bridgetshevlin-blog

[bridgetshevlin-blog]

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[bridgetshevlin-blog]

This is the seventh consecutive year in which steep increases in ppm have been recorded, well above the previous average, and the fifth year since the 400ppm threshold was breached in 2014. In 2016, the highest annual jump in the series so far was recorded, from 404.1 in 2015 to 407.66 in 2016.

As recently as the 1990s, the average annual growth rate was about 1.5ppm, but in the past decade that has accelerated to 2.2ppm, and is now even higher. This brings the threshold of 450ppm closer sooner than had been anticipated. Concentrations of the gas have increased every year, reflecting our burning of fossil fuels.

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finally some good fucking news

[bridgetshevlin-blog]

for all of you guys getting anxious about the environment and pollution

y’all deserve to hear the good news too, and yes i fact checked these.

7 miles of habitat for bees will be planted in london

the biggest coal plant in north america has been converted to solar panels

roads in edinburgh will close once a month to help pollution

maine has banned styrofoam

new york city and los angeles have both made “green new deals”

The london marathon replaced 200,000 single use water bottles with seaweed water pods

the bees in notre dame survived the fire, and the roof could possibly built in a more eco-friendly way.

the population of flightless kakapos (a cool bird) is rising

the carbon emissions in the uk are the lowest they’ve been since 1998

Another large bee habitat (.5 mil acres) has been created

there is a robot that delivers young coral to help repopulate the great barrier reef

portugal plans to stop using plastic on fruit, vegetables, and bread by 2020

106 new species of bees have been discovered in australia since 2010

a group of Sikhs plan to plant 1,000,000 trees as a gift to the earth

disney has made a mickey-shaped solar farm

Morgan freeman turned a 124 acre ranch in mississippi to a bee habitat

China plans on making a “forest city” to help clean up their air

An increasing amount of countries and states are beginning to ban single use plastics.

A couple replanted a whole forest in brazil (2.7 mil trees) in 20 years, and the animals have come back to live there

The hole in the ozone layer is repairing itself more each year

China plans on spending 360 billion dollars to improve renewable energy and has scrapped plans for coal powered plants that were going to be built.

A national park has been built in the amazon (3.3 mil acres in peru) to preserve the rainforest

Ireland and the uk have declared a climate emergency

The guy who played aquaman (jason momoa) has spent 31,000 dollars to help clean up plastic

South korea is now recycling 95% of food waste

There is a cleanup campaign being planned for mt. everest

Puerto rico wants to use all renewable energy by 2050 and is setting official goals for that

Some schools have special water bottle fill-up stations that encourage you to use refill and reuse plastic bottles rather than throwing them out after one use, these are becoming more common.

9 endangered species are thought to make a comeback this year

20 countries in africa are planning to make a “green wall” of trees and plants that will span the width of africa to stop desertification

recently, a lot of volunteers and organizations are planting a ton of trees.

Awareness about the environment and climate change is growing super fast right now among people and countries, which will only help us

Most pollution is caused by like 100 companies, but a few of those (like pepsi) are trying to cut down on that.

if this stuff keeps happening things will get even better, and the only thing stopping us really are those big companies who don’t want to pay the money to switch to more eco-friendly energy sources. i know the media tends to cause fear and stress about this stuff for a lot of people, but there really is hope.

easy things we can do: 

Recycle 

Plant gardens in your yard for bees if you can

Participate in community volunteer things that plant trees and gardens

Theres this search engine called ecosia that plants a tree for every 45 searches you make, it has almost 2 mil users. 

Pick up trash if you see it when you’re at the beach or in nature

If you have a fair amount of money, consider donating some to trustworthy environmental organizations

Start using a reusable water bottle (like those ones at target) rather than relying on single use plastic ones.

Cut the plastic rings on plastic milk bottles. You know, the little spiky plastic ring near the cap. Birds get those things stuck around their neck and die, so cut them so that they can’t get stuck on a neck.

If you can afford it, get some of those reusable grocery bags and sue those. most grocery stores have them, and it saves a lot of waste.

[bridgetshevlin-blog]

Ash Over a Nation

I was in Wisconsin at the end of this summer (2018), spending time with family-friends and carrying around my camera, as usual. When I arrived it was uncustomarily cold for that time of year, high 50’s and low 60’s. Normally, the average temperature in Wisconsin in August is about 78℉.

My friends live on Lake Winnebago. As we spent some time sitting in their screen porch I watched a hazy overcast steadily stream across the sky and over the lake. You could tell the sun was trying to shine through, (trying to burn up what I thought was precipitation) but the steady cloud stream remained.

Later on, I overheard locals explaining that the foggy atmosphere and low temperatures were unusual. I asked my friend and her family about it, which they then agreed that it was strange and, they assumed, coming from the fires out West.

As an eco-conscious person, this was alarming to hear. As a photographer and storyteller, I was intrigued, especially by the unique, diffused light that was created by the sun struggling to stream through the ash particles. I was compelled to document the semi-apocalyptic looking atmosphere which in turn made me want to educate myself on what was happening to the earth and how it would be affected by these large-scale fires.

Instead of forcing my own opinions on you, I wanted to share the articles that I found most helpful in obtaining some of these answers.

How does the ash drift so far across the nation? | A New York Times article explains this process well. They use a NASA map and video to articulate the density and distance some of the smoke particles traveled. They also explain that the heat from the fires was so hot in recent years the particles were pushed so high that they would get caught in wind patterns that then travel great distances across the nation. Read more about this here.

What caused the fires? | Mainly the rapid pace of climate change, the housing sprawl, and fire agencies struggling to coordinate holistic fire and land management. Check out more here.

Many fires were caused by humans. The Carr Fire last summer was even caused by a flat tire. Read the article here.

What can humans do to help avoid unhealthy wildfires? | Nat Geo has an awesome article about fire safety tips, how to avoid wildfires, and how they’re extremely preventable because they typically occur due to human error. *sigh* To read more click here.

Below are the photos I took to document the hazy atmosphere, the glowing light being diffused throughout the smoke particles and the interesting way the colors appeared in the diffused light.

I hope you enjoy the view -