Your textbook makes the following statement on page 122: "The notion of global warming
was once controversial. Today, however, there is broad scientific consensus that the earth’s
climate is warming and also changing in other ways…" Is there and/or should there be
"scientific consensus" on climate change?
According to the American Association for the Advancement of Science's (AAAS) board
statement on climate change in 2006, " the scientific evidence is clear: global climate change
caused by human activities is occurring... and it is a growing threat to society" (AAAS, 2006).
I think there is a clear connection between what science has claimed causes climate change and
what has been determined to cause climate change. Science agrees based on research that as a
result of climate change- glaciers are melting rapidly, extreme weather frequency & sea level
rising is occurring and the evidence of harm has been highlighted based on global data (AAAS,
2006).
I am a firm believer, in today's world people no longer believe things that cannot be clearly
proven to them. I think because of increased accessibility to the internet and individual based
research becoming so much more predominant, it is more crucial and necessary than ever to
assure people a clear and sharply identified reason as to why climate change is something that is
evident and real so as not to cause controversy.
The controversy stems from debates over the existence of global warming at all. It debates global
warming's causes and what should be done to prevent it, if anything. I find it hard to believe that
of the examples provided: warmer waters, increased demand for water, more frequent and
stronger hurricanes occurring, increased risk of respiratory disease threatening humans due to
higher temperatures during the summer- that there are still some people in disbelief of climate
change being evident.
Yet, people dispute the likelihood of climate change based on skepticism that the warming of the
earth has been caused by dramatic rises in the earth's temperature but rather normal climatic
variations. In fact, people have even become skeptical of the measurements being taken of the
earth's climate- stating poor measurements as perhaps a contribution to the argument that the
climate is changing (Global warming controversy, 2013).
Another argument being heavily disputed is whether humans have contributed to climate change
in a significant way. Political parties remain split on the issue.
However, "comprehensive scientific assessments of our current and potential future climates
clearly indicate that climate change is real, largely attributable to emissions from human
activities" (American Chemical Society, 2013).
I think when attempting to find ways to prevent something as global a concern as this, trying to
get society to grasp something of this magnitude and guide large numbers of people to follow
suit with what will work best for the betterment of everyone- it is imperative to have a guideline
of some sort. In this particular case I believe being on the same page with what global warming
is, how it occurs, identifying its causes and damage by way of a scientific consensus allows a
more clearly identified roadway to amending the problem-once it has been clearly identified in
the first place.
References
American Association for the Advancement of Science. (2006, December 09). Board statement
on climate change . Retrieved from
http://www.aaas.org/news/press_room/climate_change/mtg_200702/aaas_climate_statement.pdf
American Chemical Society. (2013). Global climate change. Retrieved from
http://portal.acs.org/portal/acs/corg/content?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=PP_SUPERARTICLE&no
de_id=1907&use_sec=false&sec_url_var=region1
Global warming controversy. (2013). Global warming controversy. Retrieved from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_warming_controversy