GIP EVENT: When is it ever "Too Late?"
Last Thursday, Polytechnic High School hosted an event on climate change led by Aaron Fyke, a qualified environmental expert on the history of climate change and the imminent threat it has to our human presence on Earth. Aaron Fyke's personal contributions to reversing the effects of climate change are as that of an environmentally aware investor that promotes the innovation and commerce of sustainable technology. Through his very passionate and personal presentation, Mr. Fyke was able to grasp the attention of his audience both emotionally and intellectually.
At the beginning, Mr. Fyke warned us that the point of his presentation was not necessarily to scare us about the imminent threat we pose to ourselves (as emotions of despair ultimately do not promote the well-being of our world) but rather to educate us about the damages we've done to our planet and the long check-list of work we have to reverse and undo our harm. He went on to describe that the most unproductive groups of people in the face of global warming are those who deny its haughty impact on the world already and those who who feel despair when initiating the conversation about it. In fact, when individuals do bring themselves to talking about global warming, there are interesting discoveries to be made about our economy and the direction it is going in accordance to global warming.
An important focus that Mr. Fyke had over the majority of his presentation was clearing misconceptions about renewable energy technologies. He claimed that the prime motivation of the world leaving behind fossil fuels was the declining costs of renewable energy. This statement 10 years ago would have received tremendous amounts of skepticism simply because the technology was new at the time. The underlying issue behind this is the fact that many still share this mentality of being negligent to switch to either solar panels or to electric cars because of the substantial expenses they encountered when first looking into these technologies. Once the public is educated about the overall price reduction in renewable energy, people will be willing to switch to a less expensive option which in turn, will motivate the population to save the environment whether they are doing it because they believe responsible energy consumption or because they desire the least expensive option. This ultimately revolutionizes the approach that many scientists and scholars have had towards motivating people to start caring about the Earth. For a long time, the approach had been to educate the public about global warming so that they could make a decision for themselves whether they cared about the cause or not. Now by changing the market and lessening the prices of renewable energy, there is no need to switch and influence one's morals or beliefs. The issue thus becomes less bipartisan, less controversial, and increasingly easy.
At the beginning, Mr. Fyke warned us that the point of his presentation was not necessarily to scare us about the imminent threat we pose to ourselves (as emotions of despair ultimately do not promote the well-being of our world) but rather to educate us about the damages we've done to our planet and the long check-list of work we have to reverse and undo our harm. He went on to describe that the most unproductive groups of people in the face of global warming are those who deny its haughty impact on the world already and those who who feel despair when initiating the conversation about it. In fact, when individuals do bring themselves to talking about global warming, there are interesting discoveries to be made about our economy and the direction it is going in accordance to global warming.
An important focus that Mr. Fyke had over the majority of his presentation was clearing misconceptions about renewable energy technologies. He claimed that the prime motivation of the world leaving behind fossil fuels was the declining costs of renewable energy. This statement 10 years ago would have received tremendous amounts of skepticism simply because the technology was new at the time. The underlying issue behind this is the fact that many still share this mentality of being negligent to switch to either solar panels or to electric cars because of the substantial expenses they encountered when first looking into these technologies. Once the public is educated about the overall price reduction in renewable energy, people will be willing to switch to a less expensive option which in turn, will motivate the population to save the environment whether they are doing it because they believe responsible energy consumption or because they desire the least expensive option. This ultimately revolutionizes the approach that many scientists and scholars have had towards motivating people to start caring about the Earth. For a long time, the approach had been to educate the public about global warming so that they could make a decision for themselves whether they cared about the cause or not. Now by changing the market and lessening the prices of renewable energy, there is no need to switch and influence one's morals or beliefs. The issue thus becomes less bipartisan, less controversial, and increasingly easy.
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