Growing Concerns For The Climate Change
Climate change (CC) is the real concern of the world. Scientists have argued that if the world continues to run on business-as-usual, then, the world will no longer sustain the population, and it will start a cataclysmic cycle of destruction, where more than half of the species will go extinct, human population would be halved due to disease, and disasters, and the Earth wouldn’t be able to sustain human population, as there will be more droughts.
However, the climate change can’t be proven by scientific methods like Louis Pasteur experiment. This is the main reason that many lobbyists, industrialists, and even common public rejects the climate change as a hoax. They present a counter narrative that begs the question that if everything is proven by science, then they should be able to prove that climate change is here.
Furthermore, they also claim that different NGOs, industries, countries and scientists use climate change as an excuse to acquire funds in terms of green energy, awareness, banning fossil fuels and petrochemicals to hurt the developed or developing nation.
Nonetheless, scientists claim that the climate change is real and it can be proven by the series of data collected over the years by credible institutions like NASA, and other governmental and non-governmental organizations. They claim that the need of hour is to conserve resources, shift to greener resources, and decrease our carbon footprint.
Meaghan Mckasy and Dianna Zulli (2021) states that the disagreement about climate change primarily exists within the scientists, politics and public due to the political stance of the government and its representative candidate. The source talks about the democratic presidential candidates of 2020, where they were asked to establish and address the issue of climate change.
However, many candidates held their staunch positions against climate change giving counter arguments that US relies heavily on oil and gas, and it’ll lose its primary position if it shifts to greener energy, where China will take over the superpower position of the world.
However, candidate Biden presents another position, where he addressed climate change as a grave concern, and gave away his revolutionary steps that he’d take against the issue by raising the true concern amongst the public. He states that tackling climate change is only possible if it’s raised as a global concern.
The article also states that, how these candidates relay the message of public. The politicians will have the same standing as of the public. However, Biden had used scientific evidences, released by research, NASA, and scientists, whereas, other candidates relied primarily on the political standing. (Mckasy and Zulli, 2021)
Hugh Steadman (2017) relays his concerns in this news article, that the world is facing the impending danger of climate catastrophe, and though not visible presently, the climate change may end the world for good. The author cites journals, articles and newspapers to compile up a list of events, and data to argue that the world needs a parallel to United Nations Organization, where the world leaders can discuss and solve the problem of climate change without a veto.
Furthermore, the author argues that if the world runs on business-as-usual scenario, then, the conservation steps or precautionary measures that could’ve been taken to avert the danger, would be impossible to take in the near future. However, in the very same article, the author talks about New Zealand’s optimistic approach towards IPCC, where they stated that they don’t need to worry now, as at the end of the century, only 0.5m sea level will rise, whereas, IPCC states that 1oC rise in temperature will be seen at the end of 2050.
Due to the optimistic approach by the New Zealand, they’re emitting tons of carbon dioxide in the air, which will not only drive the climate change, but will cause a disaster. Such miscalculation is rather political, rather than human reservations. (Steadman, 2017)
Heather M. Yocum, Deanna Metivier Sassorossi, and Andrea J. Ray (2021) that climate change information is crucial for developing State Wildlife Action Plans (SWAPs). The climate change information, with the support of conservation agencies, scientists, political climate helps to target species, habitats in different states for their conservation.
However, political climate greatly impacts SWAPs, as it can limit or garner huge support for conservation efforts. A certain rubric is presented by the authors to judge how climate change information impacts the conservation efforts has proven efficient for SWAP goals.
The authors show a great concern that people will not willingly enter a conservation effort, until unless, the government and its spokespersons will take their side. A huge dilemma regarding climate change is that the public and even, government is divided, where half of them speaks in favor of climate change, while the other half against it.
The authors state that we can close our eyes like a pigeon over seeing a cat, but it won’t make the cat go away. It’s time that people and government should be united against climate change to preserve resources, wildlife and human population. (Yocum, Sassorossi, and Ray, 2021)
The Economist (2021) video talks about the dangerous impacts of climate change, especially the global warming with the implications of three degrees raise in temperature. If the world goes towards a three degrees temperature rise, then the world will suffer a cycle of catastrophes, where there would be floods, droughts, drowning of coastal areas, more sand storms and wild fires, and millions of people would be left as refugees.
The video forces people to rethink their living standards, to conserve and preserve resources for the future generations, and stop the cataclysmic cycle of destruction (The Economist, 2021). Furthermore, Adriaan Buys’ (2022) data visualization of Climate Change from 1880 – 2021 by NASA is quite alarming.
The data shows that after the industrial revolution, the global warming increased, leading to an increase in temperature, ultimately leading to climate change. The data questions the non-believers of climate change, that if they still discard the climate change as a hoax.
The data heavily relies on the information and research gathered by NASA from 1880-2021, and presents a scientific argument that climate change cannot be ignored, and non-believers of climate change will have to ultimately face the reality that the earth will not remain sustainable, if the world doesn’t prepare itself to tackle the issue of climate change now. (Buys, 2022).
Lastly, Climate Reality Project (2022) emphasizes on the story of Jess Pepper, who is a strong independent woman, and is considered a woman leader in combating climate change. This blog post is an interview on Jess Pepper, where she states that how CC affects her life, and how difficult it is for her as a woman, to fight for CC.
She discusses that the world is deeply rooted with patriarchy, and it is hard for women to raise their concerns. However, as the global warming and CC is a global concern, she never gives up besides all the repercussions. She hopes to continue changing her society, her country, and eventually the world, to shift towards greener resources and fight climate change to the best of her abilities. (Climate Reality Project, 2022)
After going through every source, it is evident that the climate change does exists, but it’s controversial in nature. It’s more of a political issue, than scientific in nature, where it should be scientific in the first place. All the data from the renowned scientists and organizations points to the same understanding that climate change is a grave concern, and world should prepare itself or else, it should be prepared to face the consequences of ignorance.
Majority of developed nations make CC a political issue, where they don’t want to cut back on their carbon emissions, as shifting to greener technology would put a dent on their economy, while the other half of the nations are under pressure from the powerful nations to do more about conservation.
The developing nations put more resources on tackling CC, while they contribute only 5% or even less globally as compared to powerful nations. The political elites and industrial giants also lobby governments and politicians to ignore the CC, as it will hurt the business. However, the strong evidences suggest that the CC and its impacts are real.
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Works Cited
- Buys, Adriaan. “NASA Climate Change Visualisation 2022”. Conservationmag.Org, 2022, https://conservationmag.org/en/video/nasa-climate-change-visualisation-2022.
- Climate Reality Project. “Five Women, Five Countries, Five Questions: Meet Climate Shero Jess Pepper”. Climate Reality Project, 2022, https://www.climaterealityproject.org/blog/five-women-five-countries-five-questions-meet-climate-shero-jess-pepper.
- Mckasy, Meaghan, and Diana Zulli. “Political Issues Management: Framing the Issue of Climate Change.” International journal of communication [Online], vol. 15, Nov. 2021, pp. 4956+. Gale Literature Resource Center, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A697969082/LitRC?u=raritanvcc&sid=ebsco&xid=13acece2. Accessed 18 Apr. 2022.
- Steadman, Hugh. “Climate change or climate catastrophe? Hugh Steadman warns that immediate action is demanded to meet the threat posed by global warming.” New Zealand International Review, vol. 42, no. 4, July-Aug. 2017, pp. 19+. Gale In Context: World History, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A500072053/WHIC?u=raritanvcc&sid=bookmark-WHIC&xid=89672a76. Accessed 18 Apr. 2022.
- The Economist. See What Three Degrees Of Global Warming Looks Like | The Economist. 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uynhvHZUOOo. Accessed 18 Apr 2022.
- Yocum, Heather M. et al. “Assessing The Use Of Climate Change Information In State Wildlife Action Plans”. Conservation Science And Practice, vol 4, no. 3, 2022. Wiley, https://doi.org/10.1111/csp2.608. Accessed 18 Apr 2022.
