Environmental justice is an important part
of addressing the climate crisis
because underserved communities usually feel
the impacts of climate change
This includes having
Being exposed to unhealthy air and water
can lead to real health impacts, including asthma.
Environmental justice calls for the fair treatment
and meaningful involvement of all people—
regardless of race, color, national origin, or income—
with respect to the development, implementation,
and enforcement of environmental laws,
regulations, and policies.
We've already heard this term come up
a lot during Democratic debates
and climate-specific presidential town halls.
Carbon offsetting is when you support activities
that take CO2 out of the air or prevent more CO2
and greenhouse gases from being released.
The idea is that by putting money behind
these positive activities, you counteract
your negative environmental impact.
Taking a roundtrip flight from D.C. to LA?
To counterbalance that, you can purchase
carbon offsets that support activities
such as tree planting, renewable energy, or methane capture.
But be careful, the carbon offsetting market
is not regulated, so in order to make sure
you're not wasting your money, you do the research
and make sure the offsets you support are legit.
Also, offsets are just a small piece of a larger set of necessary solutions.
Some environmentalists worry if individuals and companies rely too much on offsets,
they won't do as much to reduce their emissions,
Regenerative agriculture is
or holds more carbon than it releases.
Regenerative agriculture practices include
Regenerative agriculture can also have
other positive outcomes, including less flooding,
more biodiversity, and more nutrient-dense food.
Some politicians are floating the idea
of paying farmers to sequester carbon
as a way to help reverse the impacts of climate change.
415 parts per million is the current amount
of CO2 in the Earth's atmosphere.
Back in May, this number was recorded
at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii
by researchers from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.
According to scientists, human civilization
has never had this much CO2 in our atmosphere.
In fact, the last time there was this much
CO2 in the atmosphere was
and there were trees growing on the South Pole.
This is a new, frightening threshold
because we literally
Fracking is a controversial method for getting natural gas.
This is how it works.
High-pressured water, sand, and chemicals
are injected into rock in the Earth's surface,
causing gas or oil to be pushed out into a well.
Fracking has environmental consequences, including
Fracking sites in the U.S. rose by
States like Oklahoma and Texas, both heavy fracking states,
had a huge increase in quakes in recent years.
And geophysicists say the quakes can be
attributed to an
The rise of fracking has come at a time
when we've
But, instead of transitioning away from natural gas
and our dependency on those fuels,
the fracking industry has doubled down.
Remember the fight to stop the Dakota Access Pipeline?
There have been efforts across the country
at local, state, and federal levels
to minimize or ban fracking,
driven by politicians and communities alike.
Three states—New York, Vermont, and Maryland—
have banned the practice in recent years,
while some governors have made it a campaign promise
to further restrict or ban it in the near future.
Carbon neutral, or net-zero emissions, means
you're supporting activities that sequester
more carbon than you release.
Many companies nationally and globally are setting goals
for themselves to be
The idea is that you reduce the number of emissions
you produce
and then whatever you can't reduce,
you offset by supporting activities that sequester carbon
so that your overall impact is neutral or zero.
That's all for these climate buzzwords.
Remember, you don’t have to be a scientist
to be in the know about the climate.
Thanks for watching.