As I mentioned in my first journal, I never had the opportunity to travel outside of North America until I was accepted to the Fulbright Germany research program. I was a bit nervous about moving across the Atlantic Ocean to a continent that I had never visited before, but I was ready to step outside of my comfort zone and take a risk. Ever since arriving in Karlsruhe and starting my research at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, I have been learning new things about German culture and traditions, how we can be better stewards to the environment, and how the lives of people around the globe are interconnected.
The environment is an apt example of how your life is connected to and affected by the rest of the world. Local weather, temperature and sea level rise are all affected by global climate change, which in turn is influenced by the consumption of fossil fuels and resources. Resource scarcity, such as a lack of clean water, can be caused by endemic climate change, such as abnormal droughts and flooding, and also by unsustainable and inefficient water consumption practices. In Germany, many individuals act to reduce their impact on the environment by limiting their consumption of meat, commuting by public transport and participating in environmental activism.
