Blogs
- What did you learn from the other students?
Although I wasn’t present for the meeting with students from Ghana, finding out that some of the issues they faced were quite interesting compared to the issues we face here in Calgary. Their method of dealing with climate change seems more serious, and something a community is affected by as a whole. How students from Ghana took on these issues alarmingly as a group and seemed passionate about this topic in the sense of community cooperation amazed me. They definitely had a different perspective on how climate change affected their country rather than our views and impacts. By taking on this issue on a positive and cheerful note, I can truly understand the recognition these students are about their climate, and what is going on.
- How were their case studies similar and different to yours?
Again, not being there challenges me to answer this question, but being aware of how students in Ghana were facing issues such as temperature increase falls into the categories of climate change symptoms countries all over the world may be able to relate to. However, comparing my case study to theirs, both of our case studies followed the effects an increase in temperature had on our oceans. My case study was about ocean acidification due to the admission from fires from BC, and their case studies followed the idea of increasing sea levels affecting their lifestyles and how it links all throughout their other issues.
- How were there challenges similar and different to yours?
Our classmates are quite aware of climate change around the world. By being aware of most large climate change contributors, most people in our class were not too surprised by the information presented by students from Ghana. However, we were surprised by the food insecurity they are influenced by. Since they face food insecurity due to the low employment rates, and people depending on smaller farm businesses resources, their dependence on these small farmers increases levels of vulnerability to have a strong agricultural income. On the other hand, since the sea levels are rising and the increase in food agriculture causes the issue of food being able to grow sustainably for the to depend on, it becomes inadequate. Most students in our class were not informed on such issues as these and were quite surprised to be informed about food insecurity that we do not face. Both sides receive droughts, floods, and an increase in temperature to a different severity. Agriculture is the highest greenhouse contributor to us, although there is a misconception about the oil industry being the largest and most harmful contributor. What I would like to know more about is how severe the issues they face personally. While we all talked severely about issues we face here, personally we do not actually see the severity in front of us. While it is easy to talk about an issue we find on the internet from other unknown sources, it is another challenge to truly find the issues we personally face in our own city alone.
