Often times when I am reading about the environment, I maintain a positive attitude and focus on the richness that can be discovered in change. However, as I was reading Elizabeth Kolbert’s article, “The Climate of Man”, I was struck by an overwhelming amount of frustration. Prior to reading this article as well as Speth’s Red Sky at Morning, I had no historical context of when scientists began suggesting that the earth’s climate was changing as a result of human disruption. Upon reading that since 1979 the National Academy of Science has released over 200 reports on global warming I was enraged. I couldn’t possible comprehend how the world has been so slow at responding to what seems like such an urgent concern.
I began to wonder what could cause such a problem to be swept under the carpet. I thought back to a day in my high school English class when we watched An Inconvenient Truth. Afterwards, my class engaged in a debate on Al Gore, rather than debating the issues that the movie presented. It seemed that the majority of my class did not believe what Al Gore was saying in the movie for the pure reason that it was Al Gore saying it. I imagine if a republican (I live in a very conservative town) had been presenting the issue on the screen the students would have had a different opinion. It seems as if those who have profound influences -whether it be your parents, your friends, or your political party- on our lives often determine what we care about and what we dismiss.
Then the bigger issue comes out like the monster I wish would just stay under my bed: why doesn’t everyone believe in global warming? What is the main reason why Obama had to say, “I know that there are those who disagree with the overwhelming scientific evidence on climate change” at his state of the union address in January 2010? It seems today, after forty years of scientific evidence, that it is impossible to persuade those who are unwilling to be persuaded. With that in mind I think it is time that we put the argument of global warming aside and focus on how saving the environment is essential to the human race. I think from any standpoint you can create an argument as to why saving the environment is important. From a economist standpoint you can explain how saving the earth will ultimately boost the economy, from a religious standpoint you can quote religious texts that depict the importance of caring for the earth, from a worker standpoint you can say how saving the earth will create new jobs, and the list goes on and on. I hope with this in mind this issue can be taken from underneath everyone’s carpet and cared for like it should be.
