People's Climate March: 10 Climate Issues You Should Know About

In case you've been living under a rock, or wrapped-up in Vine compilations, the biggest climate change march the United States has ever seen is happening in New York City today.

The People's Climate March was initiated to defy the climate summit hosted by the United Nations' secretary general Ban Ki-moon. Kangs and Queenthangs from the Bronx and indigenous chiefs from the Midwest will march for better environmental policies.

In honor of the march, I wanted to share 10 climate issues you should at least be familiar with.

Fracking
High-volume horizontal hydraulic fracturing (HVHF) in unconventional gas reserves (often referred to as “fracing” or “fracking”) is technology that injects solids and fluids into fissures within the earth’s crust as a means to enhance the extraction of natural gas from deep geologic formations. The method causes undrinkable water, barren land and inconsistent economies.

Irreversible Global Warming
In a draft of the United Nations' climate report, researcher stated that human influence has affected the atmosphere, the oceans and water cycles dramatically. "The risk of abrupt and irreversible change increases as the magnitude of the warming increases," stated in the report.

Fossil Fuels
In a world of Google Glass and holograms, we're still heavily dependent on archaic energy extracted from oil and gas reserves for much of the energy required to run the Earth. At the current rate of usage, coal is expected to deplete in 74 years.

Great Pacific Garbage Patch
How do I describe this? The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is two huge globs of trash, one in the Eastern Pacific Ocean and the other in the West Pacific Ocean, that create a trash warp in the middle of the ocean thanks to the Subtropical Convergence Zone. The patch is believed to be two times bigger than Texas.

XL Keystone Pipeline
The Keystone pipeline is an oil pipeline that will move crude oil 2,000 miles from Canada to Mexico. The United States has yet to approve it's phase of the project.

Antiquated Energy Regulations
Governments and municipalities can make or break the way you green your life. That's the whole purpose of the People's Climate March, to change the way lawmakers make laws. Got that?

China's Green Wall
Fed-up with being the globe's trash can, China implemented the green wall last year after receiving too much unwarranted waste that would subsequently end-up in Chinese landfills.

Environmental Injustice (Domestically)
The unfair placement of landfills and waste sites in low income areas. Residents that border with waste-industry facilities often experience elevated rates of respiratory disease, cancer, reproductive disorders, birth defects, learning disabilities, psychiatric disorders, eye problems, headaches, nosebleeds, skin rashes, and early death.

Environmental Injustice (Internationally)
The United States is a major culprit in exporting waste to India, China and Pakistan. According to the Basel Action Network (BAN), the United States is the only developed country in the world that has not ratified the Basel Convention, which would ban the export of e-waste to impoverished countries.

Corporate Responsibility
Why do you think I live a zero waste life? Most corporations have not figured out how to successfully run their business without compromising the Earth's resources harmoniously, because of this I will not support them.