By Andrey Nalbantov
As Global Earth Day passed on April 22, and everyone in the spirit of the celebration was posting all over social media images showcasing the beauty of our planet, there is a question that we should ask ourselves. What is the cost to our environment?
The Earth Day topic this year was Nature In The Race To Zero. To keep the global temperature at 1.5 C, the goal is to have zero greenhouse emissions by the middle of the century.
Global climate change is causing global warming and creating an environment that allows for more dangerous storms like Ida, which hit us in September 2021. As a reminder, Hurricane Ida caused flooding across all five boroughs of New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. At least 27 people died in the massive storm.
How does Global Warming directly impact the formation of storms, however? Professor Will Heyniger, a lecturer in the School of Environments of Sustainable Science explains that warm air holds more heat and moisture.
Increased global surface temperatures and droughts result in greater water loss to the atmosphere. This water is fuel for storms. The more intense the storms, the hotter it will get.
Heyniger said that the atmosphere acts as a heat engine. These storms will occur more often, but the intensity of them will change.
The infrastructure flaws revealed by Hurricane Ida’s destruction was not known to exist before. Our infrastructure was built without taking into account weather anomalies. This is the flaw. The outdated underground sewer system was overlooked by the heavy infrastructure spending done above ground, which left many urban parts of New Jersey helpless during Hurricane Ida. Heyniger states that it is important to consider such events when rebuilding the future.
Heyneger stated that how we design and build can have an impact on these events.
Kean University already took steps to combat global climate change on its campus. One of the university’s actions was to conduct a trash audit at the Union campus on October 23, 2021.
The research’s goal was to find ways to increase the use of organic and food waste in the composter on campus in order to reduce trash going to the landfills.
Because solid wastes at landfills directly contributes to greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore, the more Kean waste composts, the lower the aerobic decay in Kean landfills.
The second environmentally friendly project Kean has been working on is changing the lights in the parking lots. LED bulbs will now be used to power lights throughout campus. LED lights are more efficient, last longer and are safer for the environment than traditional bulbs.
These are just two examples of the many initiatives Kean University plans to undertake to make Kean University a more sustainable campus. And while it might be a small step in the right direction, the more environmentally friendly policies are accomplished, the easier the fight for our environment becomes.
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