Al Gore, American politician and environmentalist, once said, “The good news is, we have everything we need now to respond to the challenge of global warming. We have all the technologies we need, more are being developed.... But we should not wait, we cannot wait, we must not wait.” (“Global”). College student most should be concerned about the social and political issue of global warming affecting the world today. When considering the political aspect, the social aspect and the reality of the changing world, students must be concerned with the issue at hand. The argument can be simplified into political, social and environmental effects of global warming that require our attention. To begin, the reality of this climate crisis is real and needs to be explored through factual information before any argument can be made. 

NASA recorded data shows, “Earth's 2016 surface temperatures were the warmest since modern recordkeeping began in 1880” (Potter). When looking at the research collected, globally-averaged temperatures rose by 1.78 degrees F, making 2016 the third year in a row to set a new high record for global rise in temperatures. (Potter). With the new technology used by NASA, they are able to confirm that this climate change has been devastating. It has been proven global sea levels rose an average of 17 centimeters over the last century, while the rate over the past decade has doubled in rate. Ice sheets are also significantly shrinking, says NASA, “Data from NASA’s Gravity Recovery and Climate experiment show Greenland lost 36-60 cubic miles of ice per year between 2002 and 2006, while Antarctica lost 36 cubic miles of ice between 2002 and 2005” (“Climate change”). On a different note, our oceans are taking a huge hit for the CO2 emissions and the warming of the climate. From the time of the Industrial Revolution, when CO2 emissions spiked, to now, the acidity of our oceans have increased by a whopping 30%. The oceans also absorb a significant amount of heat, with the top 700 meters of ocean waters displaying a warmth of 0.302 degrees F since 1969. (“Climate change”). Obviously, the scientific evidence doesn’t stop here, but the big numbers are presented to spark an idea of the impact on our world that the changing climate has already had. 

What does this have to do with our lives when thinking of the social aspects? The food and water supply, human health, systems of energy and infrastructure will all be changed forever due to this climate crisis. At the simplest, the thermal stress of the climate will lead to an increased number of floods, storms, drought and fires directly leading to increased death and injury. Considering human health, per professor Anthony McMichael, "Studies have shown a positive association between heatwaves and mortality, with elderly people (who have diminished physiological capacity), especially women being the most affected. Other research indicates that mentally ill people, children and others in thermally stressful occupations or with pre-existing illness are also extremely vulnerable” (McMichael). Infectious diseases are also evolving and affecting our day to day lives. McMichael says, “Many infectious agents, vector organisms, non-human reservoir species and rate of pathogen replication are sensitive to climatic conditions” (McMichael). Salmonella and cholera have higher rates of replication at higher temperatures. Regions where temperature and rainfall are low, climate change is said to ‘tip the ecological balance’ and trigger epidemics in these areas. Vector-borne disease is also reaching infection rates never seen before in areas with rapidly rising temperatures. This are diseases transmitted by a bite of an infected species, like mosquitoes or ticks. With the future in mind, these negative effects on human health are only expected to get worse. Even the small changes in temperature can greatly increase the frequency of extreme heat and high temperatures. In one study, it is shown, “major cities in Europe and northern USA will have substantial rises in both frequency and duration of severe heatwaves by 2090” (McMichael). If the temperatures continue to rise at these alarming rates, the spread of infectious disease will also greatly increase. 

Humans require basic resources on a day-to-day basis, especially water and food to stay alive. If college students want to stay alive, they might want to educate themselves on the impact of climate change on these basic necessities. When considering food and water supplies, the climate plays a major role in the production of food. Increase in floods and droughts will devastate certain areas of farming. Many crops are unable to grow in extreme conditions, and will be wiped out entirely if these conditions persist. The warmer water temperatures will result in a shift of fish and shellfish species and prevalence, so the fisheries known now may be irrelevant in the coming years. The increasing acidity of the ocean water worldwide is also wiping out entire populations of fish and shellfish.  Due to recent research by the EPA, “In 2011, exposure to high temperature events caused over $1 billion in heat-related losses to agricultural products.” (“Climate Impacts”). Climate change is also said to increase the prevalence of parasites and disease present in livestock sold and eaten worldwide. Especially in livestock, which accounts for over half of agriculture income, “heat stress can increase vulnerability to disease, reduce fertility and reduce milk production” (Climate Impacts”). With these conditions, the world can be left without fish, many crops, and healthy livestock. Drinking water will also be impacted. Sewer systems have and will continue to overflow due to the rising water levels, and this overflow of infected water will reach drinking water supply and render it all useless. The rising sea levels will lead to salt water intruding into groundwater drinking supply, rendering these reservoirs also useless. Water purity also impacts the power supplies worldwide. The Union of Concerned Scientists say, “lower lake and river levels may threaten the capacity of hydroelectric plants, while higher temperatures may mean that water is too warm to cool coal and nuclear power plants, leading to power burnouts. Shrinking mountain glaciers threaten electricity generation as well.” (“Global Warming Effects”). Essentially, if nothing is done to save the climate, in time humans will be left with less food, less water, horrible health conditions, and a decrease in energy. College students also have to be concerned about the political stakes in this issue and require education on it. 

Especially today, there has been an increasing partisan divide between Republicans and Democrats on the issue of climate change. A lot of studies have pointed out that this may be because of conservative media and their efforts to disprove the factual evidence of climate change. However, according to a political sociology professor at McGill University, J.T. Carmichael, “media coverage, extreme weather, issuance of major scientific reports and changes in economic activity and foreign conflict” are impacting the views on climate change (Carmichael). This partisan divide has not always existed, though. A poll completed by the Gallup Organization showed that these divides were almost non-existent, with 67% of the Democratic party and 66% of the Republican party indicating that they were worried ‘a great deal or a fair amount about global warming’ (Carmichael). These newfound divides don’t just challenge the climate, they work their way to challenging the basic trust in scientists and research conducted today. According to researcher Cary Funk, the more liberal Americans focus on the work of climate scientists and fully comprehending the phenomena. A study shows that “55% of liberals say climate research reflects the best available evidence most of the time, while 9% fo conservatives say this only reflects the best available evidence most of the time” (Funk). Republicans also tend to take the side of climate change that says these climate researchers and their findings are only influenced by the ‘desire to advance their own careers’ and seem of higher rank and importance (57% of the political party agrees), also that their findings are to advance their own political beliefs (54%) (Carmichael). In general, conservatives tend to believe that the climate crisis is a hoax, and liberals tend to say that it is relevant and action must be taken. 

This information and partisan divide has been especially relevant under the new Trump administration. His new budget intends to end all programs to heal the earth, including lowering domestic greenhouse emissions, efforts to slow climate change and scientific efforts to study climate. Mick Mulvaney, head of Trump’s Office of Management and Budget says himself, “We’re not spending money on that anymore. We consider that to be a waste of your money to go out and do that” (Greenfieldboyce). The Clean Power Plan will also be cut from the budget, completely wiping any governmental concern on the reduction of greenhouse gasses from power plant emissions. The new budget “eliminates the Global Climate Change Initiative and fulfills the President’s pledge to cease payments to the United Nations’ climate change programs” (Greenfieldboyce). Although this massive budget rework will not wipe the American minds of climate change entirely, it makes it extremely difficult to find funding to further the evidence of the impacts of global warming. Ignorance of the President and his administration will only spread ignorance to the rest of America. Why is he so concerned about erasing this issue entirely from the budget? Greenfieldboyce says, “the Department of Defense has identified climate change as a destabilizing force” (Greenfieldboyce). Indicating Trump is not only placing priority in his outward appearance to the world, but that he will risk the health of the planet and its inhabitants just to build himself as a powerful leader. 

So how educated are American students on this topic anyway?
