Everyone knows that climate change exists, and it is a huge problem. Well, most people do. There are still those that deny it in the face of overwhelming evidence. We know that the main cause of global climate change is pollution, but did we know that before it happened? Could this have been prevented? Can it be fixed? These are all questions that need answers, and we might just have them and not know it yet.
A basic rundown of global warming is as follows: the average temperature in the world is rising, and because of that the ice caps are melting and causing sea levels to rise. Not only that, but because of the rise in temperature ecosystems are beginning to collapse as organisms cannot adapt fast enough to the new heat. The cause of global warming is as follows: “Global warming occurs when carbon dioxide (CO2) and other air pollutants and greenhouse gases collect in the atmosphere and absorb sunlight and solar radiation that have bounced off the earth’s surface. Normally, this radiation would escape into space—but these pollutants, which can last for years to centuries in the atmosphere, trap the heat and cause the planet to get hotter. That’s what’s known as the greenhouse effect” (MacMillan). This effect only gets exponentially worse as the world produces more pollution. The rate of deterioration only gets faster as time continues. Coal burning is currently the largest source of pollution to date, with transportation being the second largest (MacMillan).
Let us get the opponents out the way first. 97% of scientists say that global warming is real. Those other 3% that say it is not are funded by fossil fuel companies. They most likely have to say that to keep their jobs. The evidence pointing toward the veracity of global warming is overwhelming. There is no way anyone can refute the claims of 97% of the world’s scientists. One of our own Oklahoma senators brought a snowball to Congress as proof that global warming does not exist. That is the kind of resistance global warming gets. Not facts, not numbers. Just people saying “It’s cold outside” as their proof. Simple conjecture. The opposition has as much proof as the Flat Earth Society does: circumstantial at best. These deniers make it a political debate dressed up as scientific debate. Today, our current president is a denier of global warming. One of his major campaign promises was to bring back the coal industry, not only a dying industry but one that should die. It is outdated, inefficient, and not eco-friendly. Of course the coal industry helped fund his campaign though.
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The big fossil fuel companies help fund the opposition to climate change. In an article written by Dana Nuccitelli, she says that a hundred percent of Exxon’s research contributes to global warming being caused by humans, but Exxon provided thirty one million dollars to groups that say otherwise. They help fund the campaigns of politicians that would favor them, contributing over one hundred and twenty million in 2015. They fund the think tanks and groups that deny global warming. They even contributed one point two million to a man named Dr. Willy Sun in February of 2015 according to a VICE documentary. The fact that they fund the opposition should alone be enough to discredit them, but there is more.
Exxonmobil scientists worked with government scientists in the 1960s. They saw the same results that the government scientists did. But Exxonmobil still denies climate change. Many companies lied about how climate change will affect their businesses. One such company is Peabody Energy, who was facing a lawsuit from its investors. Exxonmobil said the same thing. The idea came out that Exxonmobil’s climate research was far and away ahead of the world’s at the time. They, of course, denied it. But, that begs the question: Why did most fuel companies raise the height of their oil platforms twenty five years before the sea level projections came out? It seems fishy because it is. There are laws in place that these companies have to come forward with any research results they have, and they have not. All of this is according to a VICE documentary done in 2017.
Climate change is happening. The results are undeniable, and if there is not enough proof yet, there certainly will be. At the end of the century, the global consensus is that the sea level will rise by 3 feet by the end of the century. According to Monica Ningen (an insurance agent), In the state of Florida alone that amount of water will cause a hundred and forty five billion dollars of property damage and put three hundred thousand homes under water. Double that to six feet and you get five hundred and forty four billion dollars of property damage and one point four million homes underwater. And that is just one state. Imagine that world wide. There are already entire ecosystems that have been destroyed by how much the sea levels have risen. There are already entire towns and villages and cities that have been ruined or have had to relocate because of the threat of rising water. Another effect of global warming is that more severe weather is happening, and it is only getting worse. According to an article written by Melissa Denchak, the average cost in the USA on natural disaster between the years 2011 and 2015 was ten point eight billion dollars per year. Per year. That evens out to about fifty four billion in those four years. And because the storms are getting worse and more frequent, the cost is only getting higher. Accordingly, the increase in droughts also applies to this same notion. Another effect is dirtier air. Dirtier air can cause all sorts of respiratory problems, and causes more environmental changes. There are also higher wildlife extinction rates and more acidic oceans. The wildlife die off as their habitats become unsuitable for them, and the acidic oceans kill off more life too. The acidic oceans also help cause acidic rain, which not only destroys environments but ruins infrastructure and is bad for human health too. Lives have already been ruined and it will only get worse, and it will only begin to deteriorate faster.
The arctic ice melting rate is at an all time high. It is currently melting at a rate of 50 square meters per year. The rate is currently climbing so fast that scientists cannot even keep up with the projections for when we will no longer have any ice-caps left. Without the ice-caps, the temperature will only rise even further. But, at that point there will be so much of the world under water that it may not even matter anymore.
At this point, the effects of climate change are irreversible. We have already crossed that threshold. All we can hope to do with our current technology is hope to slow down the effects long enough to buy time for us to develop the technology to reverse it. Until then, we can force more regulations of fossil fuel companies and energy companies. We can put more regulations on transportation companies. We can stop deforestation. It is a given that we cannot simply stop completely. We cannot go completely green, but we can find ways to be more sustainable. We can be more efficient with carbon emissions and we can chop down trees more sustainably. We can do this in an effort to be greener, and in doing so save the Earth because if the Earth dies, we all die.
Works Cited
- VICE. “Assad’s Syria & Cost of Climate Change (VICE on HBO: Season 5, Episode 1).” YouTube, YouTube, 14 Aug. 2017 ,www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1689&v=y20Tx2eCw28.
- Bloomberg.com, Bloomberg, www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2018-09-13/big-oil-and-climate-change-losing-the-30-years-war.
- Denchak, Melissa. “Are the Effects of Global Warming Really That Bad?” NRDC, 10 Sept. 2018, www.nrdc.org/stories/are-effects-global-warming-really-bad?gclid=Cj0KCQiAxZPgBRCmARIsAOrTHSZb8qNOxaIj9t1H6xAQ_jgSAnqTXeLh1-ggw2aiOsj61dpJzTPUQcAaAiKaEALw_wcB.
- Nuccitelli, Dana. “In Court, Big Oil Rejected Climate Denial | Dana Nuccitelli.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 23 Mar. 2018, www.theguardian.com/environment/climate-consensus-97-per-cent/2018/mar/23/in-court-big-oil-rejected-climate-denial.
- Holthaus, Eric, et al. “Scientists Are Desperately Trying to Figure out How Long We Have until ‘Doomsday Glaciers’ Melt.” Mother Jones, 22 Nov. 2017, www.motherjones.com/environment/2017/11/scientists-are-desperately-trying-to-figure-out-how-long-we-have-until-doomsday-glaciers-melt/.
- MacMillan, Amanda. “Global Warming 101.” NRDC, 21 Nov. 2018, www.nrdc.org/stories/global-warming-101?gclid=Cj0KCQiAoo7gBRDuARIsANeJKUYWKX0q-6I82GXtIltmoTMAPPsVauQQLLaVQbZWXN5hZi_OPgKDtjYaAuxYEALw_wcB.
