Introduction
Global Warming is an ever increasing crisis on our planet. The causes are many, as well as the effects. The solutions are frighteningly few and far in between compared with how much damage we are doing. I’m not going to go through the old song and dance telling how Global Warming works and the Greenhouse effect. Instead, I will give you a few examples of effects of Global Warming showing up in our lives today. Scientists are in agreement, and few tend to dispute the fact that the planet is changing. The real question now is how much longer we can continue to ignore this problem before something terrible happens and everyone decides to vote on something that changes the course of history. Still, there’s no reason to blame anyone for our current situation. Internal combustion engines were one of the greatest inventions of the 19th century (next to steam engines). Gas used to be a crude waste product created during the production of kerosene. It ended up being a great way to power pretty much anything. A high return of energy for a minimal amount of energy exhausted. Not only that, but it is still cheaper in most cases to own a gas powered car. They are still being used everywhere. Automobile manufacturers aren’t switching to electric cars or some other energy source; they are still coming out with brand new models of gas powered cars every year. Gas is running out, but it’s not out yet, not by a long shot. People will continue to use gas and contribute to Global Warming as long as it’s convenient and culturally acceptable. There will be gasoline to power things into the foreseeable future, and it’s hard to know really how much time we have left. All we know is that for now gas isn’t going away. Unless we figure out a different way to combat the CO2 we are putting into the atmosphere by burning gas. Other than planting trees and hoping everything will turn out okay. We will have to start adjusting to life using gas as a last resort or to a minimum level. Otherwise everything that has been happening, and is now beyond our control, will continue to happen. We will lose the rest of the ice on the planet; air will have increasing amounts of CO2 in it and less oxygen, yadda yadda, etcetera etcetera. We won’t live to see it, but human beings will. What will they think of the people who allowed our planet to die? The simple fact is that not enough is being done, not by a long shot. My paper will attempt to give readers some insight into just how bad and immediate the threats global warming presents are, because I think people genuinely haven’t taken it to heart, do not know, or are terribly misinformed. It will then be up to the reader to decide to talk about it, change their opinion, or do nothing. My project will also cover some main reasons why addressing global warming has not been a top priority for us, our government, and others around the world. Some major questions answered will be what can we really do to make the most impact in reducing our carbon footprint? What is going to stand in our way? What are just a few direct effects of Global Warming causing problems today? Here is my thesis… It may be that there are just not enough ways to limit the amount of carbon being released into the atmosphere at this time. The least we can do is make an effort to reduce and try to eventually reverse this process for future generations to build on, revise, and resolve. At least, that’s the gift each generation gives to the next. The world, full of its newest struggles and impasses, is handed to us. We all hold faith that the next generation won’t give up and will be better than the last in some way.
Methodology
Much of my research was done online, Global warming was a pretty broad topic and I really wanted to get down to some contrasting opinions and activities that contribute more greatly than others. I had several articles from academic search premier since it was such a great resource. I wanted mostly studies and scholarly articles for my online sources, but investigating all venues reigned supreme when I wrote my paper. I was able to address many frequent opinions and misconceptions as well as glean a general feel for the public’s consensus on the issue. It also served me to ask some friends and other people I know to see the depth of their knowledge on the issue and if they would suggest something I hadn’t thought of or say something which spurred me towards more research. I asked my dad and a friend as well to get their opinions.
Sea level rise is becoming a huge problem today especially for poor countries which do not have the finances to combat the effects of Global Warming. For instance, Sujatha Byravan and colleagues, “Sea level rise and climate change exiles: A possible solution” from the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists published in 2015. Sujatha Byravan is an independent consultant on science and technology policy. Until 2012, she was Senior Fellow at the Centre for Development Finance where her work focused on adaptation to global warming. This article explained sea level rise and the displacement of people from low-lying areas into higher ground. It speculates their reception by other countries and the laws in place to deal with exiles.
People are already trying to immigrate as refugees from areas claimed by sea level rise to higher ground, unfortunately for them, “Strictly speaking, the term refugee does not have any legal weight because the 1954 Refugee Convention restricts this definition to persons who have a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion, which does not apply to those forcibly displaced by climate change” (Byravan).
This was interesting because immigration is such a hot topic, especially now with the war in Syria, and even in our political elections this year with mainly republicans. It seems that everyone is worried about how immigrants will affect their countries. This article tried to describe what the course of events will be for displaced refugees as a result of rising sea level. Judging by how refugees are being received now globally when they should be protected by the Refugee Convention (whether it’s Syrians migrating into Europe, or Mexicans coming into the US), the prognosis looks even more bleak for those not protected by the Refugee Convention who have been displaced from their homes by Global Warming. Another source in this category was, "Sea level rise, storm risk, denial, and the future of coastal cities," by Jacob H Klaus from the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists published in 2015. Jacob Klaus is a Special Research Scientist at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory studying Seismology Geology and Tectonophysics as well as seismology, engineering seismology, climate change adaptation, disaster risk management, loss modeling, quantitative hazard assessment and mapping. In this article Klaus explained how the events of Hurricane Sandy are a precursor of what is to come.
“Future Sandy-like losses will be amplified by additional risk factors, including climate-induced sea level rise; more frequent and intense storm surges; and insufficient mitigation and adaptation efforts, among others. As a result, the likelihood of the recurrence of extreme events and losses will increase at least tenfold before the end of the 21st century” (Klaus).
With sea level rising and hurricanes becoming more frequent with warmer waters, we must prepare all coastal cities for a tragedy of such magnitude. Many structures and homes vital to our survival exist close to water, too close for comfort. If we are not prepared for future occurrences we may be setting ourselves up for failure.
Klaus explains, “Hurricane Sandy was only one example of what the future holds; such events will occur with greater frequency and severity as the level of the ocean rises as much as 6 feet by the end of this century. Therefore, architects, engineers, designers, urban planners, developers, infrastructure operators, and decision-makers in the private and public sectors must start planning now the best ways to minimize the increased flood hazards that threaten the built environment” (Klaus).
I found this article especially interesting because the author has already accepted these increasing events as an inevitable result of Global Warming. He is now focusing on how to improvise, adapt, and overcome the changing climate. This source emphasized beliefs some people have about Global Warming, its inevitability, as opposed to others. Some people deny it, some accept it, and many simply do not know enough, or do not care. Also used in my research on the topic of flooding and sea level rise, I included an article by Jennifer Howard-Grenville and colleagues, "Climate Change and Management" from the Academy of Management published in 2014. Jennifer Howard-Grenville is an associate professor of management at the University of Oregon’s Lundquist College of Business working in the Center for Sustainable Business Practices. She is interested in how people change in response to environmental and social demands. Her article discussed how climate change may impact the management industry, social impacts of ocean acidification, and coastal flooding. Transformation of global economy, and warnings about climate change issued by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change are also hot topics.
“Just over 200 years of human and industrial activity will have wrought fundamental change to our climate system. The rise of organizations and industrialized production has set us on this path, yet organizations are equally critical to mitigating and adapting to climate change” (Howard-Grenville).
What she is saying is that the companies and industries which are preventing Global Warming are the very ones which have the power to change it. These companies have enough power, money, and influence to stop people doing anything about Climate Change. Which is exactly why it is so hard to adapt to the changing climate with them standing in our way.
“Climate change is already manifesting in changes to growing seasons, water resources, ocean acidification, and coastal flooding. The Earth’s global mean surface temperature has risen by 0.85°C since the late 19th century, and is as likely as not to exceed a 4°C rise, relative to the period 1850 –1900, by the century’s end. The corresponding rise in temperature over tropical continents would be larger, and the warming over northern, high-latitude continents some two to three times greater” (Howard-Grenville). This article too shows another example of effects of Global Warming as well as another author who has accepted Climate Change as fact and is now preparing to do the best they can to prepare for the current situation.
Wind patterns and changing weather currents effect precipitation. They determine where it rains, and where it doesn’t. Thomas Delworth and associates created, "A Link between the Hiatus in Global Warming and North American Drought," published by the Journal of Climate in 2015. Thomas Delworth is a Research Scientist at NOAA's Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL), and member of the GFDL Science Board. He is also on the faculty of the Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences Program at Princeton University. This source implicates the Pacific Easterly wind patterns as the main cause of North American drought and the cause for the change in wind pattern. Not only is our drought caused by rising temperature, but specifically, it is an effect of ocean warming which changes the planets well-established air currents. “In the simulations herein the tropical wind anomalies account for 92% of the simulated North American drought during the recent decade, with 8% from anthropogenic radiative forcing changes” (Delworth). This means that the drought is simply a lack of precipitation in the North American west, because of a change in wind pattern over the Pacific. This may seem obvious, but to reiterate the lack of moisture in drought affected areas is a result of the previously predictable precipitation now changing its course to rain on different areas than it previously had. This means that at some point people will probably have to move to where the rain is, just as they did when cities were first built in hospitable areas with enough rain for crops and comfortable inhabitance. Those areas have now changed geography. To illustate the preceding article I present, "Changes in Independency between Two Types of El Niño Events under a Greenhouse Warming Scenario in CMIP5 Models," by Yoo-Geun Ham and cohorts published in 2015 by the Journal of Climate. Dr. Yoo-Geun Ham's research interest widely covers the topics from the, “advanced data assimilation system to climate variabilities for better ensemble climate prediction. His current research focuses on the development of the data assimilation technique, methods for optimal initial perturbations, climate variabilities (ex. ENSO, AMOC), and seasonal/decadal forecasts” (Ham). He predicts weather, and actively develops systems for better weather predictions into the future. This study again observed changes in the areas around the globe receiving precipitation as a result of changing ocean temperatures and wind patterns. Especially in the western Pacific, which would certainly be affecting our precipitation levels here on the west coast United States since the Pacific is where our weather and precipitation comes from. The models he created showed increasing eastward extension of climatological precipitation to the central-eastern Pacific. As well as increased precipitation near the equator in the Pacific.
“It is found that the climatological change after global warming is an essential factor in determining the changes in independency between the two types of El Niño events. For example, the independency between these events is increased after global warming when the climatological precipitation is increased mainly over the equatorial central Pacific. This climatological precipitation increase extends convective response to the east, particularly for CT El Niño events, which leads to greater differences in the spatial pattern between the two types of El Niño events to increase the El Niño independency.” (Ham). In short, this means that the warming oceans are redirecting the wind patterns we have become accustomed to.
They are now migrating towards the east and the equator away from the western United States, this occurs over the Pacific before the precipitation has a chance to reach us. This contrasts the common misconception that precipitation around the globe has decreased, in fact, the change in the ocean temperature has moved precipitation elsewhere. This source relates the lack of precipitation in the western United States lately to a change in the wind patterns on Earth.
Moving on to areas affected by changing wind patterns outside the United States I researched an article by Beate G Liepert and her colleagues. The article is titled, "Global warming, the atmospheric brown cloud, and the changing Indian summer monsoon" published in 2015 by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Beate G. Liepert is an Adjunct Research Scientist at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory focusing on Biology and Paleo Environment. She also studies Global Climate Change, Impacts of Anthropogenic Aerosols and Greenhouse Gases on Climate, Global Dimming, Radiative Measurements, and Climate Analysis. This article studied current wind patterns, the reason for the lack of monsoons lately. India depends on these for its rivers, aquifers, and temperature regulation. It also explains India’s brown cloud, a cloud that lingers over India which is caused by pollution. The cloud contributes greatly to the lack of precipitation, possibly more so than changing air currents.
Liepert explains, “The cloud is largely the result of pollution from coal-fired power plants, other dirty industries, slash-and-burn agriculture, wood stoves, and dust particles from deserts. This haze layer reacts in three ways: It blocks sunlight from reaching the Indian Ocean surface, weakening evaporation and monsoonal circulation; it makes monsoonal clouds more reflective, thereby weakening the land-sea temperature contrast; and it absorbs sunlight and heats the atmospheric layer over the subcontinent, creating updrafts that change weather patterns” (Liepert).
This is alarming because it means that pollution does not only contribute to the increase in CO2 globally, the smog itself has detrimental effects to the environment, it blocks out the sun. Current droughts are not limited to the countries I have mentioned so far either, many conflicts and uprisings lately could arguably be caused by drought as an effect of Global Warming. Darfur, and Syria to name a few. These areas started to experience terrible drought before major conflicts arose, raising tension and causing people to fight for their survival. An article published by the Journal of Climate studied one of our neighbors also, "Ensemble Projections of Regional Climatic Changes over Ontario, Canada," by Xiuquan Wang and collaborators. Xiuquan Wang is a Professor in the Mathematics department at Pennsylvania State University. This article contained data collected from 1950 until present day to predict changes in temperature and precipitation in parts of Canada up to 2099.
“The increase in average temperature is likely to be varying within 2.6- 2.7 degrees Celsius in the 2030s, 4.0- 4.7 degrees in the 2050s, and 5.9- 7.4 degrees in the 2080s. Likewise, the annual total precipitation is projected to increase by 4.5- 7.1% in the 2030s, 4.6- 10.2% in the 2050s, and 3.2- 17.5% in the 2080s” (Wang, X). This will affect Americans, especially those living in the mid-west, who experience vast extremes of temperature from summer to winter as a result of cold air either moving south through the US or becoming warm air.
Precipitations as well as temperature are expected to increase drastically in the next 30 years. The changes in precipitation and temperature that our close neighbors are currently experiencing and have been taking data samples of for over 50 years are alarming. Their predictions for the next 100 years are based on the data they have already collected up until present day. Another article published by the Polish Journal of Environmental Studies in 2015 was titled, "Characteristics of Drought Disaster-Causing Factor Anomalies in Southwestern and Southern China against the Background of Global Warming." This study was done by Jinsong Wang and his associates. It is a good contrast between drought in North America, and China. This article included climate observations of 129 meteorological stations in southwestern and southern China from 1961 to 2012. “The results show that over the past half century sustained temperature increase has been presented in the study area against the background of global warming. However, there is still a sharp warming point (mutation point) of temperature time series that occurred in 1994 during 1961 to 2012” (Wang, J). The effect of this article being observations made in China should drive home the point that environmental change is occurring everywhere. This will change things for China as well as the rest of the world. The next article is titled, “Improving Climate Change Detection through Optimal Seasonal Averaging: The Case of the North Atlantic Jet and European Precipitation.” This was a study done by Giuseppe Zappa and colleagues and published in 2015 by the Journal of Climate. Giuseppe is a Postdoctoral Research Assistant at the University of Reading. His research includes impact of climate change on extra tropical cyclones, climate model evaluation and intercomparison, polar lows, and energetics of the atmosphere. This article examined the changing weather patterns and how this impacts the accurate detection of climate Change. It suggested that the change can be more accurately measured when considering the effect that Climate Change has had on the seasons. The North Atlantic jet is extending eastward into Europe because of ocean warming. “Future response is characterized by a marked seasonality: an eastward extension of the North Atlantic jet into Europe in November–April and a poleward shift in May–October” (Zappa). “This is 5–15 years earlier than when evaluated in the traditional meteorological seasons” (Zappa). This is a huge change for the North Atlantic jet caused by Global Warming. Another article I found on this subject was titled, "Estimating the Response of Extreme Precipitation over Midlatitude Mountains to Global Warming." This article was published in 2015 by the Journal of Climate. The study was done by Xiaoming Shi and peers. Xiaoming is a doctor of climatology at Berkely. The data compiled in his article observed an increase in the amount of precipitation on mountains in this area, and a shift from snow to more rain. The fact that this area is receiving more precipitation than normal while others are receiving less should help convince any readers that wind currents really are changing. “Doubling CO2 not only increases the precipitation, but during extreme western slope events it shifts much of the precipitation from snow to rain, potentially increasing the risk of heavy runoff and flooding” (Shi). This article differed from others in that it articulated a circumstance of a place on Earth which is receiving increased precipitation redirected from other areas which are now receiving less.
“With 26% of the world’s population living within mountains or their foothills, and over 40% living in river basins originating in mountainous regions, understanding the response of orographic precipitation extremes to global warming is important for anticipating societal impacts such as flooding and landslides” (Shi). Places in the shadows of mountains as described above will also be affected by a lack of snow on the mountains replaced with occasional rain. The snow helps to spread out and slow the water which consistently melts from snow and collects into rivers and lakes people use. Without snow these rivers will only fill when it rains on the mountain and will dry during times when there is no rain.
Unfortunately this all directly affects plant life. To research some changes this has had on ecology I use the article, “Climate Change and Crop Exposure to Adverse Weather: Changes to Frost Risk and Grapevine Flowering Conditions.” This study was performed by Jonathan R Mosedale and associates in 2015, and was published by the Public Library of Science. Jonathan works at the University of Exeter studying forestry, environmental science, and soil science. This article examines the effects of Climate Change on grape vineyards. “Results indicate that the risk of adverse conditions during flowering declines under all future climate scenarios. In contrast, the risk of late spring frosts increases under many future climate projections due to advancement in the timing of bud break” (Mosedale). The warmer weather is beneficial to the grapes in some ways. However, the risk of late spring frosts could be devastating. The environment the grapes had thrived in is changing, they will have to adapt to the new environment or be planted elsewhere. Since Global Warming is making it increasingly more difficult to predict the weather, especially for predictions into the far future. It is becoming more and more important to get information for predicting weather patterns that are as accurate as possible. This article along with the others provides examples again and again that nothing on our planet is safe from changing as a result of warming. It is especially scary when it affects our food sources. My last example article on the subject of wind patterns included more study into the effects on plants. "Regional Variations in Potential Plant Habitat Changes in Response to Multiple Global Warming Scenarios." Published by the Journal of Climate in 2015, this study was performed by Chang-Eui Park and cohorts. Chang-Eui Park works at Seoul National University studying ecology, irrigation and water management, and environmental science. This article compared regions of changing ecology, plant life, and precipitation migration. Concentrations of certain types of plant life around the globe will change in response to changing precipitation patterns. “During the course of the twenty-first century, dominant plant habitat changes are projected in ecologically transitional (i.e., from tropical to temperate and temperate to boreal) regions” (Park). This source examined global vegetation and habitat changes in the near future, and ones which are drastically changing at the moment. Africa, for example, is predicted to change its habitat 10% by 2028. This poses a problem to areas that people have occupied for a long period of time. These changes will make it harder to gather food, find water, and other resources. It will also pose a threat to animals, especially those that cannot adapt to the new environment. This means that if you live in Africa in the next 10 years you will either see different plants than had occupied that area for hundreds of thousands of years, or no plants at all where certain types had thrived before.
My next topic is green energy. The benefits and drawbacks to modern Americans and businesses, as well as citizens of other countries. Eleanor Denny and colleagues did a study on this subject in 2015 published by the Economists’ Voice titled, "Hurry or Wait - The Pros and Cons of Going Fast or Slow on Climate Change." Dr. Denny is an Assistant Professor of Economics at Trinity College Dublin she studied economics and mathematics and is now interested in energy policy, power system operation, and societal issues relating to energy production and consumption. This source presented some pros and cons of switching modern companies over to green standards. That is green energy, de-carbonization, and investments in new technology. It considered the cost of transferring over to a “green” company in the long and short term, contrasting the price of new technology now with the impact of waiting until costs lower to convert to green energy. This source highlights some common problems, and solutions for businesses and people who want to reduce their carbon footprint.
“Climate Change risk will likely force the de-carbonization of our electricity sector and thus involve massive investments in long-lived assets using many new and emerging technologies. Since technological progress (independent or dependent on deployment) will likely lower the future cost of those technologies, investing early and rapidly forecloses saving money by installing those technologies at a lower cost later. There are thus benefits to waiting until the costs of renewables fall further. However, there are also costs to waiting” (Denny). The cost to waiting being further contribution to Global Warming.
I found an interesting article promoting carbon reduction techniques with a reward system. “Climate change, cash transfers and health,” is an article published by the Bulletin of the World Health Organization in 2015, a study done by Frank Pega and his fellow collaborators. Frank is an epidemiologist and health economist; he has an interest in the social determinants of health and health equity. He investigates the effects on health and cost-effectiveness of social interventions, especially housing and financial credit programs. This article suggests using our current Climate Change Related Disasters Cash Transfer Relief Program and tweaking it for a more proactive approach. “Broadly speaking, interventions for addressing the adverse consequences of climate change can be differentiated into those that mitigate impact– i.e. by reducing the net emissions of so-called greenhouse gasses – and those that facilitate adaptation – i.e. by helping populations and at-risk groups to survive in a more hostile environment” (Pega). Instead of giving cash transfers to people only when something bad happens and they are in need of compensation, it suggests using this cash transfer program to reward people for engaging in carbon reduction activities.
As Frank Pega says, “Cash transfers are established policy tools for protecting population health before, during and after climate-related disasters. For example, the Ethiopian Productive Safety Net Program provides cash transfers to reduce food insecurity resulting from droughts. We propose extending cash transfer interventions to more proactive measures to improve health in the context of climate change. We identify promising cash transfer schemes that could be used to prevent the adverse health consequences of climatic hazards. Cash transfers for using emission-free, active modes of transport – e.g. cash for cycling to work – could prevent future adverse health consequences by contributing to climate change mitigation and, at the same time, improving current population health” (Pega).
People can begin being paid by the government for taking a bike to work instead of driving, and live a healthier lifestyle as a result, all while reducing their carbon emissions. Providing a cash transfer to communities that decide to move themselves out of harm’s way from Climate Change, deterring requirement for compensation in the future as a result of a lost home or investments. This sounds a lot better than letting people wait until their homes are claimed by the sea to receive compensation when they have no other options. Poorer countries are affected more by climate change.
Frank Pega explains, “Compared with high-income countries, low and middle-class income countries have higher baseline disease burdens, lower resilience and weaker health and welfare systems that will, in consequence, find it more difficult to cope with the additional burdens imposed by climate change. Within countries, disadvantaged populations- eg. poor people and marginalized children- face disproportional health risks from climate hazards” (Pega).
Still primarily on the topic of green energy, but relating to lack of public green energy response I found an article titled, “The road to climate hell” published by New Scientist in 2015, a study done by Robert Gifford. Robert Gifford is professor of Psychology and Environmental Studies at the University of Victoria (British Columbia, Canada). His research interests include environmental psychology, social psychology, and personality psychology. This article discusses reasons for humanity’s lack of response to Global Warming threat. It argues that the human brain has not evolved to take action on events that threaten us gradually or are in the distant future. “Ignorance also stems from disciplined and deliberate attempts by groups with a vested interest in the production and use of greenhouse gasses to cast doubt on climate science,” according to Robert (Gifford). Cost of electric cars and economic concerns are both high. Confirmation bias, uncertainty, and ignorance about Climate Change has not changed drastically despite our efforts so far. Gifford explains confirmation bias, “We like to be told that we are correct. Therefore, people tend to read and watch media that tells them they are on the right track. Those who have doubts about climate science prefer to read newspapers and watch broadcasts that reinforce their convictions. That, in turn, is a serious barrier to engaging in climate-positive behavior” (…). Average people tend to understate Global Warming currently. Gifford also mourns, “Factual knowledge still lags severely: my team recently tested the climate change knowledge of a representative sample of Canadians. We found that, on average, they could only correctly answer 1.5 out of 6 questions” (…).
Interestingly enough we live in a capitalistic government which makes us even more ignorant according to Gifford, “support for free-enterprise capitalism is especially associated with disbelief in global warming. Capitalism has clearly produced comfortable lifestyles for millions, but some aspects of it, such as a belief in the freedom of the commons -- that common resources should be exploitable by anyone -- have also led to the devastation of fisheries, forests and landscapes around the world. Having a financial or emotional stake in capitalist organizations isn't compatible with adopting climate-positive behaviors” (…).
“Some people take little or no action because they believe that a religious or secular deity will not forsake them, or will do what it wishes anyway. When researchers at the University of Melbourne in Australia interviewed people living on Tuvalu's main island, Funafuti, which is threatened by rising sea levels, they found that about half weren't worried, maintaining that God wouldn't break the biblical promise never to flood Earth again. More commonly, secular people believe Mother Nature will take a course that we mere mortals cannot influence. Climate inaction follows naturally from these beliefs” (…).
This is a position that is taken in our politics as well. I don’t want people to think that I am discounting religion even though I am not religious myself. Faith is a very powerful force, it can give people the strength to do things they wouldn’t have dreamed of doing by themselves. When does blind faith take a step in the wrong direction? Do these people look at the facts before making their decision to believe God will fix this? According to confirmation bias described above, it is likely that they surround themselves with only opinions that confirm what they already believe, as we all tend to do with our biases.
My next topic centers mainly on lack of response to the Global Warming threat globally and some reasons humans have reacted the way we have so far. Karen M Douglas and associates had an interesting article in this genre titled, “Climate change: Why the conspiracy theories are dangerous” published in 2015 by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Karen is a professor of Social Psychology at the University of Kent. Her primary research focus is on belief in conspiracy theories. This article presents some Climate change conspiracy theories, what they argue, and what they may have in common. “They capture public awareness, drawing attention away from conclusions supported by scientific evidence and logic and toward explanations that involve complex schemes and plots,” states Karen (Douglas). Many theories against Global Warming are contentious and seem to be politically based and divided across the left-right wing spectrum. A common conspiracy explained by Douglas is, “Scientists are making it up for political reasons. According to this theory, scientists are fabricating or tweaking their data to gain political power and to support politicians’ strivings for power” (Douglas).
Another conspiracy theory people have, explained by Douglas is, “Global warming is a green scam. This argues that because many people have invested in renewable-energy companies, they stand to lose a lot of money if global warming is shown to be a myth. According to this theory, environmental groups therefore bribe climate scientists to doctor their data so that they are able to secure their financial investment in green energy. Or the theory that, “Global warming is an attempt to promote nuclear power.” That nuclear power companies are somehow influencing scientists to concoct Global Warming as a scandal to make more money in nuclear power” (…).
Still more conspiracy theories include that, “Scientists are making it up to get research funding. An alternative theory, but one that still blames the scientists, is that data is fabricated or distorted because climate scientists generally struggle to secure research funding. Alarming data increase the likelihood that future research will be supported, so climate scientists are motivated to lie about their data to increase their chances of success. This theory implies that a cohesive cabal of climate scientists has managed to con governments worldwide and even dupe the United Nations into endorsing their lies” (…).
While some of these theories are plausible, the real danger is they misinform and distract from the reality of Global Warming. We also have to remember that Global Warming has been proven, these people spewing conspiracy theories are cooking up ideas of dirty politics that only dirty politicians can come up with. Scientists do not think this way, certainly not 97%, these theories only speculate what certain people would gain if everyone believed Global Warming. They do not talk about what certain politicians and companies that are in power now stand to gain by continuing to keep people in the dark on these issues. After some reasoning Karen Douglas speculates in the next paragraph what people may have to gain from putting stock in conspiracy theories while letting scientific evidence float in one ear and out the other.
“The key psychological appeal of climate change conspiracy theories may be that they discredit the apparently overwhelming evidence that humans are contributing to the destruction of their own environment. Denial of climate change is likely to do a lot more for people’s general sense of equanimity” (Douglas). “Climate change conspiracy theories may therefore be a politically significant type of motivated reasoning” (Kunda, 1990). --- “In which information that challenges valued beliefs is discounted, while information that supports them is accepted uncritically” (Douglas).
In other words some people are more likely to believe theories that are more closely related to their own, especially if they make people more comfortable about where society is going, and if no change is required of them in their current lives. People who don’t want to believe in Global warming will find, “evidence” to support their ideas. Just as people who want to believe in Global Warming could blindly believe in a Global Warming activist without knowledge of any of the facts. The healthy medium is weighing both opinions and coming to the conclusion that Global Warming is real based on evidence, and by the professional opinions of 97.2% of scientists. Then realizing that the real hoax has been perpetrated by these people who are blatantly disregarding science, and we should be questioning the motives of those people. Instead of the motives of scientists trying to move our planet in a healthy direction. The real tragedy is that these people do have motives for discrediting science and it is because they have something to gain by influencing people to abstain from change. They have been able to pull on enough people's heart strings that nothing is being done about Global Warming even though the effects keep compounding exponentially.
Similarly, Maurice Lineman and his co-workers did a study which produced the article, "Talking about Climate Change and Global Warming" published in 2015 by the Public Library of Science. Maurice is a professor at Kyungsung University in Busan. He studies zoology, taxonomy, entomology, and he has a degree in plant ecology. His article looks at public opinion and sentiment about Global Warming by using Social Networks to enhance development of social consciousness. Facebook, twitter, and other social networks are used as well as commonly searched terms on Google relating to the subject. Lineman sums up the results of his study in the abstract.
He states, “It was found that there was a relationship between the awareness of the information and the amount of publicity generated around the terminology. Furthermore, the primary driver for the increase in awareness was an increase in publicity in either a positive or a negative light. Sentiment analysis further confirmed that the primary emotive connections to the words were derived from the original context in which the word was framed. Thus having awareness or knowledge of a topic is strongly related to its public exposure in the media, and the emotional context of this relationship is dependent on the context in which the relationship was originally established” (Lineman).
Basically, the study found that people searched for and learned more about Global Warming when the topic was given either positive or negative publicity. Also, if the topic had been presented in a negative light people tended to think of it as negative. If it was presented publicly in a positive light people thought of it as positive, no matter what they found online. People tended to side with whomever had brought the topic to their attention in the first place. It is a common topic for debate whether people are not thoroughly educated about climate change, or if the general public just chooses not to think about it. The findings of Lineman above show that people will tend to be easily manipulated on this issue. There are those who publicly berate the “theory” of Global Warming. There are those who speak out against the curve, trying to change people's minds about what they have heard. There are people who plead with the public to do research for themselves, and to find the evidence. There are people who say Global Warming is real and describe the effects, like me. Based on this study, people will believe what they have heard, and not what they have found for themselves. So in short, when it comes to Global Warming, the loudest opinion is the one people will believe. Global Warming is almost never discussed in places it needs to be, like politics, and so many people do not think about it or do any research. Since we have failed to act on Global Warming so far people don’t think it’s a big deal. Since it’s not a big subject in politics people don’t bring it up much. What is discussed, is meant to distract. People love to talk about it, surround themselves with, and have heated debates about unimportant issues that have been chosen for them by politicians who decide what is going to talked about publicly. It is no fault of the people themselves, these are things they are exposed to all the time. The blame falls on politicians for not acting on things that are important, and for the huge companies that supports their campaigns who do not care about the struggle of the common people. Some people want to sweep this issue under the rug for another 100 years, but it won’t wait that long. So while readers should start thinking about their own views regarding Global Warming and to reconsider their stance in the election based on reasons that matter, instead of the ones that the candidates choose which skirt this subject (i.e. Immigration, taxes, budget spending, national debt, insulting each other, talking about things nobody really cares about. They probably will not change their opinion on Global Warming until someone who knows what they are talking about gets much more publicity.
El Nino is the warmer annual weather pattern I talked about earlier during the wind pattern section, La Nina is the cooler.
My final article is a subject which is estranged from my other articles in that it is not related to the topics of sea level rise, wind pattern change, green energy, or public opinion. “Global Warming: News, Facts, Causes & Effects,” is an article published in 2014 by LiveScience. This resource has several articles on different aspects of global warming, and Live Science is always current and usually contains very reliable information. Some current topics they are covering are west coast forest fires, how hot oceans are killing coral, and melting sea ice to name a few. Coral, for instance, dies with a temperature change of a degree or less at times. With projected temperature increases the coral we have on Earth will all be dead shortly. LiveScience says, “The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced a global coral bleaching event. This year joins the ranks of 1997 and 2010 as the only times on record that bleaching has occurred in all three of the world’s oceans that support coral at the same time” (LiveScience). Fish use coral as a vital ecosystem and they are already struggling to survive with overfishing and the oceans becoming more toxic.
This of course has many different effects, “Without the protection of reefs, small islands lose their first line of defense against storm surge as well as ecosystems that support fisheries and tourism for more than 500 million people. Reefs also support about a quarter of all marine species despite covering less than 0.1 percent of the world’s oceans. In addition to bleaching, ocean acidification and wild sea level swings due to El Niño are also conspiring to cripple reefs” (…).
My purpose in including this source is that it is a great source for anyone that wants to do more research as I have. While this research paper was pretty long I only really covered three main topics of which there are countless. There are many more effects of Global Warming that are immediately threatening that I have omitted for sake of time. It would be nearly impossible for me to even list all of them. Our world is delicate, and our ecosystems even more so. If there is one thing that has become more evident with Global Warming it is that everything is connected, and something that affects one aspect of life is sure to impact all aspects of life that depend upon it.
I think that there are not enough people talking about or concerned with this issue. Little is being done and the best time to start an organized green revolution would have been many years ago. Climate Change is not discussed in elections or politics, and it’s not exactly a big afternoon brunch topic. My fear is that people don’t know enough, they do not know how bad things will get in just the next two decades. The changes we are about to see will become commonplace for our children, but to the people who have lived on this planet long enough to become accustomed to its current state, everything will change. This is a hard topic to talk about since there aren’t many solutions and all I’m offering is evidence of contemporary world issues affecting humans, animals, plants and oceans today. The point I am trying to prove is although there are many things we can stop doing today to cut off greenhouse gas emissions they really aren’t practical. That is to say turning off your lights when you leave the room, recycling, buying a hybrid car won’t make a difference. People will still drive gas powered cars tomorrow and the next day. Raising awareness as to just how much change is occurring globally and what it is affecting even though it may not be on the news or a part of our daily life is very important. The companies and politicians who don’t want anything to change are going to cling to their way of life as long as they can. The people who misinform, discredit, or distract from this issue are the true culprits to deal with. Anyone really who is benefitting from things remaining the way they are has a reason to stop things from changing and many do. Ever since I can remember my teachers have been educating me about what is right with the world and what is wrong. They have been pleading with my generation to change things for the better because so many people are misguided. They got through, things need to change, many things. So what can I do to help change the world? I hope that this paper is a start. Politics, the economy, national relations, war, environmentalism; there are so many things that need to change. Who would have thought that they could all be tangled together when it comes to Global Warming? This is an issue that affects anyone who calls themselves a resident of planet Earth, unless you plan on moving to Mars and starting the whole process over again. We will start doing something sooner or later, we will have to, at least to adapt to the earth changing. We should start talking about this issue more, before the event which convinces people to make a change is the one that spells disaster.
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