Humans as a race may feel responsible for the increase in climate change, but this change is not due completely to human impact on the environment. It is mainly humans fault, but other factors like the suns energy also contribute in much smaller ways. In the recent history of our earth we have begun to see many people and organizations take a serious interest in the health of the earth with respect to global warming. There are many clues that can teach us about the earth’s climate from thousands of years ago, but scientists are saying that climate change is occurring faster now than it has ever before. This fast paced change is what is making people so interested and concerned when it comes to the health of the earth. This topic, in today’s world, is becoming more and more controversial as the years go on. We have begun to see more and more people become invested in this. Many people today are not educated on the topic, which is why we see more people wanting to reach out and educate the general public on this topic. Yes, we all can agree that we have seen abnormal weather patterns in recent years. We have proof that the earth is warming but the debate continues on the whole topic. There are various aspects to this debate such as the believers versus non-believers, the science behind it, and also the politics that come with this problem. I want to educate my readers on the magnitude of this topic, and the numerous aspects that stem from the different legs of this phenomenon.

We see a link from rising temperatures due to human activity. Humans have been on this earth for a brief second when you think about the timeline of our planet. In that brief second that we have been here, we have seen how human impact can drastically alter the world in which we live. Many scientists believe that we as a human race have significantly altered the world we live in by going about our daily lives.  Human activity such as the burning of fossil fuels, releasing carbon dioxide, and deforestation all are directly linked to the rise we see in global temperatures. The spark notes version of climate change is that gasses such as carbon dioxide, methane, and water vapor trap heat within earth’s atmosphere therefore making the temperature of the earth rise. This process is more commonly known as the greenhouse effect. Changing the abundance of these gasses in the atmosphere can lead to either a warming or cooling effect on the atmosphere. Higher temperatures also bring about natural disasters like tornadoes, hurricanes, floods and droughts. These disasters can pose as a huge threat to our safety. We could see less and less clean drinking water. As you can see there is harm that comes with human activity, but human activity isn’t wholly at fault here.

From a scientific point of view we see the many people who are experts on the topic and feel as if global warming is a serious threat to humans, wildlife, and also the ecosystems of this earth. First off these scientists start by looking at the climate of the earth from the past. One of the main ways that these scientists can tell what the atmosphere of the past was is to drill cores through polar ice sheets, which contain trapped air bubbles which hold little pieces of the earth’s atmosphere from the past. By drilling these cores in the ice caps we can see that the concentration of greenhouse gasses has increased tremendously since the industrial revolution came to be. Another way that scientists can determine the climate from past years is from the rings of trees. In warmer years we see trees with thicker rings than years that are cold which makes the rings in the tree less thick. (Gardiner) Humans as a population should be concerned about this dilemma we face in daily life. Climate change will directly affect the national security of The United States. These extreme weather patterns can bring a series of problems our way. We could see in the near future how climate change can bring about diseases and food shortages, which ultimately would lead to utter chaos. One author provides an astonishing fact that deals with the rise in extreme weather due to the atmospheric change. He says, “After Hurricane Katrina, which occurred in 2005, in the past year, 14 hurricanes occurred in the U.S.” (ÇOLAKOĞLU) After reading a fact such as that one I almost find it hard to even begin to try to denounce the concerns that come with global warming. Another method is to do the same type of thing but to dig under lakes and oceans where scientists can find sediments that date back millions of years and can give us information on what the climate was like during certain areas of time. (Gardiner)  As I said before the effects that will come with climate change could end up to be devastating for people and the environment in all places of the world. As the polar ice caps melt we will see an increase in sea level, and as the sea level increases we will begin to see more and more pieces of continent become submerged in water. 

We also see a side of this argument that doesn’t think that climate change is that big of a deal. People who are not interested in this topic feel as if climate change is something that is a waste of time, energy and money, because they do not think that it will harm them in their lifetime. Many of these people who feel as if climate change is a miniscule problem in today’s world feel as if scientists also are feeding the public inaccurate information. A lot of the “skeptics” think that there is no accurate way to truly measure climate change as a whole. The people who deny climate change are commonly referred to as skeptics, who focus their attention on the medias interpretation of global warming rather than the actual science behind global warming. (Suzuki) In reality there are accurate ways to measure the rising temperature of the earth simply by recording the past temperatures that have been collected into scientific data. Yes, the earth’s temperature is a balancing act between the suns energy leaving and entering the earth’s system. This balance is why many people today do not think that this is as big of a problem as most think. I feel as if many of the people on this side of the argument just think that this is just all a part of how the world works, and that it does not link back to humans and the way we go about everyday life. I can somewhat see where they are coming from by thinking that this is just how the world works. Many authors of scholarly articles and books want to try and debunk the myths that surround the question of humans and their impact on global warming. These experts think that many people feel as if global warming is much more harmful than it actually is. I’m trying to show how these “skeptics” are arguing on completely inaccurate grounds. The things they argue for are based on media coverage and have little to nothing to do with actual data that has been recorded over a series of years to measure the change of the earth’s temperature, glacial retreat, the warming of the oceans, and much more. The carbon dioxide level in the earth’s atmosphere has been under 300 ppm in the last 400,000 years ago and since 1950 it has risen to over 400 ppm. (NASA) Carbon dioxide levels are important because it is the most prominent greenhouse gas, therefore the more carbon dioxide we see the hotter the earth will become.

In the past there was little knowledge of the science that is behind global warming. People knew about the greenhouse effect and what it does, but they still had uncertainties when it came to the whole topic of global warming and the harms that comes with it. The main demographic who were focused on this in the past were mainly policy makers for political offices. In a piece written in 1991 Thomas R. Stewart begins his piece by saying, “Since there are major gaps in scientific knowledge about the greenhouse effect, policy makers are forced to rely on scientists’ judgement about the rate of climate change and its effects.” (Stewart) When reading that quote and the article as a whole one can see how little the general public knew about the harms that can come with climate change. He said that policy makers have to rely on scientists’ judgement, which sounds utterly crazy to us in today’s world because they were basing their policies off of a judgement not hard evidence. Hard evidence was not collected until later years, so in the past these policies were based on a scientist’s educated guess or hunch. The general public was somewhat in the dark in the years before the turn of the century, because there really was not much knowledge or concern for the topic until fairly recent years. When the article by Mr. Stewart was written there was clearly some debates occurring between scientists, because he keeps referring to how much scientists disagree on the uncertainty that comes with climate change. Going back to the political spectrum of global warming in the past; many of the environmental policy makers in the 90’s and previously were in a way taking a shot in the dark when forming their policies because of how scientists were banging heads when it came to the question of global warming. Members holding important spots in office had to help make policies on the environment, and they would collaborate with scientists. They had to rely on the best and most trusted source to get information from, which could be questionable when writing a policy for someone who holds an office in the government. This could be questionable because of how, in the past, there was such a lack of adequate evidence on the topic of global warming.

In more recent years we have seen a steady incline of growing numbers of people who are trying to educate the general public to become more concerned and involved in the topic of global warming. This movement to educate the general public on the topic is going to be one of the biggest challenges that environmentalists will have to face in the 21st century. Many environmental activists are trying to stress the importance of individual knowledge of global climate change, and to also educate on the harms that are associated with global warming. Many of the harmful consequences that come from global warming can affect the human population tremendously. Another major reason to try and educate people on this topic is to show people how their own actions can contribute directly to global warming. Many political leaders across the world, especially in the United States, are trying to integrate climate change education into basic levels of education to help teach kids when they are young to understand what this exactly is and also how it can affect the lives of them, the people around them and the environment surrounding them. One key problem when it comes to the education on the topic is the fact that this is such a big concept to teach and also understand and learn. It could be difficult to teach a concept like this in children’s classes because there are so many different components. A large number of scientists feel as if educating young will eventually help transform our society into a more environmentally friendly society, which will help the environment tremendously if executed well. The only way to address this problem is to watch our emission rate as a race. If we cut our emissions, then we will see a cut in the rising temperatures that have begun to come about in recent years. People obviously realize that achieving this goal will take time, but I feel as if people will quickly realize the importance of educating the youth on this topic in hopes to help curb this issue that is leaving a stain on the earth and our society as a whole. I think an education program would be nothing but beneficial for our nation when it comes to the health of the earth. If we made programs like this we could teach students at a young age about the importance of the health of our earth, and how the earths health contributes to our health as a whole. I don’t remember any education on climate change until my junior year of high school. An education program would help people become much more aware of the world around them, and this would also make people have much more respect for the earths health.

The physical science behind climate change is hard to understand even for the most advanced of scientists.  Scientists know what they know from piecing together evidence from the past and comparing it to observations that they have made in current time. Greenhouse gasses can come from a large amount of various human activities. Some of these activities are things like burning fuel for heat and energy, deforestation, industrial products, and fertilizers for crops (USEPA). The past 200 years have affected the once stable amount of these gasses due to human actions. Compared to the preindustrial times these gas levels are almost more than double the level they were once at before humans started to build an industrialized world. The global average of the earth since the 1800’s has increased by over 1.5 degrees Fahrenheit and in certain regions of the world it is even more than 1.5 degrees (USEPA). Hopes for a change of these statistics lands on humans as a race to try and fix this problem. During this century we will observe the continuation of global warming and we will also experience more intense changes in the climate. The average global temperatures are expected to increase from 0.5 degrees Fahrenheit to 8.6 degrees Fahrenheit within the next 100 years (USEPA). This means that human activities have caused this change in the earth, and it needs to stop if we hope to continue to live in a healthy environment. Teaching about all of these factors in primary schools will help to educate the general public on the topic, and if the general public is informed then more and more will realize the severity of this. When more realize the severity, then more will begin to care and want to try and bring about a change in our world.

As the years go on we as a race need to become more aware and concerned of the world in which we live in. If we continue at this rate we are going to see significant changes to our earth, and the changes that will come about can potentially be devastating to humans. This battle against climate change is not going to be easy in any way, but if we remain conscious of this dilemma then we will see a change for the better of the world. 

 