Taylor Swinney

Jane Blakelock
ENG 2100 30
March 14, 2016
Final Draft
Climate change and why we should be worried
Climate change is a term that people are hearing more and more
lately. Politics are based around it, world conferences are held over it,
and humans are the cause of it. The official definition of climate
change is a long-term change in the earth's climate, especially a
change due to an increase in the average atmospheric temperature. It
has a significant impact on not only ecosystems but economies and
communities as well. While support and proof of Climate change is not
sparse there are people who are strong deniers of climate change and
the effects it can cause.
When bringing up the topic of climate change it is almost
guaranteed to start a very intense conversation, but the facts stand
that the Earths environment is changing. We as humans have a duty
to understand and protect the Earth. Being top of the food chain
comes with responsibility, which includes understanding how we are
damaging the earth and the effects we are causing. We must educate
future generations and ourselfs on the effects so we can them to stop
them in the future; the goal is to minimize the damage as much as

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possible. The biggest way we are doing harm to the planet we live on
is by using way too much CO2.
Every country and every continent is feeling the effects of rising
CO2 level. CO2, know otherwise as carbon dioxide, is defined by the
Merriam-Webster dictionary as "a gas that is produced when people
and animals breathe out or when certain fuels are burned and that is
used by plants for energy" CO2 is naturally found in the environment.
The problem comes from humans releasing an abundance of CO2, so
much in fact that we are messing with earth's natural chemistry. As
CO2 rises so are sea levels, along with many ice caps shrinking,
glaciers retreating, ocean warming and acidification, global
temperatures rising, and an overall decreased snow cover. The danger
is grave.
The effects the climate change can cause are great not only in
number but severity. Average global temperatures start a domino
effect; essentially one major problem is leading to several other major
problems. When temperatures go up you get changing landscapes
meaning melting ice caps, this, in turn, causes rising sea levels, and
with sea levels higher you get an increase in stronger storms with more
damage. On the other hand with higher temperatures some areas of
the planets are going to see an increase the risk of drought, fire, and
floods, which will cause more heat-related illness, diseases, and death.

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Another big effect of climate change is an economic downfall .

With widespread drought, famine, and changes to coastlines, the
economy would start to fall. Other impacts could include stronger
regulation regarding corporations on environmental law and policies,
which could lead to a downfall of big businesses. According to a Time
Magazine study conducted by Justin Worland (2015), "temperature
change will leave the average income around the world 23% lower in
2100 than it would be without climate change." Although the year
2100 seems to be far away and none of our concern it is our job now to
protect future generations and keep in mind the implications that we
will have. When 2100 comes it will be too late so we must start now to
slow climate change as much as possible.
Climate change not only affects humans but also causes major
harm to wildlife. Unlike humans wildlife can't defend themselves nor
are they causing climate change with their actions. They simply must
bare the consequences of our actions. For example melting ice harms
those animals living in the arctic, food and water availability will
decrease in many different environments, as well as loss of land for
hunting, living, and raising young. (nwf.org) One-fourth of earth's
species could be heading to extinction by 2050 thanks to rapid climate
change. (nwf.org) This would devastate delicate ecosystems already in
place.
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Earth goes through natural cooling and warming periods; this is

evident in the past seven glacial advance cycles and retreats we have
had in just the last 650,000 years. Modern climate era, that is the era
we currently live in, started with the end of the last Ice age about
7,000 years ago. A wide community of climate change deniers claim
we are simply in a natural warming period and therefore there is no
such thing and the damage being done is completely natural. While it
is, in fact, true we are currently in a warming period this time around
everything is very different. The warming trend is proceeding at such a
high rate it is unprecedented in the past 1,300 years. In the past CO2
lagged being the warming cycle, this time for the first time ever CO2
levels are leading the warming temperature levels. This means that the
current warming is not part of a natural cycle. (OSS Foundation)
Now that you understand the effects we are facing its time to
question why more people don't speak up and support climate change.
The answer is simple, Humans as a whole are just not educated
enough on the topic. Education is the one tool that can change
anything and teaching the correct definition of climate change along
with preaching about the harm it's doing could change the game in
environmental conservation.
One major reason people are failing to see the dangers of
climate change is that those we see as the "front line" of news

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concerning weather and climate (news broadcast meteorologists) deny

it, calling it a hoax. Not as many people closely follow the national
weather service as they would a local news station for example.
Broadcast meteorologists are the "face" of the production while
research meteorologists are finding the data with no recognition; their
data is neither seen nor heard. According to the article Climate
modeling comments of coincidence, conspiracy and climate change
denial by Goldsby and Koolage (1993) while 9 in 10 TV weathercasters
agree that climate change is indeed happening only 3 in 10 believe
there have been significant impacts in the past fifty years and even
fewer than that believe there will be more in the next fifty years. Less
than fifty percent of those meteorologists believe climate change is the
result of human activity. So while they agree climate change is
happening they are stating it's not impacting the world we live in and
that it is not the cause of humans, thus calling all the implications a
hoax.
Another reason we fail to notice the dangers of climate change is
that we simply are not educating the younger population enough to
make the changes necessary. We are not opening up their eyes to the
damaging effects that are associated with change. One survey by Eric
Plutzer and Mark McCaffrey in 2014 stated of 1,500 public school
teachers across the U.S. found that 70% of middle school science

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teachers and 87% of high school biology teachers devote some class
time to climate change, which seems great because it means we are
education the youth to make changes in the future. However, nearly a
third of U.S. teachers who instruct on climate change say that the
phenomenon is likely caused by "natural causes" despite the fact that
more than 95% of climate scientists agree that humans have driven
global warming. This is a huge reason people deny climate changes.
They believe it to be a natural accruing phenomenon so when
scientists preach against the excessive use of co2's they just scoff and
call them crazy because they were taught it was not the case. It a
cycle that needs to be broken in order to have any hope of changing
the way we protect and serve the environment in the future. Young
generations of people are our future so we need to preach that change
is needed so they can be the ones to get the ball rolling.
Even if climate change was a myth what harm is coming from
wanting to keep the environment more clean and safe? If one believes
that we are not currently experiencing climate change than clearly with
current CO2 levels higher than ever and rising then they have to
believe we will be experiencing it in the future. Why are we damaging
the Earth so much? It's the one thing every human needs to survive,
and there is only one. It's non-Replaceable, so even if it could handle

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what were throwing at it now who's to say that in the future it will be
able too. Why do people deny a claim that wants to raise awareness to
save future generations from a decaying planet? The facts are when
you deny climate change you're denying the environment and that's
just something we can't afford to do.

Sources
Goldsby, M., & Koolage, W. J. (2015). Climate Modeling: Comments on
Coincidence, Conspiracy, and Climate Change Denial. Environmental

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Philosophy, 12(2), 221-252. doi:10.5840/envirophil2015102625

Hall, C., Amelung, B., Cohen, S., Eijgelaar, E., Gssling, S., Higham, J.,
& ... Scott, D. (2015). On climate change skepticism and denial in
tourism. Journal Of Sustainable Tourism, 23(1), 4-25.
doi:10.1080/09669582.2014.953544
Worland, J. (n.d.). How climate change could make you poorer:.
Retrieved February 15, 2016, from http://time.com/4082328/climatechange-economic-impact/
Why U.S. Science Teachers Struggle to Teach Climate Change. (2016,
February 11). Retrieved February 15, 2016, from
http://time.com/4214388/science-teachers-climate-change/
Global Warming Natural Cycle. (2012, March 03). Retrieved February
27, 2016, from http://ossfoundation.us/projects/environment/globalwarming/natural-cycle
ST. FLEUR, N. (2015, December 11). The Road to a Paris Climate Deal.
Retrieved March 9, 2016, from
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/projects/cp/climate/2015-parisclimate-talks
Shaftel, H., Jackson, R., & Tenenbaum, L. (2016, March 02). Global
Climate Change. Retrieved March 09, 2016, from
http://climate.nasa.gov/

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