Class Discussion: Global Warming

The class on Tuesday was dedicated to the discussion of global warming and all the controversies surrounding this particular topic. The points that were touched upon by all the class members were many but the ones that truly intrigued me werethe fact that we still don't truly know to what extent this whole issue of global warming is actually fact. Another point that was brought out that should definitely be discussed further was that of what we could actually do (in a realistic fashion, seeing as there is much skepticism concerning global warming) in an attempt to reduce all of its consequences.

During the course of the class discussion, the fact that we still don't, to this day, know for sure just to what extent global warming is fact true, struck me. One point that came out concerning this aspect of global warming was that scientist don’t have enough climate data to say for certain that it is in fact happening. Climate data keeping is a fairly recent phenomenon when we take into consideration just how old the earth is. With this in mind, I personally don’t think that 200 years of data can, with complete accuracy, prove that global warming is in fact happening – there has to be more solid proof t show this. Although this is true, I personally believe that there is something to this issue as recent weather patterns suggests that something is going on - When was the last time the last time the temperature hit nearly 60° Fahrenheit in the middle of January?

With regards to what steps we would take to help slow down the effects of global warming if it is in fact happening, I believe that small strides are the way to win over the part of the population that is in denial and refuses to accept global warming as a dire issue. Being that there is a large portion the population that believes so, I think we should attempt to inform more people about the consequences and what they can do to help. Part of the reason why I think people downplay this issue is because, as the cliché says, “ignorance is bliss” – if people are not informed, how will we take action to lessen the consequences? Once people become informed, then we can decide on how to tackle the issue. Even if we managed to simply get everyone to agree to unplug any appliances not in use, or to shift over to simple eco-friendly household objects such as light bulbs – if everyone did so, that’s an approximate 7 million people – that would make a huge difference.