Policymakers have not treated global warming with the proper urgency that such an imminent and ominous threat to all life on Earth deserves. In fact, some self-dubbed climate change skeptics contend that global warming due to humans is merely a hoax and that all research and experimentations published by scientists on climate change have falsified data. These skeptics make ridiculous claims that warming is not caused by humans, but instead by other random events such as solar irradiance or volcanoes (both of which have been disproven). These skeptics are running amuck especially in the United States, where they have done their job so well that according to a survey done by the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, only 54% of US citizens believe in anthropogenic global warming and only 70% believe that global warming is existent at all.
In fact, the erroneous claims that these skeptics make are not the worst part of the whole matter: the worst irony of it all is that these skeptics have habitually been elected to lead our country (definitely in the wrong directions)! Many politicians, mostly conservative republicans, have spoken openly against any advocacy to fight global warming and against any legislation attempt aimed at remedying global warming. They are contemplating using President Obama’s new Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations against him in an upcoming election. That this would be a sound political strategy at all should be a warning to us that we people not only need better education but also better leaders in our nation.
The following quote exemplifies the problem that our nation faces: “This so-called climate science is just ridiculous,” said Kelly Khuri, founder of the Clark County Tea Party Patriots. “I think it is all cyclical” is just one example of how far these skeptics’ influence has reached. Khuri’s claim that global warming is cyclical, while true to a certain extent, does not explain why the Earth warms up so quickly and so suddenly. They spread messages filled with pseudoscience designed to be accurate while providing little to no real information. Misdirection and misinformation is the game that these skeptics play. “They’re trying to use global warming against the people,” Ms. Deaton said , “It takes away our liberty.” Another far-fetched accusation based on the influence of these skeptics who appeal to the ideal of freedom that Americans love so much. This framing of climate change legislation as an obstruction to freedom or rights begs the question: what liberties are being taken away from them? It would be extremely problematic if they honestly believed that the global warming issue is one big conspiracy cooked up to kill the economy and to oppress the people.
“In my opinion, there is not enough evidence that man is causing global warming, " Randy Liebo, the head of the state Tea Party coalition, said, “Making wholesale changes based on what we currently know would not be in the best interest of the country." This is another example of how conservative republicans have made climate change a controversy despite the fact that the US has the global influence and resources to effect real change. He claims that warming is not anthropogenic, but science and common sense have presented several strong arguments attesting anthropogenic global warming.
The first reason is intuition. Any rational observer would notice that humans have pumped, and continue to pump, a lot of carbon dioxide into the air since the industrial revolution in 1640s, compared to the period since time immemorial. This act alone from humankind will emit a prodigious amount of carbon dioxide in the air. It stretches any imagination to think that that emission has just coincidentally happened to correspond to a sharp increase in average temperatures over the last few hundred years? A second reason is scientific explanation. Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas, which means that while it lets in the sun’s heat and light rays, it also prevents them from leaving. Again, since there is such a greater amount of carbon dioxide now compared to before (from 300 ppm to 400ppm since 2011), more rays and heat would be reflected by the extra carbon dioxide, which would lead to global warming. This does not even include all of the studies conducted by scientists around the world, nor all of the data they have collected.
A third reason is that much of the US economy has been based on the production of dirty energy. Government at all levels needs to introduce urgently a wholesale shift in the mindsets of the public, so that US economy can move away from dirty energy. Investment in renewable energy will be key. We need to demonstrate how renewable energy can have so much benefits and why adopting renewable energy should be the best long-term economic policy. Everyone knows coal will eventually run out because the rate of earth’s production of coal is painfully slow, especially compared with voracious exploitation of coal by humankind. This means that it is imperative now to launch a major economic transition away from dirty energy. Those who say that the economy will collapse now due to new regulations for clean energy are only trying to delay the inevitable.
A lot of climate change naysayers tend to focus on one particularly egregious lie that the data and research done by climate scientists are either flawed or completely made up. This is an outrageous untenable claim, because most scientists’ data, research methodology, and research results are ascertainable and open to the public. If someone asks scientists about their data, methods, and results, the scientists will happily share them.
In addition, all scientific publications have to go through a peer review process, in which scientists in the same field within the scientific community will come together to judge a piece of research. Passing through this peer review process is no easy task. Having a prestigious science journal such as Science or Nature publish research results is even harder. Finally, a lot of the mistakes these skeptics tend to focus on are blown out of proportion. The public relations disaster that was called by the media as “Climategate” was 4 emails out of the thousands and thousands that were hacked and shown to the public. The words in those emails were misconstrued and misinterpreted by conservative media outlets who framed climate science as a controversial issue when the reverse is true. Even to this day, people still refer to this scandal as a way to prove climate change theory as fraud. However, these emails do not carry much weight in the broader context of scientific collaboration. As I mentioned above, all published results have gone through a rigorous peer review process. These skeptics in fact are implicating the entire scientific community when they make such libelous claims.
Other continents like Europe know that the biggest problem of this century is global warming. 89% of Europeans think that global warming is a serious issue. Why? Probably because they do not have crazy climate change naysayers like the Unites States, and they do not have these conservative politicians and media outlets spouting nonsense about bad data and spurious methodology. And even China realizes the global warming issue. The Chinese government has been stepping up environmental regulations and investments in renewable energy technology. Part of the reason is that coal factories are losing profits, so new coal burning is being delayed in China.
The worst impacts of global warming have yet to come. Taking steps towards renewable energy and efficient consumption is necessary in the near future to avoid any tipping points. In the status quo, plants and oceans prevent runaway warming. Once we hit those tipping points and once the plants and oceans have reached their maximum capacity, warming will be irreversible. It will become a question how badly conditions will deteriorate, from severe droughts and tremendous hurricanes to catastrophic ecosystem collapses.
Global warming is an issue that requires everyone’s commitment. However, the first step needs to be done at home, which is why everyone needs to join in the climate change debate. This essay can be read in many ways, but most importantly, it is a call for action. It is time to vote for people that care about earth’s future, rather than for those who flagrantly deny hard science.