Many people do not fear the effects of climate change because global warming is a gradual and vastly impersonal thing, and it causes the people no immediate danger per se. This attitude appears to be true, as validated by a poll conducted by Yale University that showed 65% of people believe that global warming will harm future generations of people and a little more than half that number believes that climate change will affect them personally. The majority of issues that grasp our attention are things that affect us personally, abruptly, immorally, and now (P.A.I.N.) an acronym developed by psychologist Daniel Gilbert. Another reason why many people do not believe in climate change is that humans have a “pool of worry,” according to Gregory …show more content…
Solving the issue of global warming is extremely difficult and requires so much thought and effort, but the right people in power can conquer this problem. The cynosure of the debate on climate change is what is causing it and whether it exists. When it comes to the views on climate change, the liberals and the conservatives appear to be on different earths. The greatest question is whether humans are primarily responsible for climate change. In a survey where 1,534 Americans were selected at random with varying political views were asked what they think about climate change and humans’ role in climate change 79% of liberal Democrats 79% and 64% of moderate Democrats said, that humans were the primary cause of climate change. An astonishing 85% of conservative Republicans did not believe that human conduct is the cause of the changing climate. Thirty-six percent (36%) of conservatives stated that there was “no solid evidence” that climate change is even real, much less caused by human activity. On the other hand, an increasing amount of both Democrats and Republicans agree that there is solid evidence that the Earth’s average temperature has been increasing. With that being said, attitudes about global warming and the correct course of action regarding “stricter environmental laws remain deeply divided along partisan lines” (The Partisan Divide on Political …show more content…
So now what?) Even the highest ranking government official who is a conservative has repeatedly turned down any notion that global warming is in fact a man-made phenomenon. President Trump even continues to make arbitrary comments in the form of tweets (realDonaldTrump) that, “The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive” and he also claims, “Global warming is a total, and very expensive, hoax!” Ultra conservatives such as President Trump himself are in complete and utter denial that global warming even exists. President Trump has already signaled that he does not want the United States of America to be a leader on the issue of climate change. President Trump has made it clear that he does not want the United States even addressing the issue of climate change by pulling out of the Paris climate accord. Conservatives are denying and ignoring the very existence of global warming. Conservatives appear to be blind to available facts that suggest that global warming is happening, and they also “plug their own ears to the ludicrous exaggerations” made by liberals (Conservatives and Climate Change). The Republican Party has taken a stance that climate change is not caused by man-made pollution; that is if it even exists. It
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.
Scientific studies have proven that the earth’s climate is increasing and claim that humans are the blame as their activities such as deforestation and the burning of fossil fuels affect the earth. Nearly two weeks ago, the United States had one of its most important days of the year: Election day. The vote came down to Former Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton and now, President-elect of the United States, Donald Trump. Before Trump won the election, one of the most controversial issues he and Clinton argued upon was on climate change. Rebecca Harrington of Business Insider writes that Clinton said, “Some country is going to be the clean- energy superpower of the 21st century. Donald thinks that climate change is a hoax perpetrated by the Chinese. I think it's real.” Harrington then adds that Trump responded by saying, “I did not. I did not. I do not say that.” The article continues and explains that Trump “does not accept the overwhelming scientific evidence that climate change is real.” Hillary on the contrary, according to writers Steven Mufson and Brady Dennis, “had been adamant that she would follow through on the promises Obama made under the Paris climate accord, and vowed to defend and implement the Clean Power Plan and reduce the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions by nearly a third by 2025, relative to 2005 levels.” This issue is very relevant in today’s
In modern America few problems prove to be as fundamentally problematic as the theory of human induced global warming. Its repeated coverage from within the media and political arena are influencing people worldwide, putting those who think differently in an outcast shadow. The truth of the matter is, to not believe in human induced global warming has become politically incorrect and unacceptable in the public eye. The theory of human induced global warming can be defined as the rise in temperature through human pollution of greenhouse gases resulting in catastrophic alterations in the earth 's environment. However, human pollution of greenhouse gases is so minor that it is not a contribution to the
As a kid who has cared about nature his entire life, and an avid modern environmentalist for four years and counting, this issue has been at the center of my psyche for quite some time. I have seen public perspective on this issue change before my eyes. From the original rejection of Al Gore’s Inconvenient Truth movie on “global warming” to personally marching alongside 300,000 people in our nation's capital to raise awareness on climate change. However, despite all of these avenues the issue is still spoken about as this distant idea that eventually will be a disaster. Many politicians and news networks speak of the need for slow implementation of policies and programs to right our environmental wrongs. The best way to paraphrase the common narrative of this issue would be to say, climate change is going to happen down the road, it will probably be bad and trying to fix it in the near future would be a good idea. That weak call to action shoves climate change onto the long to-do list of the leaders of our world. Not only does it not create the urgency needed to actually curb the effects of our environmental ignorance, but it does not accurately describe the threat of a changing climate. Treating this like a political issue will not allow for the rigorous changes needed to address such a problem in the timely manner that is required.
The North American Drought of 1988 marked the very first time global warming crossed over from scientists to mass media coverage. Following an American professor’s address to the Senate correlating abnormal weather to global warming, European nations addressed the issue, and many countries began to reduce greenhouse gas. The European Union ratified the Kyoto Protocol in 1997 to make it legally binding. In Europe, global warming was acknowledged as a problem, with the only debate centered around how serious of a problem it was- 87% said it was a very serious problem, where around 10%
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
concerned of the effects climate change could have on the world. There is so much evidence that climate change exist so we need to find a way to stop climate change so the effects of climate change won’t happen. We soon learned that the cause of climate change could have been through greenhouse gases. There are different types of greenhouse gases, but the one we’re going to talk about is carbon dioxide. Greenhouse gases (which are located below the atmosphere) are gases that allow light from the sun to pass through the gases and some light/heat back out into space, but a certain amount of light gets trapped on the earth. This is called the greenhouse effect.
As Earths average temperature increases every year, the discussion of climate change has become a significant topic in the scientific community. Human activities such as powering factories, running automobiles or something as simple as burning wood for heat, emit dangerous greenhouse gases. What makes these greenhouse gases so detrimental is that they absorb the heat radiating off of Earth and keep it in the lower atmosphere creating a “blanket” of warmth around the Earth’s surface. This causes a drastic increase in the Earths average temperature. Due to the rise in temperature, the polar caps have been melting faster than ever, this is dangerous not only because of the risk of floods and sea level increase but ocean water will become less saline and ecosystems will be destroyed, impacting humans just as much as marine life. In the article, Understand faulty thinking to tackle climate change by George Marshall, Marshall states that most people in our world today do not care about climate change because it will not affect them, “Which points to the real problem: climate change is exceptionally amorphous, … no deadlines, no geographic location, no single cause or solution.” (Marshall 2014). Because the author makes it clear that climate change is indeed a great plight, and fails to be acknowledged by people, it is a significant matter that should be discussed
Climate change has always been an ominous, impending thought in the back of my mind. Every day, I try to be more cognizant of my ecological footprint, a mindset which had spurred me into becoming more environmentally cautious over the years. The crux of the matter was undoubtedly discussed by Mr. Bardecki over the dramatic changes concerning the Colorado River. Our earth relies heavily on water as a source of life— from humanity's perspective alone, we use it for hydration, agriculture, and sanitation. That being said, it is equally as essential that we take care of our planet and water sources. It is said that "we're failing as stewards of God’s creation, but these changes we're seeing, that's not God punishing us -we're destroying ourselves." In full confidence, I agree with this statement; if we drive our planet and our resources into ruin, we have but ourselves to blame. We cannot let this be our legacy. The Colorado River, known as one of the most endangered rivers in the continental US, is being threatened by a drought, one brought by the rising changes in climate, and greenhouse gas emissions. I believe that the risk factor is increased because of direct human activity such as leisurely boating, agricultural irrigation, and the import/export business, which studies will prove to be a correct assumption. It is indisputable that humans largely take part in the latter, and so, with all of the warning signs in place and alarms ringing, we must act quickly.
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.
Throughout this article, most of it pertained to how the environmental community has shown that global warming is a social problem, while the public determined that global warming is a legitimate problem and supports policies that work against it. However, during the 1990s, the United State’s policies and beliefs on global warming were put into question. This is a result of the conservative movement challenging the notion whether or not climate change and global warming are social problems. The conservative movement pushes this further by using the media, creating policy forums, and sponsoring press conferences for policy makers in order to emphasize their point on how global warming is not a serious social issue.
Regardless of how visible the changes are presently there are changes occurring constantly. The climate has been changing for decades and that is only what we have scientific data on so the changing could potentially be going on for much longer. The people that favor this denial strategy are simply uncritical thinkers who either don’t want to accept the state of the world and the destination that we are heading or that they have too much financially at stake. Those who are in the latter situation have an ethical dilemma because they should agree with the facts, therefore agreeing with global warming but this would then call for action which for businesses especially will be costly. In our day in age, with our technology, it is difficult to claim you don’t believe in climate change. The acceptance of global warming is scary because it’s the acceptance of the destruction and distortion humans have cause to Earth but even more difficult is the response to the enlightenment. However, that is only half of the
It is hard to image someone being unaware in a world with knowledge readily available at his or her fingertips. Sadly, the general populace tends to be ignorant of the realities of climate change. Most know, to some degree, that climate change is real, but many do not know the cause. Very few people are able to identify carbon dioxide emissions as the primary anthropogenic source of climate change. Dropping, the number of those who feel human activity is the source of the problems is only 47%. Not surprisingly, those that could identify the causes were more likely to support climate related policies .
Did you know that the United States is the second largest contributor of CO2, and the less concerned about it? Climate change has been a problem for decades, but just recently we start to see how big of a problem climate change is, and can be. Climate change is one of the biggest problems that we are facing right now, even if keep trying to act like is nothing. Everybody, the people, the government, and big companies are a big contributor of this phenomenon. The more we keep denying its effects, the more we are going to regret it later, and going to wish that we could go back and try to fix the issue. You going to know one day, and its going to be late. Climate change should be the U.S government main focus this decade and the ones to come. Climate change can affect a country in every way economically, destroyed …., cause a lot of deaths.