Daily Archives: May 28, 2022

Gender and Climate Change

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Environmental racism taught us that climate change affect poorer countries in an unequal level than countries with resources; it turns out that climate change has varying effect on individuals of different gender. In the following graph down below, it shows that men are more vulnerable towards climate change and women are more resilient towards climate change. The only reason for it being that women are oftentimes the marginalised and oppressed individual in a country, and they are more adaptable to a changes given the challenges that they face inherently as females. although women led household only contribute to around 20 percent of the types of household (graph 2), they are the most resilient group out of all the groups presented in the graph 1. This challenges our expectation about climate change, we think that the most vulnerable individuals are those that occupy more vulnerable position in society, aka, women and those who live in poverty. But it turns out that those who are rich are less resilient towards changes. This leads to the conclusion that we must include women in the discussion for climate change because they understand what it means to live in a world of challenges as females. Together, we need to work to protect the vulnerable.

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Source:

https://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep00657?seq=5

 

Moving Towards a Brighter and More Sustainable Future

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Math related to sustainability isn’t just something meant for textbooks but math has real understandings and effects on our world and how sustainable we are as individuals.  Worldwide, roughly 9.2% of the population live in extreme poverty and in the US alone, 34 million people live in poverty.  However, these statistics only relate to income, with roughly 1.3 billion people in 107 countries being considered poor in relation to either access to food, education, or healthcare. The relation between human society and the environment is not a simple one and adverse effects from humans create disastrous consequences not only for the environment but also for other humans, especially those most at risk.  Poverty can simultaneously affect and be affected by a lack of sustainability efforts.  Poorer communities lack the resource security to practice sustainable methods and therefore harm the environment by using all the resources they can find.  Poverty also has a negative affect on air pollution with people in poverty not having the education or ability to utilize non-harmful environmental practices.  Poorer communities also live in areas with the greatest threat of danger in the face of climate change.  The poorer communities live near urban areas which produce 80%of the Greenhouse Gas Emissions in North America.  These poorer communities usually live near pollution sites and in areas with inadequate housing and insulation to protect against environmental change.  Poverty is a big factor in the continuation of unsustainable practices, as well as being some of the most vulnerable communities to the effects of climate change.  It will take a better understanding of the relation between people and the environment, especially those in poorer communities and most at risk, to truly work to make a more sustainable future.       

 

Works cited:

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/11/26/climate-change-will-hurt-poor-people-the-most-federal-report.html

Global Perspective

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For my final blog post of the term, I will focus on Global Perspective. A global perspective is a viewpoint that attempts to understand the place of individuals, groups, cultures, and societies in the world and how they relate to each other. An example of a global perspective is studying the implications of economic policies on illegal drug use specifically the supply chain, where the drug is produced, and the local area where the drug is sold.
The link below provides information on the global perspective of climate change. In terms of the math part of this, According to The Fourth Assessment Report (AR4) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the atmospheric concentration of CO2 has increased from 280 ppm in the period 1000–1750 AD to 379 ppm in the year 2005. The concentration of methane in the atmosphere has more than doubled from 700 ppb in the period 1000–1750 AD, to reach a concentration of 1774 ppb in the year 2005. The concentrations of hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, SF6, and N2O have also increased. The tropospheric concentration of ozone has increased even though its stratospheric concentration has decreased.

 

https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-4020-5774-8_1#:~:text=The%20global%20mean%20surface%20temperature,warmed%20faster%20than%20the%20oceans.

 

 

global perspective

 

Importance of Global Awareness

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Seeing that this is the final blog of the term, I reflect back on everything that I have learned throughout this term regarding sustainability and the associated mathematics. I never thought that something as basic as percentages or ratios would play such a big role in sustainability. Consider, the percentage of contamination of a certain substance. Or, the percentage of a substance that is being wasted due to one’s lack of accountability when it comes to sustainability. Learning about energy flow and all the different many different forms of energy was really interesting. It was not until taking this class that I learned that energy has a unit, the unit being Quad. Another important factor that needs to be considered not only through a sustainable lens, but through many lenses in life is precision. If mathematicians are not precise about their measurements and data sets for sustainability related entities, there could be outcomes that are detrimental to the environment. Learning about how many different variables are at play for climate change are overwhelming. But, learning about them individually and ways that we can play our part has been helpful. One of the most notable things that I take away from this course is how large my carbon footprint has been throughout my life. From here on out, I aim to consider the ways in which I can make my carbon footprint smaller for the benefit of the environment. This course has taught me so many new ways that I can think about sustainability and how easy it is to take sustainable action. If we all play a small part in becoming a sustainable nation, our earth will be more likely to succeed.