Across the planet there is an on-going debate on the topic of global warming or, more accurately, climate change. Though the two stances on climate change are heavily connected with political alignment, it is mostly a topic that considers a person’s scientific beliefs and knowledge. The major division lies between those who think that climate change is a hoax and those who acknowledge the science behind the global issue, but that debate is made up of a lot of smaller discourses, like some people believing that the Earth is not warming at all or that climate change is too hard, if not impossible to fix.
The basic argument around climate change surrounds whether or not the phenomenon is even real, which - scientifically - it is. Climate change is often referred to as a hoax, or is believed to be a fake story by those who deny it’s reality. This divide has a major correlation with political alignment; believers tend to be left-leaning, while deniers are most often Republicans. Klein includes climate change denial in what is most important to Republicans She continues to explain that the Republicans who deny climate change have not discovered Republicans, especially Conservatives, hold the current United States economy near and dear to their hearts. They think it works and they don’t think anything else will. But our economy is a huge part of the issue. Collectively, humans have a tendency to subconsciously rely on the “out of sight, out of mind ideology.” Since pollutants are invisible, it is easy to forget about them in daily life. Though it is understandable that since there isn’t much visible proof supporting climate change, the scientific proof should be enough. Scientists have confirmed seven facts: greenhouse gas levels have risen to record levels, temperatures are rising, ice sheets are melting and causing sea levels to rise, rainfall and drought patterns are changing, heat waves and extreme precipitation are worsening, oceans are acidifying, and animals and plants on every continent are migrating towards the poles.
Though the scientific proof is laid out, there are still those who think that the Earth’s climate is not changing at all simply because they’re not seeing extremely warm weather. Most who think this way also still use the term ‘global warming,’ which we have moved past since it doesn’t encompass the whole issue and can lead to more confusion. Climate and weather are not the same. Climate is defined as, while weather is the Our current President is a climate change denier and his stance on climate change encourages other Republicans and Conservatives to accept their views on it, just like their views on being racist and homophobic/transphobic etc. but that’s another topic for another essay. President Trump has tweeted about global warming, climate change, and global waming many times since activating his account, but two of his more note-worthy come from early this year. Many deniers hold a similar outlook; if global warming or climate change are real, then why is it still so damn cold?! The science behind this is that climate change includes the hot getting hotter and the cold getting colder and traces back to the mid 1800s. The “natural greenhouse effect” was identified by John Tyndall in 1859 after he built a spectrophotometer, which compares the different ways that different gases absorb and transmit radiation. Tyndall’s spectrophotometer found the most common gases in the air - nitrogen and oxygen - transparent to visible and infrared radiation. Other gases, like carbon dioxide, methane, and water vapor, were not. Carbon dioxide and water vapor were partly opaque in infrared radiation, which were quickly declared by Tyndall to be Even though it may be really cold in some places, it’s hard to deny the rising heat levels. In November of 2016, there was a 37 degree increase in the Arctic. Nesbit relays that He also describes what it was like in North America at that same time because the The climate is changing and temperatures are actively rising, with scientific and observable proof everywhere.
Once you get past the debate on whether climate change is real or not, there are people who accept climate change but believe it is too hard to fix. Though there is going to be a lot that goes into fixing the state of the planet, and we have to in order to survive, it is not impossible. Klein gives a good example of the main things that need to change in order to slow our damage. In her words, we need to This includes, but it certainly not limited to, rebuilding the public sphere, scaling back overconsumption, and heavily regulating and taxing corporations. In regards to the long-term planning required to get this done, She calls for improvements in the next ten years that will determine our outcome; improvements like transforming our She emphasizes that we need an economic system that Her ideology stems from one of the many propositions that have been made towards correcting our errors, but one of the newer and most promising yet; the Green New Deal. The Green New Deal is described to be a way of fixing three issues at one time. It addresses the threat of climate change as well as poverty, inequality, and the racial wealth gap. The Green New Deal intends to create jobs for unemployed Americans The issue does not lie with climate change being “too hard” to fix. The issue lies with humans being too lazy to fix their mistake. If we put forth efforts to better our home, we will save humanity. Even if climate change ends up being a hoax, what’s wrong with having a cleaner Earth?
Climate change involves many other issues besides the scientific proof behind it’s existence and the solutions for it, one of the main issues being that politicians and many adults in power are not taking action on it, and that it has become the job of young adults and, regrettably, children.
