Post #4

There are many ways that we could take action to protect our planet from climate change. If we assume that we agree to take action to protect our planet for future generations, we must start immediately to start reducing the pollution and carbon emissions from our planet.

I think in order for this to happen on a global scale, people need to become educated on the issue. Some people have not accepted that climate change is a real, concerning thing that is happening, and if everyone does not accept it, we will get nowhere. We should start at a personal level and try to cut down our own waste and energy use before we go to a global scale.

On a personal level, we could try to carpool more often, whether it is to work, school, or even the grocery store. We should try to recycle as much as we can, and cut down on the amount of food waste. Since our fresh water supply is drastically decreasing, we should all make an effort to cut down on our water use, like we learned last week. This would include things like taking shorter showers, not letting the sink run when you are not using it, or having fuller laundry loads. Some people won’t accept this, so we need to explain what is happening from a scientific view with studies and proven facts.

From a bigger scale, with the government involved, we could make incentives for companies that are known for major pollution to decrease, and include more sustainable practices. This change would definitely take a while to put in place, especially getting the government involved and getting people to agree on certain things.

In the reading, the author Sheila Watt-Cloutier discussed what she did. She, along with others from her area, filed a legal complaint. She explains how they brought in the Human Rights aspects, and how the pollution is affecting the Inuit culture. They had little to no cause to the pollution, but they were burdened with the many consequences of it.

“what we’re saying to the governments is, you must develop your economies using appropriate technologies that limit the pollution, that limit the greenhouse gases that are at the root of what is happening in the Arctic and the melting of the glaciers and the ice and the snow”
Sheila Watt-Cloutier

One of the better known attempts to help reduce climate change is the Paris Agreement. According to unfccc.int, the countries involved have agreed to help attempt to “combat climate change and adapt to its effects”. Many countries are involved with the Paris Agreement, but the United States is not one of them. According to the website, countries will meet every five years to discuss progress, or anything that may not be working.

Because there is a lot of farming and lumber production in Honduras, its environmental issues stem from mainly these things. According to nationsencyclopedia.com, the two main issues are soil erosion and loss of soil fertility. They use slash-and-burn farming, which depletes soil nutrients over time. This has a major impact on the country, especially since the country is so small.

Water.orgis very involved in Honduras, and increasing water access to people. According to the website, since they started working in Honduras in 1990, they have reached 14 thousand people. They also explain a project that they are currently working on, which will reach the people of Mejocote and Montaña Verde.

One environmental group that I found in Honduras is Honduran Conservation Coalition. They are a smaller group based in Honduras and the United States whose goal is to “Help protect biodiversity and ecosystems through community-based conservation and sustainable development initiatives in mestizo and indigenous communities”. They mainly focus on conservation of dry forests, cloud forests, pine forests, and rain forests. It is also stated that they try to educate Hondurans on conservation and environmental concerns.