China is undergoing one of its worst winters. One might observe this and wonder, “What’s a bad winter?”
But more than just snow falling – their economy is. The people of China are suffering because they are not able to work because of heavy snowfall.
Over the last couple of years, the world has been experiencing strange weather. Everything from deadly tsunamis to killer hurricanes have affected our way of life.
Children who used to love playing in the rain now have a reason to worry when they hear drops falling.
Being originally from the Midwest, I’ve seen some pretty harsh winters. Recently, I called my mom and asked about the weather.
She told me Milwaukee was shut down because it wasn’t ready for the snowfall. I told her about how it was 80 degrees in Tallahassee, when it was 60 degrees the day before.
Then I called a friend who goes to college in Jackson, Tenn., and he told me he just went
through a terrible tornado. It killed almost 50 people.
These are all the effects of global warming.
Many students go about their day without realizing some of their wasteful habits are hurting the environment.
This in turn, has contributed bad weather. Personally, I don’t know a lot of students who recycle.
If nothing else, recycling is the simplest thing an individual can do to join in the fight against global warming. Instead of throwing the pizza boxes and Smirnoff bottles in the trash, put them in the recycling bin.
A couple weeks ago I attended a seminar discussing global warming and its
effects, especially in Florida. Since we go to school in the Sunshine State, one would think it would be the number one producer of solar energy.
Instead, I learned Florida is ranked third in the nation in energy consumption. I asked whether or not hybrid cars were what they’re cracked up to be.
Joseph Ritchie, a professor at Florida A&M University’s division of journalism, said these energy efficient cars just “excuse the problem” rather than deal with it head on. They exhaust less chemicals in the air, but they don’t solve any real problems.
A student who was part of the Green Coalition explained that the engines of hybrid cars are made of nickel. The element is especially harmful when being transported.
Talk about efficient.
Toward the end of the global warming seminar, a young woman asked about the lack of
recycling bins on campus. Good question.
If we had more seminars on global warming to show students what we can do to cut back on energy use and garbage accumulation, we might end up all right.
Corbin Robinson is a junior newspaper journalism student from Milwaukee. She can be reached at corbin1.robinson@famu.edu.