Plan B 4.0

Brown begins his global environment argument with all of the troubles we are facing, and what some causes are. What stood out to be the most was that we have approached a new food era, meaning our food demand is high with the rapidly growing population, the prices are substantially rising as well, and the only thing that's decreasing is the amount of food we have to provide (Brown xi) . Funny how that works. Brown claims that this is driven by the "population growth, falling water tables, rising temperature, ice melting, and the use of grain to produce fuel for cars" (Brown xi). I can definitely understand how these influxes are causing retreat in the crops we need, and it is eye-opening to see it all spelled out on paper because these types of ideas don't cross everyone's mind too often. But Brown does allude that it will become a thought, once we are living in the days where it is too late to do anything (Brown 31).

http://world.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/hunger.jpg

He then goes on to define what Plan B is: a strategy to transform the environmental and economy from a coal, oil, and natural gas based world to more environmentally friendly ways such as wind, solar, and energy generators (Brown 24). I believe this transition would be very straightforward and, dare I say, effortless. Even for those that are not very aware or consistently updated with what is happening with the worlds economy, switching from these world based products to ones that seem painful and very modern should be something that takes over. Brown further says that all of the factors that are devastatingly changing the world are connected. They are all interdependent on one another, so if we begin to change one, they will all either start to change in effect, or will need to be changed too (Brown 25). I like the idea that if we start a movement and get everyone on board, then other will be prompted or motivated to fix other problem areas.

http://www.power-eng.com/content/dam/Pennenergy/online-articles/2015/May/Wind%20Solar%20Hydro.jpg

However, I do feel that there is not much that can be done with the life cycle and predisposition of large bodies of water. Brown says that there will be a time when rice fields will be submerged from the melting of ice sheets (Brown 7). With these types of topics, I feel there is only so much we as humans can do. Now it starts to get tricky when one considers this as the path the earth is supposed to take, as if it has already been planned out by nature or other powerful forces. Trying not to bring religion into it, I am a firm believer that there has always been a plan for us and the environment and that is the track the world takes whether it is a consequence of our actions or because it is something we prompted to start earlier than it was already planned.

Also, I can understand the issue of food shortages and how the populations need to be managed, but especially in the US, this is something which we should not be able to dictate (Brown 24). Yes, there are people that have a surplus amount of children, but that is their decision and some do it for religious reasons. Along the lines of religion, I don't feel that you can tell someone to stop having kids, because if it does turn out that they are expecting, some religions forbid the ending of that life before it is born or even the idea of contraceptives. This is a sticky situation because as a free country, the government will be attacked for it's enforcement of something like limiting the population. All that I feel we can do is bring it to everyone's attention and let them make their decision on their own. (I'm saying this as an only child but who would want a sibling to fight with anyways? :P hehe)

http://www.paulchefurka.ca/Overpopulation.jpg

Topics that I was not aware of include a U.S. grassroots movement, the idea that some countries are altering their transport system for the environment, and that there is competition between farmers and cities over water supply (Brown, xii, 26, 42)! Perhaps these are topics that I will look into further because they were of interest to be upon reading!