10. State of the World Impressions – You will be presenting a chapter in State of the World to the class. We will cover the book during the presentations from your classmates. What three issues presented made an impact on you and why?

The chapter that we discussed was on different types of ways to build a low carbon economy. One of the things I learned from this chapter is that coal powered plants are horrible for the environment. Nearly 121 coal plants have been proposed to be built within the next few years, and these could produce nearly 30 billion tons of carbon dioxide over the next 60 years. Another thing I learned was even more shocking. Over in China, they are building just as many coal plants EVERY YEAR. This is absolutly shocking. If we are going to change the way we do things, this is a very important place to start. We can not be out putting this much carbon into our atmosphere. As well, we learned about the benefits of wind power. I believe that this is a much better alternative to solar panels, and should be incorporated into society every where. Before seeing this presentation, I was not sold on the idea, but I really think we should start taking down our old plants and replacing them with wind turbines.