMC.pdf

Inconvenient Truth

Al Gore, who served as the nations 45th vice president under president clinton is a democrat, and is one of the nations leading global warming activist. Even when Mr. Gore was running for presidency, he associated global warming with his campaign. He shows great passion for our world, our enviornment and has made many efforts through presentation, foundations to address these issues to the public. For those of you who never heard about Al Gores "Inconvenient Truth", Al gore breaks down the issue of global warming in his own presentation. Below I have provided a link that gives you a general idea about the points Mr. Gore is trying to get across, the video is short, but the original is over an hour and a half long and can easily be found on google.This is very interesting so i hope you guys check it out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jxi-OlkmxZ4

What you can do! 4 easy steps

If there is one thing that can be said about global warming, it is that it can be controlled, but this power honestly lies in the hands of the people. Being that we are the people we should take action and responsibility for this issue and do something about it, because the longer we wait the worse the situation is going to get. One of the main issues associated with global warming is CO2 emissions and pollution. Everyday there are millions of people around the world that are careless about the environment, they might litter, they might pollute, they might even drive too much, but these are all things that can be reduced to slow the affect of global warming. For example, in your household you might have regular light bulbs, what you didn't know about these light bulbs is that they waste a lot of energy. Wherever practical, replace regular light bulbs with compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs. Replacing just one 60-watt incandescent light bulb with a CFL will save you $30 over the life of the bulb. CFLs also last 10 times longer than incandescent bulbs, use two-thirds less energy, and give off 70 percent less heat. Something else that can be done and thats easy is, use less heat and air conditioning. As I was doing research, the mid atlantic gives off the second most energy nation wide behind the west coast. By lowering your thermostat just 2 degrees, you can save about 2000 pounds of carbon dioxide per year. You ca also recycle, reuse, and reduce (the 3 R's). You can help save the environment by choosing reusable products instead of disposable. Most importantly, I have saved the best for last and that is encourage others to conserve.Share information about recycling and energy conservation with your friends, neighbors and co-workers, and take opportunities to encourage public officials to establish programs and policies that are good for the environment. The less energy we use, the less fossil fuels we burn, and this can minimize green house gases that contribute to global warming.

Save the bay!

While participating in a group assignment, My group members and I came across a topic by the name of Save the Bay. Save the bay in referring to the Narragansett bay that is located in our community here in Rhode Island. being a resident of Narragansett part time out of the year for school, i take great pride in this area and for the time away at school, this is the place that I call home. When we came across this topic, I figured that i would share this because it correlates so well with my topic of global warming, and the narragansett bay is a beautiful land mark. The bay is filled with many different crabs and fish, and with so many different species, this bay is one large ecosystem. For many years now, the bay has been in great danger due to the amounts of pollution in the air, and poor maintenance of the bay, and all of these animals are at risk. By participating in this event, it is a great way to give back to the community, but most importantly its a great way to give back to the land that was here way before we were. The main function of this organization is to reduce pollution, protect and restore natural resources such as wetlands and fish run habitats, and make for a healthy cleansed display of a beautiful piece of nature. being in this area, we are also home to some of the best sea food being so close to the water, and the narragansett bay is home to many types of fish that we consume as food on a daily basis. like i said if you are interested in giving back and saving our environment and our wetlands, this is a great way to get started in making narragansett a better home. There is an events calendar also posted on the website for save the bay (http://www.savebay.org/Page.aspx?pid=1435), so you are able to see what events are coming up for this great cause.