Change, Adapt, Overcome

I am going to convince you, my reader, by the end of this post that we, as a country and world, should act to save the environment regardless of whether or not you choose to believe in global warming. Our very planet and lives are at stake and there is no sane and reasonable person who would argue that the human race gamble its very existence for something as trivial as political ideology and material wealth. Furthermore, I can also prove that if the United States of America, and preferably every other nation on our planet, acts in an immediate, significant, and long term process of being environmentally savvy , energy efficient, and using renewable resources that we can not only help the planet, but combat our economic problems as well. So please, all I ask while you read this post is that you use the common sense that I know you have and see if my logic and reason behind this post is sound.

In the United States of America, and world, there is an extremely politically charged atmosphere around the topic of global warming, or as some have come to call it now, climate change. America has one side, the Democrats, arguing that global warming is happening right now and our nation has to do something to change it now. On the other side of the debate in the United States, the Republican party argues that the planet goes through hot and cold people cyclically as the Earth wobbles on it’s axis as it orbit’s the sun. This is a debate that absolutely should not happen. As of right now, over 95% of the world’s scientific community agrees that the human race has already and is directly affecting the environment and global climate.

Right now the main argument against broad sweeping reform and change in environmental law and statutes is money. Those who do not believe in global warming, notably Republicans, contend that it would be an enormously expensive and unrealistic “It's a huge tax increase," argued Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, a prominent coal-producing state. He maintained that the proposed system of allowing widespread trading of carbon emissions allowances would produce "the largest restructuring of the American economy since the New Deal." The other arguments are that the Earth gradually goes through cycles as it orbit’s the Sun and this is just a warm cycle.

Say you do not believe these scientists mathematics or trust them. Think of it this way. There are only two options for the existence of global warming. Global warming is either true or false. Now if Global warming is true and we either choose not to act or not act by default through indecision we, as a species, are literally risking the fate of mankind and the world as we know it. Are you willing to gamble and bet your life and the lives of your children? Even if you do not believe in global warming and even if you are correct, why would you ever gamble on something you cannot afford to lose? All the world loses is money if there is no global warming and if there is global warming we literally lose the world as we know it. Besides, if all you are worried about is money, just think, really think, of the vast amounts of money to be made through infrastructure projects and renewable resources. Right now they have not met much success but with the proper funding and research we all could have a job and live in a clean world.

Let us look at some pure and simple facts now that I have your mind going. Since the Industrial Revolution in American in the late 19^th century the average temperatures have climbed 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit (0.8 degree Celsius) around the world, much of this in recent decades, according to NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies. Plus the rate of warming is increasing exponentially. The 20th century's last two decades were the hottest in 400 years and possibly the warmest for several millennia, according to a number of climate studies sponsored by the EPA and the UN. The United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports that 11 of the past 12 years are among the dozen warmest since 1850. Coral reefs, which are highly sensitive to small changes in water temperature, suffered the

worst bleaching—or die-off in response to stress—ever recorded in 1998, with some areas seeing bleach rates of 70 percent. Experts expect these sorts of events to increase in frequency and intensity in the next 50 years as sea temperatures rise.

Now if I have not convinced you yet let me really break this down for you. This is
how global warming works. Industrialization, deforestation, and pollution have greatly increased atmospheric concentrations of water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide, all greenhouse gases that help trap heat near Earth's surface. Humans are pouring carbon dioxide into the atmosphere much faster than plants and oceans can absorb it. These gases persist in the atmosphere for years, meaning that even if such emissions were eliminated today, it would not immediately stop global warming. Some experts point out natural cycles in Earth’s orbit can alter the planet’s exposure to sunlight, which may explain the current trend. Earth has indeed experienced warming and cooling cycles roughly every hundred thousand years due to these orbital shifts, but such changes have occurred over the span of several centuries. Today's changes have taken place over the past hundred years or less.

For those of you that understand that global warming is a very possible threat regardless if my science has swayed your opinion. Please do something about it. This is too big an issue to gamble.  Contact your congressman, go green if you can afford to, recycle, and use public transportation. Too often in this world do people feel that one person cannot make a difference. One person always makes a difference and all it will take is one of YOU to simply try.







Facts and Resources:

• National Geographic for providing a resource for the empirical data in the article http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/12/1206_041206_global_warming.html
• National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
• Arctic Climate Impact Assessment
• Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
• U.S. Global Change Research System
• For information about the Political Polarization over the Global Warming Debate http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-04-democrats-republicans-increasingly-global.html
• Oprah for being the first mainstream media personality to cover the Pacific Garbage Dump http://www.oprah.com/index.html