Activity 2.1- Atmosphere: Reduce Northwest Vista College's Greenhouse Gas Emissions

 Problem

Greenhouse gases are any gas that emits radiation. "This could be water vapor, methane, ozone, nitrous oxide, and carbon dioxide" (Why Are Greenhouse Gases, 2021). However, the one we hear about the most is carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is a natural gas in the atmosphere, so that is one reason why it is affecting us daily. How is this a problem for Northwest Vista or any other college? Well, since there is so much human activity on college campuses, such aa transportation by bike, car or bus, there is a big amount of carbon dioxide around the college environment. "Humans today have so much impact on a global scale that most geologists, ecologists, and natural historians maintain that we have entered an entirely new geological epoch, known as the Anthropocene" (Why Are Greenhouse Gases, 2021).

Investigation

Most people want to reduce climate change and greenhouse gases. However, in present time, we are still witnessing..." rising temperatures, extended period of longer days, extinction"(Franke, Paragraph,1). While there may be urgent actions that can be taken into effect, there are some processes that could take quite a bit of time until we see results. With that being said, our college can start the process of finding ways to diminish greenhouse gas emissions. We can set up a plan to research ways to diminish these affects and   inspire the students to be cautious of the greenhouse gases they are implementing. 

Data Analysis and Interpretation

Since the majority of people who go to the campus drive a car, ride a bike, or take a bus, this creates more greenhouse gases for the college environment. There may be some people who walk to school, and that action helps reduce some of the greenhouse gases. Not everyone can walk to and from school, but students walking around the campus helps in many ways. 

Low level: For example, if someone lives 10 miles from Northwest Vista College, and they drive to school, they are still emitting carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. 

Low level: They drive 10 miles one way and gasoline has 8,887 grams of carbon dioxide per gallon of gas. 

Higher level: They drive 100 miles a week to school and use 15 gallons of gas. These totals 294lbs of carbon dioxide per week.

Highest level: They drive 100 miles a week and attend school for 32 weeks. Those totals 3,200 miles per year for just going to school. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, a 2003 Honda Accord 2.4L, 4-cylinder, 5 and 6 speed manual gets 34mpg highway. That is 3,200 miles/34mpg = 94 gallons of gasoline. If gasoline had 19.6lbs of carbon dioxide when consumed, that equals 1,842lbs of carbon dioxide annually. (94 x 19.6 = 1,842).

Explanations and Designing Solutions

There are solutions that can be effective right away and solutions that can take quite a bit of time. What the college could start out with is developing budget or spending guidelines for products to diminish greenhouse gas emission. That way, the school is making an effort to research and find solutions for decreasing the greenhouse gases at the campus. A quick solution to start the process of decreasing the gases is to set up renewable energy sources around campus. Whether the campus decides to install solar panels to some of the buildings or wind turbines. This can be a quicker solution for reducing the amount of greenhouse gases on the campus. 

References

“Why Are Greenhouse Gases a Problem? Inspire Clean Energy.” Why Are Greenhouse Gases A Problem? | Inspire Clean Energy, 26 Apr. 2021, https://www.inspirecleanenergy.com/blog/clean-energy-101/what-are-greenhouse-gases.

Franke, Rebecca. “Sierra Club Grassroots Network.” How Colleges Can Reduce Their Greenhouse Gas Emissions | Grassroots Network, 26 July 2022, https://content.sierraclub.org/grassrootsnetwork/team-news/2022/07/how-colleges-can-reduce-their-greenhouse-gas-emissions.

“Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator.” EPA, (n,d). Environmental Protection Agency, https://www.epa.gov/energy/greenhouse-gas-equivalencies-calculator#results.