Climate change is a massive controversy in the United States. There are multiple groups, organizations, and political leaders who believe that climate change is a hoax. For example, take U.S. Senator, Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), who brought in a ball of snow to the senate floor and stated that “It’s very, very cold out” (C-Span 2015). The wide variety of misinformation about climate change has produced a large scale of climate change skeptics. Most notably are those located in Woodward County, Oklahoma. Thirty percent of the residents in Woodward Country believe that climate change is not really happening (Yale 2014). CNN reporter, John D. Sutter (2015), was sent on a mission to understand why so many in Woodward County are skeptical about climate change. At the end of his journey, Sutter realized that most of the residents were confused and had been fed misinformation. The climate change skeptics were the loudest voices and all those who may have thought differently kept their opinions to themselves out of fear of going against the oil and natural gas industries (Sutter 2015). Nevertheless, skeptics are in need of being informed with the right information about climate change. It is imperative for climate change to be in the forefront not only because 97 percent of climate scientists say that climate change is very real and caused by humans, but because we only have one Earth to call our home (Sutter 2015). In order to convince skeptics to support clean energy policies,
Climate change is one of today’s most hotly debated topic. Scientists for many decades have made supposed claims that current energy creation and reliance on fossil fuels will lead to inevitable changes to the planet. Today, climate change denial is still a popular to most of the world despite the mounds of evidence to support that it exists. The climate change issue suffers from being mismanaged by various parties through focusing on the wrong issues and the lack of true commitment from the general public, according to Sandra Steingraber.
Climate change is the long term shift in global climate patterns attributed mainly to the use of fossil fuels. Many people are aware of this issue, however, there has been an increase in the amount of people who deny climate change. 23 percent of Americans (compared to last year’s 16 percent) believe that climate change is not a problem (Atkin). To conclude that people do not accept climate change because they do not understand it or need to be educated about it, is reasonable. However, I believe that it isn’t skepticism driving this denial. Rather, it is the phenomenon of reaffirming one’s identity. Instead of analyzing the evidence, it is intentionally interpreted in such a way as to maintain a pre-existing belief.
The problem that the pro- global warming theorists have created is that of social standing and little else. While there may be scientific backing to support some of the theory, the media presents the problem with great sensationalism. Global warming and energy conservation has thus become a trend and losses some of its validity through this. The scare tactics used by the media to “promote awareness” are just that, a linguistic ploy to gain favor. “Awareness of this global threat reinforced public concern and environmental problems and thereby provided environmental activists, scientists, and policy makers with new momentum in their efforts to promote environmental protection.” (McCright, 2000) This statement draws line to the potential benefits that would be received if the pro-global warming theorists were to draw enough attention to the issue. Driven by social empowerment and conviction to environmental protection, these activists misrepresent the actual threat and paint it as being much more
Climate change has been a subject of discussion in the media for many years, supported with the use of arguments against oil polluting the environment and extreme scare tactics of Polar ice caps flooding civilians backyards. The issue has been ignored by the majority of lay people as seeming too complicated, and with all the conflicting information in the media in the past, who can blame them? However, scientifically, climate change and what perpetrates it is fairly simple to understand and society as a whole is beginning to come to a clear consensus on climate change. Thanks in part to more readily available forms of media and information, people have become cognizant of the fact that climate change is a legitimate problem which requires immediate amelioration. While this may seem melodramatic, society is realizing that climate change is an issue which can no longer be denied if the human race wishes to continue.
addressing climate change. Global climate change means it is a global problem, so one nation or
These last two election cycles have demonstrated the importance of climate change in relation to politics and the american people. What is unfortunate is that what seems to be a very crucial and real problem in our human survival, according to scientists, is being debated by people who do not have the scientific credentials to even discuss the science behind the reality of climate change. Those behind the skeptics, have funded a successful campaign against the reality of the facts and have introduce doubt into the sciences.
The roles of science, the media, and politics greatly influence public opinion and understanding of the world around us. These three spheres of information and action are invariably linked when discussing complex global issues like climate change. However, the presentation and resolution of disagreement within the three spheres is incredibly independent. The many ways that climate change, specifically the debate on the existence of climate change, is portrayed within these spheres can greatly affect public emotion, knowledge, and policy of such an issue. This is particularly evident in the United States (US) (Boykoff & Boykoff, 2007). This paper attempts to briefly outline the portrayal and settlement of the debate on the existence of
Aside from the debate regarding whether climate change is happening or not, and whether or not humans are to blame, there is also another debate growing. This one argues whether or not humans can stall or perhaps even prevent the impacts of catastrophic climate change. When it comes to this argument, I believe that we can certainly take some actions to try to minimize the impact these events will have in the future. As far as our current climate goes, however, I believe stalling or preventing it can be trickier since the impact that climate will have now and in the future years will be caused by actions that we already made and we simply cannot undue. In the article “Climate Change,” Jennifer Weeks argues that “the effects of climate change
“There are many different views on climate change, and how people view it. Climate change is a debated topic by many different researchers and scientists. Some people think we are causing it, some people think modern technology is causing it, and some people think that it isn’t even happening at all. Creationists don’t deny climate change, but what they do deny is, The worldview-based assumptions that determine secular scientists’ interpretations and conclusions about the evidence” (Foley, Avery. “Science Confirms Climate Change!”). As Christians we need to use the earth in ways that benefit humans because we have been given dominion over the earth. “The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and keep it.” (New International
Over the years there has been a lot of controversy on if climate change is an issue that needs to be discussed and solved. There is a constant debate among scientist on if human actions are contributing the changing of earth’s climates. Climate change is defined as the change in average weather patterns for a specific region or Earth as a whole. This could include the change in an average temperature for a city or the amount a rainfall it receives (Dunbar, 2015). The main difference between weather and climate is the period of time specific patterns are recorded. Weather patterns are looked at over a much shorter period of time, meaning that these patterns are going to be more sporadic and change more frequently. Climate on the other had is recorded over a much longer period of time and usually show less drastic changes in patterns when compared to weather. Some people may argue that climate change is not an issue because Earth’s temperature is always changing do to natural effects. What people don’t realize is that human activity has effected the rate that earth’s temperature is changing, and just the smallest changes can lead to drastic consequences (Dunbar, 2015).
Climate change has undoubtedly become one of the most prominent debate topics in the world today. With that being said, there are multiple aspects of climate change currently being discussed; causes of climate change, the idea that climate change may be a hoax, and whether or not climate change affects human health are three of the many ongoing debates about climate change. Climate change is surrounded by negative connotations, but Jay Leno, former host of NBC’s The Tonight Show, shed some light on the darkness of climate change, saying "According to a new U.N. report, the global warming outlook is much worse than originally predicted. Which is pretty bad when they originally predicted it would destroy the planet.” Although his first statement is rather true, Leno manages to lighten its load with a less true, but hilarious, comment. His words force one to realize that climate change impacts everyone in any area of the health triangle, whether it be through a joke such as Leno’s, or directly through issues such as pollution and pollen; the areas of the health triangle include physical health, mental/emotional health, and social health. Therefore, climate change is a threat to all aspects of human health; social health, mental/emotional health, and physical health.
Climate change also known as global warming, is the rise in the Earth's surface temperatures. Even though the rise in the Earth's surface temperature may be slight it can still have a wide range of effects on ecosystems, rising sea levels, severe weather events, and droughts. A staggering amount of scientist believe that climate change is caused mainly due to the human use of fossil fuels. When fossil fuels are used, carbon dioxide is released along with other greenhouse gases into the air. Those gases trap the heat within the atmosphere. Some examples of ways humans use fossil fuels are oil, coal, and natural gas. Humans depend on theses fossil fuels to function everyday life. For example we use these fuels to heat our homes, run our vehicles, and are used in the power industry to produce electricity.
“There’s one issue that will define the contours of this century more dramatically than any other, and that is the urgent threat of a changing climate.” - Barack Obama. Climate change has been a popular topic of discussion, because of the threat to our environment. The world will forever be changed if climate change isn’t taken into serious consideration and not in a good way. Climate change has been a popular topic of discussion, because of the threat to our environment. Climate change has had many negative effects, for example, damage to coral reefs, the increase of wildfires, and most importantly rising sea levels. The damage to our earth cannot always be undone nevertheless it can make some things disappear forever.
Global warming, we see it as sad polar bears hopelessly swimming for their lives in the ocean. It's shown as rising sea levels that can washout entire cities. It even sometimes gets turned into politics but scientifically, what is the definition of global warming?
Global warming is the constant increase of temperature in the earth’s atmosphere that is caused by the increase of carbon dioxide, chlorofluorocarbons, greenhouse gases and many other pollutants. Chlorofluorocarbons are any type of compounds of carbon, hydrogen, chlorine, and fluorine which are harmful to the ozone layer. Global warming can affect many things, one example is the rising of temperature which can result in different types of disasters like storms, heat waves, floods, and droughts. Global warming also causes Higher death rates, Dirtier air, Higher wildlife extinction rates, the increase of Acidic Oceans, and Higher seas levels. In this essay, I will provide information that will show how harmful global warming can be to not only the earth but to humans and animals, and what we can do to prevent it from increasing.