In an editorial face-off, two writers of opposing opinions write about the same topic. Then, a poll is included at the end to see which argument wins. This week, the topic is climate change.
The Looming Threat of Climate Change
Calissa Jones
California is on fire, the east coast is being rampaged by storms, and big cities throughout the country are running out of clean, breathable air. Sounds like the kind of fictional dystopia you would read about in a young adult book, right? Yet this is the reality we could be facing, and that threat is only going to get worse, thanks to the devastating effects of human-induced climate change.
I once asked a friend their views on climate change, to which they replied that it was “fake news.” When asked why she thought that, the answer came less readily. After a moment, a statistic was noted, though the confidence of the sentence before was completely gone. After a bit of prodding and research, it seems this fact that she had heard was just that: fake news. Yet why are people predispositioned to have such a negative view on the fight against climate change?
According to Brock University psychologist professor Gordon Hodson and PhD student Mark Hoffarth, one of the underlying reasons has to do with politics. As they stated, in the United States, environmental concerns are thought to be more liberal, so the right tends to push back for political reasons, regardless of their actual stance and opinions.
“This is a problem because people are more likely to believe what they hear from those they identify with, and to reject what they hear from others,” says Leo Barasi, writer for The Guardian.
So now that a primary reason for denial is uncovered, why is this belief so dangerous? The main threat comes in the ignorance and apathy that follows. When cigarettes were outed as an enormous cause of cancer, suddenly bans and restrictions were placed. However, when our increased CO2 emissions was revealed to be the cause of things such as the strengthening of natural disasters, the decline in air and water quality, and more, the law-makers went eerily silent. Essentially, the politicizing of the issue has led to a stagnant reaction to the consequences from the leaders of our government. Not only is this impacting those leaders, but the followers are being influenced too. The subject has become taboo, and the responsibility for action has been left to only half of the population.
Another reason this is concerning is simply because it leads to a dangerous cynical perception on facts. For instance, even though 97% of scientists agree that climate change is real and is “extremely likely due to human activities,” only 58% of Americans say the same. If this altered perception were to spread to other ideas, such as the effects of medical marijuana or cancer treatments, people may behave differently. As scientists are our leading experts of things such as these, if their credibility is diminished, whose opinions but our own can we trust and follow?
With this being said, if things change and the scientists were to be believed by all, our future still looks depressingly grim. According to the experts, we only have 25 years to fight climate change. If not, we’ll be facing rising sea levels, the obliteration of the icecaps, and an overall shift in our climate. The world will change as we know it.
However, there still is hope. If action is taken now, we can fix our course and better our planet. Companies such as Unilever and L’Oréal are working on this now by leading their industries in lowered carbon emissions, water use, and forest protection. Others take a more direct approach, such as Elon Musk’s Tesla and SolarCity, which work together to create electric cars powered by solar energy. Hundreds of other companies have pledged to achieve 100% renewable energy at various times.
These leaders in the climate-change charge are not only proving that climate change is believed by many established people, but that there is still countless things we can do to help protect our future. We can support eco-friendly companies and campaigns, raise public awareness to the point of action, and overall encourage better actions from our politicians and people of power. Climate change is a daunting force that has the power to wreck our futures, but only if we let it. There are many problems we as a generation are going to face throughout our lifetimes; let’s not have the very real effects of climate change be one of them.
Even if It's Real, It's Not Worth Losing Sleep Over
Derek Nastasi
Climate change, it’s talked about by many people not only in this country but around the world. It has many people scared and has many people talking. I believe that while climate is an issue it’s not at all a pressing one that needs to be dealt with now. Honestly I can list some more important issues that are directly affecting us as of now: Domestic terrorism, school shootings, drugs, war, world terrorism, violence in cities, etc… What my point is you'll probably get shot before you find the cure, if there is one, to climate change.
According to Global News.ca, twice as many Americans have died due to school shootings than have died in combat campaigns in 2018 so far. Eleven Americans have died in 2018 according to The U.S. Department of Defense, and reports from the U.S. Navy confirms 7 deaths. As we know some school shootings leave more than that number dead in one setting such as the one this year at Stoneman Douglas High School where 17 students were killed. Even though the U.S. has not had a lot of combat lately compared to other years but it goes to show that more people are safer in a war-torn country than in a classroom. That's why violence in the country is such a huge issue. Look at chicago, according to the Chicago Tribune 518 people have died due to homicide in 2017 as a whole. Another huge killer is drugs, and unfortunately everyone likes their drugs. According to drugabuse.gov, more than 72,000 drug overdose deaths have occured in the U.S. in 2017 alone. That's not counting the countries in Central and South America where some economies run on drugs. Look at the Opioid Epidemic in China. According to the South China Morning Post, tens of thousands of people die every year from it.
I believe that there are a lot of people out there that think climate change is the biggest problem not only in the country but in the world. I see where they are coming from that climate change will always be there and the Earth's climate will not stay the same but it's something that isn't fully researched and we don't have all the facts on. Now according to the World Health Organization the Earth has only warmed 0.85 degrees Celsius (celcius is lower than Fahrenheit) in the past 130 years, which is a long time. Some sources may make you think we've been burning in an oven and that change is much more, but it isn't. Sources may say that many deaths have occurred but according to the World Health Organization, that’s mainly in developing countries in Africa where health and heat has always been a problem. Better yet, a lot of those deaths are due to diseases like Malaria which is a disease not the climate. That's like saying let's blame the deaths from Spanish Flu on rising water levels. Also they say climate change has caused famine, which to be fair yes there is a lot of drought and famine in Africa and throughout history, but that's just nature and we can't change nature. And plus when has Africa ever had food? Never. It's said by multiple sources that the African government has hidden humanitarian aid resources from their people. To some it up Earth has gone through much worse like volcanic eruptions, nuclear bombs, earthquakes, mass flooding, and not to mention at one point according to some scientists, the Earth was flaming hot lava flowing all over towards the beginning of Earth’s life. Earth may just slowly be going towards another change, there has been times where the Earth has been hotter or cooler like the Ice Age. We aren't just going to stop using gas or oil, that's our way of life, and not to mention making solar panels and windmills take letting out “dirty energy”, so your not safe either way. I will say one thing though, one thing we can control is litter, but that's a different discussion for different day. I get it, climate change sounds scary, at one time I thought so too, but it's just another way to spread paranoia and make us more dependent on the government, and to exploit us. Earth has been through much worse than some smoke in the air.
What are your thoughts? Which side of the argument are you on? Vote here (check back later for this function).