Wind energy can deliver vital slash to global warming

 

Scarlett Kane

Honors Core Chemistry Odd Period C

9/28/21

Current Event #3

Wind energy can deliver vital slash to global warming

            According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Working Group I Sixth Assessment Report, it can be predicted that the earth's atmospheric temperatures could add 1.5 degrees C of average warming by 2040. Although that date seems far off, that's in under 19 years. As a species we need to work together to treat our planet properly before we cause our own demise. The key to this, to cost effectively shift away from relying on fossil fuels and to adequately reduce our carbon dioxide emissions is wind energy. One main reason in the past we have not switched to wind energy is cost, and although environmentally friendly power sources sound pricey in the long term things like solar and wind power are arguably more cost effective than fossil fuels. Some countries have embraced this eco-friendly lifestyle, like Denmark with 41% of their power comes from wind, however sadly although our country has the second largest amount of wind generated in the world we still only get 8.4% of our power from wind energy. In addition to that it's not even throughout our whole country, just six states make up the majority of our wind energy. Overall we as a nation need to do better when it comes to being conscious of our carbon footprint.

            I believe that the messages of this article are extremely important in our current socio political climate with so many people fully ignoring the effects we have on the environment. It seems almost as if people have given up on our planet and don't realize that although things look bad for our planet it's not past the point of saving. However, future generations won't be able to say the same thing, which is why we are living in such an important time. Another factor that this article illuminated for me and hopefully other people is that solar and wind energy systems are actually not significantly more expensive than fossil fuels, and in some cases can even be less inexpensive. Overall I hope people realize we are the last generation with the chance to save our planet and we can't waste this chance.

            Some strengths of this article were how quick to the point it was and how it emphasized that it's not too late to make a difference. However the article was not perfect, one small issue I had with the article was how much of it the author left to assumption, for example when it mentioned the most eco friendly country based on percentages it left only a few examples and not even the number one which is relying to much on prior knowledge and using resources such as google. However, this could very easily be fixed by adding a bit more specificity.