Computer games, cosmology, the universe, and the environment

This year after eating my Thanksgiving turkey but before we served apple pie, I had an interesting discussion with my brother, cousin, and father's friend's son. The conversation started with my brother, cousin, and father's friend's son (let's call him a friend) bonding over computer games. I asked my cousin (a senior in high school) what other interests he had (we only see one another once a year at Thanksgiving) and he mentioned being interested in space. The three boys being well studied in the marvels of Wikipedia, the Discovery Channel, and Ted—and myself and brother having taken an astronomy-related course in college—the dialogue ranged from the cosmological principle to finding water (or not) on Mars. We eventually reached the point of discussing the possibility of other sentient life being "out there" in our universe and had a neat discussion on how likely we were to be inimical to them or them to us ("if they're radioactive they're probably not going to come looking for a planet like ours, they'll first seek planets that have environments similar to their own home planet."—"Yeah, like how we're not digging at every planet within our reach."—"But if they're advanced enough to go beyond their own solar system they'll probably just "glance" at other planets and focus on finding ones they can terraform to suit their needs...")

At some point the discussion segued from "radioactive sentient life" to "nuclear energy" to "global warming" and we had a nice, long, somewhat fruitless discussion about just how much mankind is responsible for the current crisis. My brother and family friend took the view that humans couldn't be held as responsible for global warming as many environmental activists make us out to be. My cousin and I took the counterargument, and "debated" with them, trying to convince them that humans were more responsible than they were giving us credit for. I was very tempted to whip out some of the graphs/charts/figures we've looked at in class, but that would have (logistically speaking) been rather counterproductive, so I stuck to arguing with the facts and figures that I could dredge up at that moment. Thankfully, all of use were at least somewhat informed about the issue, so we all had some reasoning to back up our arguments. My brother and family friend were aware of the cyclical nature of climate change so they threw out the argument that every so often our planet undergoes a drastic change in temperature ("like the last Ice Age," commented my brother). His mention of ice reminded me of the ice cores drilled from Antarctica to measure carbon levels. I also brought up the history of the ozone regime.

Nevertheless, despite our differences, we all agreed that human-induced carbon emissions were a serious problem for the sustainability of our planet. Our only real disagreement was regarding the extent of human influence on the environment. We went on to discuss future capacity for alternative energy. The family friend was studying to be an electrician, and he was excited about the future prospects for photovoltaic technology, and the nitty gritty of making homes more electricity-efficient. My cousin was interested in the dynamics of carbon storage, and I talked a little bit about nuclear energy (bringing us back for a moment to the radioactive alien discussion).

Needless to say, it was a very interesting Thanksgiving night.

Shut up and pass the mashed potatoes...

I've heard it time and time again that you can't teach an old dog new tricks, but I thought I could open a few eyes and ears this Thanksgiving in light of our assignment.

Nearly five months ago, I persuaded my cousin to switch from paper/foam plates and paper napkins to real plates and cloth napkins to accomodate her family of 5 and the environment. My aunt and uncle came over for the annual Thankgiving brunch and asked where the paper towels, napkins, and foam plates were. My aunt mockingly responded by saying "They're trying to save the environment." I took mild offense, knowing that cutting down on a few paper plates wasn't going to "save" the environment and that she was mocking the effort in trying to do something...anything. My family has never been big on environmental issues and are more concerned big houses and big SUVs. So I asked my aunt what she does, if anything to respond to the current environmental problems. My aunt and my uncle both said nothing they will do matters, and it won't have an effect on them because they'll be dead before anything happens. To tell you the truth, I wasn't surprised by their answers because they have this really old mentality that anythign they do can't possibly change the way things are. I can't blame them for having such beliefs because their parents were oblivious to pressing issues and they immigrated to the US over 30 years ago. They say they have seen what hell looks like back in Cambodia, so the environment is barely a concern for them. I asked "What about us? What about your grandkids? We're/They're going to have to deal with what happens...we will be the ones to suffer the consequences, no?" The room went silent. I could tell they were thinking about what I had said, but I didn't get an answer.

My cousin tapped me on the shoulder and said that's exactly what she thinks about. She thinks about the future and what kinds of life her children may have if we don't stop to think about the environment and the consequences of our actions. I was surprised because I thought I was the only one in the family who really gave a damn. This Thanksgiving, I found a new and proud "tree-hugger" in the family.

The Conversation

The conversation I had with my family went surprisingly well. My family is has very mixed opinions about the whole environmental crisis, and also has mixed political feelings as well. My mom and I are of the tree-hugging sort while the rest of my family members are more moderate. Yet, when I brought up the idea of an environment in crisis, they all agreed that their was a problem. We differed on the severity of the problem, and the actions that needed to be taken to stop these problems.

I brought it up over the Thanksgiving meal, after I was warned to keep it appropriate. I have a tendency to say whatever I want, and was talking to them about the book Omnivore's Dilemma I read for my senior seminar with Judy Shapiro. The book has some interesting insights about where our food comes from, and you will never feel the same after reading it! After sharing a short passage about how chickens are slaughtered, my family was skeptical. So, I introduced the topic by simply stating my assignment. They were listening. Then, one by one we went around the table, and I asked them to tell me if they thought the crisis was real, what should be done about it and how they are helping.

Everyone believed in global warming, but they were unsure how much humans had contributed to the matter. My uncle and Dad stated that the levels or carbon in the atmosphere have fluctuated the entire time humans have lived here. I agreed, but gave them the specific ppms carbon and the threshold levels we had already surpassed this year. My uncle then promptly got up and shut off all the lights expect for the ones in the dining room, he said I made him feel guilty for it, and he was mostly trying to be funny.

So, my discussion went well, and they did recognize a problem, but they were unsure how much impact humans had on the matter. I reassured them, we had the MOST impact. I told them all about the new extinction period, where our food comes from, and the success of the Ozone Regime. They thought answers may lie in the Cap and Trade system that Obama is going to use, but I also pointed out that that system is only market based. I tried to explain how we needed a combination of market based and also regulation to make any change. Another interesting thing, they all seemed to be technological optimists. They thought something new would be invented that would change our atmosphere for the better. While I do think someday we might find something, I do not think we should hold out for it.

Overall, I talked and listened. I convinced them that we had a much greater impact that they had realized, and we are all very hopeful for the Obama presidency to produce the top down regulations we need to curb our environmental problems.