Personal Statement For Civil Engineering

Climate change is known as one of the greatest threats to the planet. It is not only a threat to the planet environmentally, but it is a threat socially and economically. As we all could feel, see, and know, the weather patterns globally and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere have been increasing over an extended period of time. Although it may seem like it’s not a dramatic change since it is data from over a large amount of time, it is considering the fact that the large amount of time is not that large as it should be. Climate change is nothing new to us. It’s happened many years ago in the past because a variety of reasons but as the years go on, the rate on charts are just getting higher. As much as I would like to blame this predicament on nature, humans has a fault as well. We release thousands of greenhouse gases into the air through many procedures, but there are things that we cannot entirely control. However, whoever’s fault it is to blame I believe that if we work together and think we will more likely be able to find effective solutions for this problem.

Thesis and Preview: Today I will talk to you about what is causing climate change, the effect it will have on us, and finally, how to prevent it.

During the past several hundred years, civilization has made rapid progress in industries like air travel, automobiles, and energy production. These developments were made without consideration of the long-term effects that their emissions may have on the planet. Changing weather patterns are now wreaking havoc around the world, and scientists attribute this to human-caused climate change. During President Obama’s State of the Union address in 2015, he stated that, “No challenge poses a greater threat to future generations than climate change,” (“Remarks by the President”). Warming temperatures caused by anthropogenic climate change have disastrous consequences that pose a threat to humanity and the environment.

Climate change has been a subject of discussion in the media for many years, supported with the use of arguments against oil polluting the environment and extreme scare tactics of Polar ice caps flooding civilians backyards. The issue has been ignored by the majority of lay people as seeming too complicated, and with all the conflicting information in the media in the past, who can blame them? However, scientifically, climate change and what perpetrates it is fairly simple to understand and society as a whole is beginning to come to a clear consensus on climate change. Thanks in part to more readily available forms of media and information, people have become cognizant of the fact that climate change is a legitimate problem which requires immediate amelioration. While this may seem melodramatic, society is realizing that climate change is an issue which can no longer be denied if the human race wishes to continue.

Climate change is the most significant, most revisited, most controversial, most discussed climate issue in modern history. Global warming serves as a glaring demerit on the lengthy list of accomplishments of mankind: a reminder that progress coupled with reckless abandon never has a good outcome. Though its presence in the national spotlight is a recent phenomenon, the early stages of global warming were detected centuries ago.

As Earths average temperature increases every year, the discussion of climate change has become a significant topic in the scientific community. Human activities such as powering factories, running automobiles or something as simple as burning wood for heat, emit dangerous greenhouse gases. What makes these greenhouse gases so detrimental is that they absorb the heat radiating off of Earth and keep it in the lower atmosphere creating a “blanket” of warmth around the Earth’s surface. This causes a drastic increase in the Earths average temperature. Due to the rise in temperature, the polar caps have been melting faster than ever, this is dangerous not only because of the risk of floods and sea level increase but ocean water will become less saline and ecosystems will be destroyed, impacting humans just as much as marine life. In the article, Understand faulty thinking to tackle climate change by George Marshall, Marshall states that most people in our world today do not care about climate change because it will not affect them, “Which points to the real problem: climate change is exceptionally amorphous, … no deadlines, no geographic location, no single cause or solution.” (Marshall 2014). Because the author makes it clear that climate change is indeed a great plight, and fails to be acknowledged by people, it is a significant matter that should be discussed

With the rise of calamitous news regarding extremists groups taking over certain states, countries threatening to go to war, and viruses spreading throughout the world; the outlook of humanity does not look good. In addition to these dire headlines is the matter of climate change, which, unfortunately, is not as alarming to the public eye. Nonetheless, climate change is a pressing matter as it will impact every facet of society from economy to even human survival. Perhaps the general public find climate change as a vapid subject because of its nature to react belatedly to human activity, and how it is often represented with numbers, graphs, and projections; things that are not compelling to those that do not understand its importance. Even

When I polled a few of my friends about “what is the single most critical problem facing us today?” I got a frequent response that’s not so shocking, climate change. So why climate change? Why not obesity, or population control, or education? While all of those are problems that deserve discussion, no single topic is so fundamental to us as humans as climate change. In 2007 Al Gore stated in his person of the year interview that “Today we 're dumping 70 million tons of global-warming pollution into the environment, and tomorrow we will dump more, and there is no effective worldwide response. Until we start sharply reducing global-warming pollution, I will feel that I have failed.” (Walsh) Perhaps the paradigm has changed. Climate change is now talked about at every level of government, in large and small businesses, and communities across the globe. It’s a topic that functions to affect our economy and our environment. Moving forward, it’s important to understand why our way of life will be affected by the way we tackle these issues surrounding climate change. Climate change is the single most important issue affecting the human race today due to its widespread impact on our survival; impacting food sources, transportation, weather, geography and other life forms on the earth.

Our lack of unawareness and obligation results in a postponing action. Due to the procrastination, we are now not prepared to deal with the upcoming problems of the long term future. As Gardiner states, we have difficulties with many basic issuses such as: scientfic uncertainity, intergenerational equity, nonhumans, nature. All of these issues do play a part in our climate change. For this perfect storm, “an unusual convergence of independently harmful factors where this convergence is likely to result in negative outcomes” (548), we lack the intelluctual tools to actually understand climate change. So far, we have failed to create a distinct way to understand and address

There is a certain importance in knowing the earths climate. The importance of climate change effects everything. Climate and the ecosystem of our earth is often over looked. To understand the importance of climate change you must know what it is; What is climate change and how does it effect us? Climate change is the early 19th century increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide produced by the use of fossil fuels. Climate change is very important to my major. I am an uprising junior majoring in agribusiness. Often known as a stem major, I study everything from animals, plant production, and the production to the management of corporations. While majoring this, I often must know when and where is best to produce certain

In “ Think Again: Climate change,” Bill Mckibben addresses the climate change catastrophe. The damage has already begun and it may be too late to save the planet. There has been many debates and controversies on climate change, but that is about to change, and scientists have accepted the fact that humans are warming the planet. In 2007, the Arctic Ocean melted more ice than ever before. Again in 2008, more ice was melted and the Arctic is now open water. In addition, other regions will eventually suffer from crop loss and food shortages. Eventually, climate change will force states to start conflicts and wars over resources.

Brimming with absorbing and educative statistics and facts, What We Know About Climate Change first chooses to challenge the

Signpost and transition: The final aspect of Global Warming that I will be talking about is the effect it will have on our future.

A five-foot five-inch replica of the Empire State Building that I stacked entirely with playing cards back in high school was the first time I appreciated the subtleties involved in creating complex card structures. I gradually progressed to stacking domes and a full-sized stadium, but the way this tower held together fascinated me, and I realized that there was much more going on in addition to the seemingly obvious concept of maintaining the right balance. After all, nothing could be that simple. Likewise, after four years of undergraduate studies in civil engineering, it seems to me I have barely scratched its surface. A graduate school will allow me to delve deep and let me explore the finer aspects of the field. Furthermore, this is crucial in terms of achieving my long-term goal of pursuing a PhD to carve out a career in industrial research.

Climate change otherwise known as global warming has been an ongoing issue for decades. Beginning in the 19th century, climate change has increasingly affected Earth and its atmosphere. Rising levels of carbon dioxide are warming the Earth’s atmosphere, causing rising sea-levels, melting snow and ice, extreme fires and droughts, and intense rainfall and floods. Climate change has and will continue to affect food production, availability of water, and can add to many health risks in humans and animals. In fact, in an article by Justin Gillis titled, “Scientists Warn of Perilous Climate Shift Within Decades, Not Centuries” he focuses on a paper written by a former NASA climate scientist, James E. Hansen, explaining the effects of climate change on Earth today. Although many believe Hansen’s theories in the paper are quite far-fetched, the author mentions, “Despite any reservations they might have about the new paper, virtually all climate scientists agree with Dr. Hansen’s group that society is not moving fast enough to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, posing grave risks” (Gillis). Gillis validates the fact that climate change has been rapidly expanding throughout Earth and society has not been able to reduce it fast enough. Many negative risks are being posed and will continue to mount if the issue of climate change is not taken seriously. Although climate change negatively affects nearly all aspects of Earth, it poses a big