State of the World Impressions

After hearing all of the student presentation on The State of the World I felt that the three Climate Connections that made the largest impact on me were Geoengineering to Shade Earth, Electric Vehicles and Renewable Energy Potential, and Employment in a Low-Carbon World. I felt that all three of these articles were especially interesting because each one contained information that I could directly relate to my life. In the first article on Geoengineering, we learned that scientists are looking into way to shield the earth from being heated by the sun. I found this very interesting not only because it could potentially effect me, but also because the idea seemed so futuristic. I had no idea that we as a society had the capability to put things into space that would act as a shield to reflect some of the heat we are currently receiving from the sun. In the second article, which talked about electric vehicles, I felt that because we are currently seeing a rise in popularity of these types of vehicles in our own area, I could really relate to the article. The author of this article discusses many of the new ideas that have recently been publicized about how these electric vehicles are the way of the future. Offering fewer emissions and lower costs, the expansion of electric grids to power these cars as well s exchange stations for batteries, will hopefully one day be part of our everyday lives. Finally in the article which discussed employment in a low-carbon world, the author talks about how thousands of new jobs could be created in such a world. With the development and growing popularity of things such as solar home systems, the article states, "could eventually create some 100,000 jobs." In addition jobs would also be created for the green automotive industry, production of secondary scrap-based steel, as well as recycling jobs are all occupations which would be created in a low-carbon world. Overall, I believe that each one of our Climate Connections articles contained information of great significance. While the three articles listed about made the largest impact on me, I feel that each one had an important message.