Sandy Storyline

     Remember Hurricane Sandy the story that was on the news for a few weeks? If your wondering what happened to those people and want to hear the story from there point of view continue reading. It seems like the news only talked about them till the next big thing happened. The news seemed to focus on the MTA having to fix the subways and the subways are very important, But Hurricane Sandy was a lot more personal then just messing up the subways, it destroyed homes and changed lives forever. In the video Post Traumatic Sandy Disorder Herminio Maldonado a tenant of Red Hook West Public Housing talks about his Hurricane Sandy experience and how it effected him. He states "have outside help come and help you" (Maldonado). Many people receive a certain amount of pride from doing things on their own and when a disaster happens and leaves them helpless, there left in shock and have to depend on others for help. I agree with Herminio Maldonado I couldn't imagine having to depend on strangers to help me.

     We all heard the stories about the homes being destroyed by Hurricane Sandy but we didn't hear what happened to all those people. The news seems to only tell you what they want you to hear. Many of the people who lost their homes had to go into shelters. Can you imagine having to leave your house and having to go into a shelter. Think about losing all the things you worked hard for and all the things that can never be replaced all gone because of a hurricane. In the video Shelter a man who only wanted to give his last name Green from Coney Island talks about his experience at the shelter. Green says " I miss my alone time usually I'm not a people person" (Green). Many people enjoy having time alone and some prefer not to be around people at all. Having to be in a shelter filled with many people you don't know puts you in a tough situation, you cant just walk into your own room and separate your self from the world your forced  to be around all those people. I personally have trust issues so I couldn't imagine having to live with strangers.

New York Times Article Quote

     New York has taken certain steps to prepare for climate change but are not addressing the entire risk. The city has been taking Eco-Friendly steps by planting trees and adding bike lanes but still continue to build by the waterfront. The waterfront has a beautiful view but it wont look so nice when the sea level rises and the water damages their homes. In the New York Times Article New York Is Lagging As Seas and Risks Rise, Critics Warn by Mireya Navarro an article about New York City and the sea-level that continues to rise.  With rising seas a common storm could become just as damaging as a hurricane.The article says "New York has added bike lanes, required large buildings to track and reduce their energy use, banned the dirtiest home heating oils, and taken other steps to reduce the emissions that contribute to global warming. But with shoreline development that ranges from public beaches to towering high rises" (Navarro).  There are so many ways to reduce the emissions that contribute to global warming. New York has taken many positive steps to help reduce CO2, adding bike lanes and requiring large buildings to track and reduce their energy use is a very positive step. However building by the waterfront will put more peoples lives a risk in the future. I agree with Navarro that we need to stop waterfront development because we need to think about the long run. Waterfront development will put many lives at risk especially at the rate the sea levels are rising. 

Feedback I Received On My Paper

     During my peer review today I received both positive and negative comments. One of the positive comments I received was my paper was creative. A few things I need to work on is my thesis, I also have to work on transitioning my sentences and adding Planyc into my paper.Some steps I plan to take on revising my paper is, spending a little more time each day working on it and visiting the writing center in room B-200. One of my concerns for this assignment is I might not have time to go to the writing center so  my paper wont get revised before I turn it in.

Comparing & Contrasting Two Graphs

     I am writing this blog to compare and contrast two charts from the book, The Climate Casino by William Nordhaus. The first chart is located on page 33 and its about CO2 emissions from fossil fuels and the second chart is on page 47 and it is about global mean temperature increase.

     When looking at the first graph on page 33 you notice that both the Yale DICE model and the average of EMF models predict an increase of CO2 emissions from fossil fuels. Growth rates of CO2 emission range from 0.5 percent and 1.7 percent per year from the 2000-2100 period. Based on the chart the emissions of CO2 in 2100 range from 1.6 to 5.4 times higher than in 2000. On the second graph on page 47 it shows the global mean temperature increase. The graph received its data from DICE (RICE) model and the average of the EMF-22 integrated economic models. The graph shows a very high global mean temperature increase from 2000-2100. The average temperature in 2100 is 3 1/2 degrees Celsius above the 1900 average, according to both the EMF and the DICE model estimates. 

     Both Charts show a link between the rise of the global temperature and CO2 emissions of fossil fuel. Both the Yale DICE model and the average of EMF models predict that we will continue to increase the amount of CO2 emissions from fossil fuels causing the global temperature to continue to rise.

Raising The Price of CO2

     In the reading The Climate Casino by William Nordhaus, I found something very interesting on page 9. There are three steps they believe we should take to reduce the amount of CO2. One of the steps they plan to use to reduce CO2 is to raise the price of CO2 and other greenhouse-gas emissions. They want all the nations to raise the price of CO2. In order to slow down the climate change everyone has to follow the same steps to get a better result. The author uses the term "taking foul-tasting medicine" to describe how people are going to feel toward this step.

     I don't agree with William Nordhaus about raising the price of CO2 because raising the price of CO2 will only create a bigger problem. Everyone is already in debt so by increasing the price of CO2 your only creating a bigger problem. Also the government and other business owners use a lot of CO2, weather its transportation or just to run their business. If CO2 goes up so will their bills and that would mean they would have to take it out on their employees. If the businesses debt go up and the employees are making less money, no one will be able to afford the CO2. When CO2 goes up gas will be more expensive, people wont be able to afford heat in the winter and air-condition in the summer. Also by increasing the debt the government and other business have, their wont be any money to try to find alternatives to CO2. I agree with William Nordhaus's third point to try to find an alternative to CO2 which he talks about on pages 9 & 10 but disagree because raising the price of CO2 will take away from the money that is needed to fund that project.

New York Times Article

     In this blog I am responding to an assignment in my ENG 101 composition class on climate change. The assignment asked me to read an article from the New York Times "New York Is Lagging as Seas and Risks Rise, Critics Warn." That was published on September 10, 2012 by Mireya Navarro. In this blog I will discuss how New York is going to be affected by the climate change and what there doing to prevent it.

     The article talks about how big of an impact the climate change will have on New York especially in Lower Manhattan, South Bronx and Sunset Park in Brooklyn. City officials are handling this situation at their own pace, and mostly focusing on Lower Manhattan instead of the whole entire city. In the article Eddie Bautista executive director of NYC Environmental Justice Alliance says "A lot of attention is devoted to Lower Manhattan, but you forget that you have real industries on the waterfront" elsewhere in the city. In the South Bronx and Sunset Park in Brooklyn their are chemical-manufacturing plants, oil-storage sites and garbage-transfer stations. If the right steps aren't taken those areas can be filled with toxic water one day. Eddie Bautista also talks about how "We're behind in consciousness-building and disaster planning." New York is taking certain per-cautions to what will happen in the future but still have plans for waterfront development instead of retreating from the shoreline. The water by the city has been rising an inch a decade over the last century. But scientist believe that sea levels could rise two feet higher than today due to environmental factors.Frequent flooding is expected to become the new "normal."

     Douglas Hill an engineer with the Storm Surge Research Group at Sony Brook University believes that "They lack a sense of urgency about this," and instead of "planning to be flooded," the city, state, and federal agencies should be investing in sea gates. Sea gates would block a surge from Long Island Sound and the Atlantic Ocean into the East River and New York Harbor. I think this is the best plan because building a sea gate will prevent the water from going in. When the sea level rises and enters the city it will cause countless numbers of damages and force many people to relocate. No one knows how long it would take to repair the damage from the water so the best thing is to prevent it from going in.