“We
are changing the composition of the Earth’s atmosphere.”
-Roseland,
103
Terrifying as it is, this statement is factual- and is backed by scientists the world over,
yet some people (and some news media, in particular) still claim that climate change is not happening, they claim that
they don’t BELIEVE it. Well, wake up people! This is not a matter akin to
believing in Santa Claus or the right way to rear children, or even the nature
vs. nurture debate- no, this is a purely scientifically backed TRUTH- climate
IS changing, and we (human beings- including me and you) are honest-to-goodness altering
the atmosphere’s composition.  |
| Current and future consequences of global climate change. |
Ok, so what if you don't deny that human's are tinkering with the Earth's atmosphere, why does it matter? Won't we develop some new technology or geoengineer some innovative solution to fix this mess? Well, maybe-- but maybe not. And what are we to do in the meantime? The climatic ramifications of our actions are (to me) scary enough, but for those who don't care so much about Earth, but might be more inclined to take note if they can see how people are directly impacted, might want to consider how climate change directly impacts human's health.
The Clean Air Act was established in 1970 and designed to improve and protect the quality of the country's air, and presumably, improve American's health. But how effectively is this bill living up to its claims? Sure, we no longer see factories billowing black clouds of smoke over our cities the way they used to, but how safe is the air we breathe? Just because pollutants are more highly regulated than in the past doesn't mean they aren't being put into our air, and the fact is that we don't fully understand how atmospheric pollutants affect human health.
But we do know that there is cause for concern. I was chatting with my neighbor, Steven Higgs, the other day about his work, which he has dedicated to raising awareness of environment and health related issues, particularly those near and dear to us in coal-loving Indiana. More and more, research is showing that pollution today still has significant impacts on people's health, such as the case between the link between autism and the environment or sulfur dioxide and asthma rates.
So while some people might still be deciding whether climate change is real or not, or if it's all that important, I'd rather just let the facts speak for themselves- maybe when people begin to realize that their health is directly impacted by changes in the Earth's atmosphere they might just start believing that climate change is real.
I really like how you connected climate change consequences directly to the individual. And I think you're right, IF people realize their health is being directly affected by the pollutants we're creating then they might step up and do something to change their behavior. Perhaps we need more people like your neighbor, Steven, to spread the word and inform us about the harmful effects of pollution, cause, yeah, we "know they're bad", but do we really know? (or what do we really know?)
ReplyDeleteI honestly think the only way to get people to accept climate change is to bring the discussion down to a personal level. My old boss didn't believe in climate change and we would constantly argue about the topic. Each argument would end with us both being frustrated because the other didn't agree with us. So, one day I brought up the idea that I just wanted my children someday to be able to swim in our local river without encountering signage about the harmful effects of the water, or breath in the air without the worry of asthma. On that very day, we began agreeing with each other. Though everything we were speaking about related to climate change, it wasn't until we spoke at a personal level did we finally understand. We both wanted to see the same things happen and just had a different way of discussing/understanding it.
ReplyDeleteIt reminds me of that graph in one of the readings in Wheeler with the amount of time people spend thinking/focused about different things in their life moving from the personal scale to the world scale (I don't have the book nearby or I would put the page number).
I share your frustrations with people who don't believe what is staring them right in the face. With as much research as has been done on the subject, it would be my hope people would be more informed. Reading this article about a young skeptic makes me shake my head in disbelief. This girl has a website that blatantly says that we (as humans) have no impact on global warming. I beg to differ.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89619306
I liked how you made climate change personal. It needs to be to get the point across. But I also think that people need to think about more than just us. The adaptation gap diagram that Rebecca Barthelmie showed in class clearly demonstrates the fact that we are okay with letting whole species die out. They can't adapt the same way we can. Sometimes we need to be a little less selfish and think about the bigger picture.
Yes, this relates to human nature. As Donello Meadows pointed out in, The Limits to Growth in 1972, people have a very small window of concern in terms of time and distance. We tend to care about those close to us, today. So, relating longterm global problems to today and you, is a strategy more likely to be successful.
ReplyDelete