The Pope is coming the Pope is coming.....

"BREAKING NEWS: Pope Francis makes Inhofe believe in Climate Change!"...... According to the news that never happened. Now lets get back to the real world. Climate denier and Oklahoma Republican James Inhofe may have actually been quite pleased with the Pope's address to congress. Inhofe told CNN news that he "think[s] it is totally inappropriate that the Pope is weighing in on all the real sensitive far-left issues" prior to the Pope's arrival. (http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/21/politics/pope-francis-congress-republicans-politics/) Pope Francis knew he would be battling the GOP and conservative catholic members of congress and faced his battle without directly mentioning the issue of climate change. Now lets get to the actual breaking news, September 25 2015, 10:25 a.m. House Speaker John Boehner will resign from congress. I cannot help but think that part of his resignation has to do with the Pope's visit. Members of the GOP party criticize Boehner for not taking a stronger stance on republican party issues. While Boehner may have been required to host the Pope and show him hospitality, I strongly believe that he enjoyed his presence and believes in the issues that the Pope addressed, contrary to some republican party members. Even if climate denier Inhofe read Laudato Si, he would probably dismiss much of its content. It's a great feeling to know that the leader of the Senate Environment Committee cannot acknowledge the issues at hand, or even keep an open mind about them. While not every human being will not read the Pope's Encyclical letter, I would encourage any being to do so. This writing is the most important and influential piece of literature in the 21st century. Tying together the important issues of poverty, wealthy, climate, and the environment, the Pope does a remarkable job of describing the interconnectedness of all the important issues. Not to mention his proposed solutions are remarkable and fascinating to think about. Connecting the ecology of science to human is a topic of discussion and one to think about as we move forward with these issues.

An Evolving Problem

The science behind our changing climate is often the most difficult piece to understand, but it can also be the most interesting piece to think about. After learning about the history of the earth, I look at the problem in two ways: The warming of our planet was caused solely by our human actions, or the warming was inevitable since the evolution of our earth, with the intention of allowing us to live here on earth. While the greenhouse effect is often attributed to being very bad, it does allow us to live comfortably. Having begun to read Pope Francis' encyclical, I cannot help but think about this mystery. Science, after all is the reason we were able to increase our emissions, and cause this problem. It is also what we need to help stop the problem and reduce our emissions. There are both positives and negatives to it, but in the end, it provides us with a means of knowing our true impact on the planet. Pope Francis is not a scientist, but he uses some science in the beginning pages of his writing. It can be complex at times, but written and taught in a way for the lay people to understand. Regardless of how much scientific evidence we have, or how easy it is to understand, some people will still never believe it, never believe that we are the cause of climate change or that it is even happening!

Reacting to the future

Recently I read the book The Collapse of Western Civilization by Naomi Orestes and Erik Conway. This piece of science based fiction written in the perspective of the future is by far one of the best books I have ever read. Orestes and Conway paint a clear picture of the natural disasters that occur throughout the world as a result of climate change; "by 2060 arctic summer ice was completely gone. scores of species perished, including the iconic polar bear-- the dodo bird of the 21st century" (Orestes, 28). Not to mention the disasters that lead to disease outbreaks, thousands of lives being lost, and massive food shortages, these disasters appear to real! However, as I read through some of these disaster stories from 2050 and beyond, I could not help but give a slight laugh. They seem so exaggerated and beyond reality, but in actuality the science supports these outcomes. My first reaction was wow this is like watching a science fiction based action movie, sitting at the edge of my seat, but as I continued to read I continued to be engaged in the fiction and how real it could become one day. What struck me most surprising about this piece of fiction was the epilogue, when China appears to be the most successful country amidst all of the disasters. That is not to say that I am surprised that China succeeded, but rather I interpret the first two paragraphs of the epilogue to show that our government must act in the way that China did (does) in order to survive this climate conundrum; We must move away from our centralized government and begin to make choices that could benefit the country and the world regardless of what the people want. This then opens up an entire new can of worms on the ethics of government intervention. For now, climate change is real, and we must take action to prevent disaster from occurring.

A Changing World

Friends, classmates, colleagues, professors, welcome to my blog. Throughout this semester I will be reflecting upon the readings and my coursework in my Climate Studies class this semester in addition to my trip to Paris France in December when myself and 14 other classmates and colleagues attend the UNFCCC conference. Who am I? I am many things; I am a student, skier, lover of the outdoors, team captain, leader and motivated individual. Not only will I reflect upon my coursework, but I will connect my reflections to my own college life. My home in St. Joseph, my work at the Outdoor Leadership Center and St. John's Outdoor University, my post class ski practices and my passion for the outdoors. So how are they related? As an avid outdoor enthusiast and adventure seeker, our changing climate has impacted and will continue to impact the outdoor spaces and natural environment that many of us love. I am just coming off of my final trip to the boundary waters canoe area wilderness with CSB/SJU's Collegebound program. After more than 7 months of planning and preparation, all 87 of us safely returned from our wilderness experience. The reason I bring up the boundary waters is due to its fragility and future outlook. The changing climate will impact those lakes, forests and rivers. Future projects predict that it will one day be drastically different turning into an oak savannah. An oak savannah is a grassland with dispersed mature oak trees, typically Burr oaks. Not to say that an oak savannah landscape is bad, but it is just different, and would entail a much different environment for the species that call it their home, for recreationists, and for the area economy. This short video shows how the area is predicted to change: http://video.startribune.com/climate-change-may-turn-bwca-into-oak-savanna/228079981/

If it changed, myself and many others would still travel there no doubt. After all, change is inevitable, but if these are the kinds of changes in store for us, something is causing them, and something can be done to stop them. I would say something can be done to limit their effects, but then i would have to call myself a climate denier after reading Naomi Klein's article from the Guardian. Limiting the effects is only denying the problem, or pushing it off for the next generation to stop. A problem exists and we must change to stop it!