Molecule Dances & Doing Less

This is the time of year when I am ready for school to be over and to spend as much time as possible outside. The nights are so long and such a comfortable temperature that it beckons you out of wherever you are - class, work, your house - to just sit and enjoy living in New England when it's not frigid outside. So that's where I am most of the time these days - ready for the school bell to ring.

But then, I get sucked back in when my professors keep teaching me awesome things. In particular, this semester, my Environmental Health class has been really cool. I feel as if I'm learning so much that every week, my eyelids are literally pulled back just a little bit more to expose all of these parts of the world I never really considered previously - like the chemicals in our pillows that keep them fluffy and without mold that are (surprise!) not good for you to breathe in, or the concentration of particles, called "PM" for particulate matter, on the T or in the air outside, and lots of other parts of all of our worlds. It's sort of been like reading The Omnivore's Dilemma on lots of different environmental topics.

This week's topic was global climate change. We talked about radiation in its various forms and from a widespread variety of sources (newflash: pretty much everywhere) as well as what a bust (check out that pun!) nuclear power has proven to be so far.

Some of the best parts of the class were the two YouTube videos about climate change from two different environmental experts. I will give them to you in the order they were shown to us, but watch them in opposite order if you want the bad news first and then the laughter.

First, Colorado State Professor Scott Denning doing the molecule dance. Though entirely laughable, this guy legitimately knows a lot and breaks down the greenhouse effect and climate change in a very basic way - especially in the list of "Key Points" at the very end. All of the people who contest global climate change should watch this. It's pretty unarguable that this is happening given the basic information presented, and Denning and his dancing skills are charming enough to win over even the most obstinate.

Second, Bill McKibben's NY Times op-ed piece has been put to a really informative and intense video about natural disasters relating to climate change. It's quite dooming, so prepare yourself. It also made me feel obligated to do more to reduce my impact on the earth - which is doing less I suppose. So... let's all do less :)

Happy Thursday!