Sanctity of the Earth
Stephen Hawking is one of the greatest minds in the world, and recently he has stated that human life on Earth has an expectancy of 1,000 more years. He gives many claims as to what contributes to this estimate, but one major factor is climate change. Our way of living has released a lot of carbon dioxide into the air. It pollutes our atmosphere and it warms up our environment. We have increased the temperature of this earth which in turn changes climate around the world, which has many different implications for life on Earth. Although some may argue that climate change isn’t an urgent issue and therefore doesn’t need to be discussed or given priority, we should argue for more exploration and action on the topic from our governments because it is something that is affecting everyone. In order to even begin a dialogue, we need to educate ourselves on the history in how we have dealt with global warming in the past. To do this we can take reference to articles breaking down what it means to be a democracy in this climate crisis such as “Beyond the Dual Crisis: from Climate Change to Democratic Change” by Carol Gould, “Currencies of Movement are the Key” by Bill McKibben and “Democracy in the Anthropocene” by Peter G. Brown. The first step in discussing our democracy is looking at how we have dealt with policies trying to decrease our greenhouse gasses. One important factor is the opinion of those who vote on these measures, people who often believe
Michael Pollan author of “Why Bother?” (an article from The New York Times) was very clear on delivering his message on climate change. Throughout his article he uses many different sources and reasons to explain, not only what is happening, but things we should be doing to create solutions to the problems we created. Micheal directs us to think about his thoughts about how climate change is a real problem, and demonstrates with examples from other authors, consequences that we could very soon be facing, and what we can do to evade these problems that are coming our way. With the few solutions we are presented with it is unrealistic to try to solve the climate change problem we have arrived to.
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.
Our lack of unawareness and obligation results in a postponing action. Due to the procrastination, we are now not prepared to deal with the upcoming problems of the long term future. As Gardiner states, we have difficulties with many basic issuses such as: scientfic uncertainity, intergenerational equity, nonhumans, nature. All of these issues do play a part in our climate change. For this perfect storm, “an unusual convergence of independently harmful factors where this convergence is likely to result in negative outcomes” (548), we lack the intelluctual tools to actually understand climate change. So far, we have failed to create a distinct way to understand and address
With the rise of calamitous news regarding extremists groups taking over certain states, countries threatening to go to war, and viruses spreading throughout the world; the outlook of humanity does not look good. In addition to these dire headlines is the matter of climate change, which, unfortunately, is not as alarming to the public eye. Nonetheless, climate change is a pressing matter as it will impact every facet of society from economy to even human survival. Perhaps the general public find climate change as a vapid subject because of its nature to react belatedly to human activity, and how it is often represented with numbers, graphs, and projections; things that are not compelling to those that do not understand its importance. Even
Climate change is worsening for as time goes on. As the author, Stephen M. Gardiner, of Chapter 64 argues, climate change is an ethical issue because it is immoral for humans to create pollution and harm the environment, creating more problems for the planet. Climate change does not only affect current living beings, but affects all living things and human beings to come. The more harm we cause, the worse it will be to fix in years to come. “Climate change is not caused by a single agent but, by a vast number of individuals and institutions) including economic, political and social institutions.)”
“Scientists have been warning about global warming for decades. It's too late to stop it now, but we can lessen its severity and impacts” - David Suzuki. Global warming, a primary topic of debate in various conversations throughout all levels of government, has been an issue for countless years. In fact, of the 134 years recorded, the 10 warmest years have all occurred “since 2000, with the exception of 1998 “(NASA). Solving a global issue such as this is not as easy as it may seem; however ,The Paris Agreement vows to do just that by setting a plan to limit global warming to well below 2°C in “the first-ever universal, legally binding global climate deal” (Europa). Before signing off on such an agreement one must analyze the many negatives
The dichotomy of climate change can divide the world down the middle. Those who believe in climate change advocate for earth-friendly policy to better the environment and help society as a whole. Those who believe the evidence does not support a climate change theory simply ignore scientists and do not advocate for any type of change in living. However, change is necessary to preserve the planet and maintain the modern democracy- not just in the US, but in the world. Those who deny climate change also deny the chance for cleaner, eventually cheaper energy, long-term jobs, healthier lifestyles, and greater unity between nations. The best and most efficient way to control the path to sustainable, green living is through the government.
Usually when you read dystopian novels they take place far into the future or on a different planet, something Orwellian. We as a society, like to think this is what will happen if we continue to behave a certain way. Since the projections in these novels and pieces are so farfetched, nobody ever stops to compare it to the world today. However, Bill McKibben, author of Eaarth, states the harsh realities of the world’s current condition and the devious schemes of wealthy corporations. Global warming is perhaps the most frequent issue televised about the world today. It’s known that this ‘climate change’ is a product of greenhouse gases and the burning of fossil fuels; something of which is done by humans. Solutions and conservation strategies have been
It is very easy to get the information from the media in this current society, but it is difficult to distinguish that whether it is right or wrong. There are many different perspectives and thoughts on the same issue, such as global warming. To choose which argument is true is up to the people. These days, many people take on a very serious subject, global warming, and they argue whether it is worth to worry about future or not. While many people consume an excess of energy that produces carbon dioxide, the issue of global warming becomes more critical. Since global warming is a severe problem in the world, Bill McKibben wrote the article about the climate change, “The Reckoning.” He tells that people need to care the three important
The content in which the author’s argument is structured is crucial to the overall effect of her article. She begins with a statement describing how some feel uncertain about climate change and more specifically the disagreement about anthropogenic climate change. Subsequently, the author proves her main claim that humans are affecting climate change with supporting evidence from credible organizations. She continues to examine her gathered evidence to reinforce her argument as factual, and not merely opinion based. Towards the end of her article, she generates an emotional tone “our grandchildren will surely blame us if they find that we understood the reality of anthropogenic climate change and failed to do anything about it”, which connects her to the audience (par. 9). This advances her purpose because she then asks the readers to take action and listen to climate scientists, who have tried to make anthropogenic climate change clear to the public (par. 10).
As a result, I disagree with Thompson that presentism is necessarily as big of a hurdle to overcome as he claims. It may be correct that politicians and their constituents will care less the further into the future we go, but it would be erroneous to say that democracies exclusively focus on present issues. Politicians often posit inter-generational ideals to garner public action. The concept of the ‘American dream’ originated in the 1930’s but is still used today as a campaign tool. This obligation seems to hold for not only citizen’s kids or grandkids, but rather as a sort of unending ethos; each subsequent generation should be better off the one that came previously. Otherwise, it seems difficult to explain why exactly climate change is such a prominent issue. From 2003-2006 the number of people who viewed climate change as ‘very serious’ rose from 49% to 61%, and by 2007 65% of people polled globally agreed that it was necessary to take major steps ‘very soon.’ Now, while it must be conceded that concern does not always equal action, it is still striking that the majority of people view global warming as a significant
Over the past century, the Earth has experienced a dramatic change in temperature and we need to work to reverse it. Politicians have debated the idea of climate change for years now and nothing has really been done to improve the situation. Some politicians have been exposed to the facts about climate change, while others believe in a hypothetical theory that the Earth goes through “cycles”. The government needs to stop arguing and act now, to educate the public and regulate the phenomenon of climate change, before it is too late.
“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 for years now, 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 had many negative effects, for example, damage to coral reefs, the increase of wildfires, and most importantly rising sea levels. Climate change is happening now and action should be taken now to stop it. The damage to our earth cannot always be undone as well as making some places disappear forever.
Climate change otherwise known as global warming has been an ongoing issue for decades. Beginning in the 19th century, climate change has increasingly affected Earth and its atmosphere. Rising levels of carbon dioxide are warming the Earth’s atmosphere, causing rising sea-levels, melting snow and ice, extreme fires and droughts, and intense rainfall and floods. Climate change has and will continue to affect food production, availability of water, and can add to many health risks in humans and animals. In fact, in an article by Justin Gillis titled, “Scientists Warn of Perilous Climate Shift Within Decades, Not Centuries” he focuses on a paper written by a former NASA climate scientist, James E. Hansen, explaining the effects of climate change on Earth today. Although many believe Hansen’s theories in the paper are quite far-fetched, the author mentions, “Despite any reservations they might have about the new paper, virtually all climate scientists agree with Dr. Hansen’s group that society is not moving fast enough to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, posing grave risks” (Gillis). Gillis validates the fact that climate change has been rapidly expanding throughout Earth and society has not been able to reduce it fast enough. Many negative risks are being posed and will continue to mount if the issue of climate change is not taken seriously. Although climate change negatively affects nearly all aspects of Earth, it poses a big
Based from the 2013 report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC); an organization established by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), if people continue to procrastinate and ignore the issue of global warming, the sea level could rise anywhere from 6 to 16 feet by 2300; places near the sea would have massive flooding and some islands would be submerged (Gregory Trencher, 2011). People often forget that the Earth isn’t just the home of humans, but the home of all living things- present and future; whatever errors that are made during modern-day, the future has to manage them. “...the political and economic institutions of our civilisation are fixated on enjoying the present and unable to account for the consequences of our actions on tomorrow.” (Gregory Trencher, 2011). Instead of dealing with costly and threatening issues that directly affects humans, the government decides to hold off on finding a solution; indifferent to the consequences to come. CONCLUSION