Obama's Climate Action Plan: Domestic Renewable Energy

In his augural speech, Obama had announced he would double the production of renewable energy in the United States in the next three years

         Last week, President Obama had presented his Climate Action Plan. The goals for the plan are as follows: to reduce greenhouse emissions, especially carbon; to prepare the United States for the impacts of climate change; and to lead international efforts to prevent global warming. Renewable energy is the key component to the plan, whereas the growth of clean energy sources are steadily increasing.
        President Obama had expressed his enthusiasm in his speech that "over the past four years, we've doubled the electricity that we generate from zero-carbon wind and solar power." He continued, "jobs installing the solar panels that now generate more than four times the power at less cost than just a few years ago." Wind has also shown exponential growth over the years: "jobs manufacturing the wind turbines that now generate enough electricity to power nearly 15 million homes." Moreover, "75% of all wind energy in the country is generated in Republican districts."
        Tom Kieran, CEO of the American Wind Energy Association, had praised President Obama's climate speech, stating "We welcome the President's initiative to proceed with climate actions focused at this time on executive agencies." "American workers," he added, "make nearly 70% of the equipment deployed here and wind power is more affordable than ever, protecting electric consumers with 25-year contracts and no risk of fuel price shocks."

World's Largest Solar Boat Arrives in NYC

       

       The world's largest solar boat is a catamaran known as Tȗranor (meaning the Master of the Sun), which is operated by the PlanetSolar Expedition. They've been roaming the oceans for a couple of years, already completing a record-breaking 18-month, 37,000-mile trip around the world last year. This year, the PlanetSolar crew is planning to track the Gulf Stream, all the way from Miami, Florida to Bergen, Norway, taking all types of water and air measurements to advance the scientific understanding of important ocean currents and its impact on the planet's climate. This week, they are, apparently, stopping in New York City and will be staying until June 20th.

China's desperate need of cleaner energy

Children at school were being halted from outdoor activities and physical education for several days from massive amounts of smog shrouded across Beijing in January. Anything beyond this level is labeled as a critical state, endangering many lives of young children and adults. Severe crisis of air pollution could prong towards pollution mitigation in which taking 12,000 lives in just two weeks during the incident of, "London Fog" in 1952. The biggest source of the cause of air pollution in China are the cars that are being run on and off of dirty diesel fuel, which brings us closer to global warming inch by inch. We could make a difference in this world; it just takes determination and compassion towards the world we stand upon. Like what Morgan Freeman says, “In the harshest place on Earth, ... love finds a way.”

(Hospital admissions for respiratory complaints jumped 20%)

Beautiful world falling apart

     Natural disasters are often caused by large amounts of air pollution in a short period of time mostly in large cities. Many disasters are formed through natural or human-made chemicals called "smog," which are caused from the factories that manufactures products that undergo through an assembly line consisting of chemical, heat, and wastes, leaving the factory through open air vents and chimneys. This causes large amounts of pollution to our environment, which contaminates the rain to ozone layers uprising global warming. Car exhaust and fossil fuel combustion, as it occurs in motor vehicles, has been identified as the largest contributor to air pollution in the world.

     Air pollution also causes numerous health issues leading to many respiratory problems. The lungs of many lives throughout the world become coated with particular matter from excessive exposure to pollution. For example, many people who are already suffering from asthma or any other respiratory issues would have a harder time breathing when there are small particles of toxin and chemicals in the air. Long term exposure of pollution could lead to serious health issues such as emphysema or even cancer. It can especially be severe when exposed to young children as it has a higher chance upon causing  childhood  asthma and can lead to other serious  respiratory symptoms during adulthood.

Here's a video I found that brought my motivation to change this nation's viewpoint towards a new approach but most couldn't help but watch.