Action Must be Taken on Climate Change

Ever since 1975, when the term “climate change” was coined, a deep divide has existed between eco “alarmists”, who believe climate change is a pressing issue, and climate “deniers”, who think climate change is nothing to be worried about. But what is climate change in the first place? The National Aeronautics and Space Administration defines climate change as “a long-term change in the Earth’s climate” (Conway). Yet why should or shouldn’t one be concerned? Thomas Moore further explains in his book, Climate of Fear: Why We Shouldn’t Worry about Global Warming. All climatologists agree that changes in greenhouse gasses (carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide) will affect Earth’s climate (Moore 13). Furthermore, a change in Earth’s climate has the potential to lead to negative side-effects for human health, ecological systems and important socioeconomic factors. Regardless of climate change’s effects on Earth, action must be taken on this issue just like it would be in any other that posed a threat.

Now that the facts are known, what are the viewpoints of some of the people who oppose climate “hysteria”?

“Climate is always changing. We have had ice ages and warmer periods when alligators were found in [Norway]. Ice ages have occurred in a hundred thousand year cycle for the last 700 thousand years, and there have been previous periods that appear to have been warmer than the present despite CO2 levels being lower than they are now. More recently, we have had the medieval warm period and the little ice age” (Cook).

This makes sense if one looks at ice core data, which shows the temperature of the earth and concentration of greenhouse gasses thousands of years ago when the earth formed. This reveals that over the millennia, changes in greenhouse gasses have in turn lead to ice ages followed by periods of warming. But that’s without humans. So what makes climate change today different? Greenhouse Gasses are currently at levels the earth has never seen, because “Humans are now the dominant [force]” (Cook).

Many people have undoubtedly seen the effects of climate change on politics. From state laws, to Congress, to global climate summits, climate change strikes a deep divide in society. Beyond government alone, climate change can affect militaries. A document released by the US Department of Defense titled, 2014 Climate Change Adaptation Roadmap, warns that rising sea levels could have the potential to flood coastal military bases in the US and worldwide, and extreme weather could make military training areas vulnerable. Additionally, the exposure of once-frozen Arctic sea lanes will require significant monitoring to “ensure stability in this resource-rich area” (Friedman). Melting polar ice can also lead to sea level rise. In the Arabian Sea, the government of the Maldives, an island nation, wants to buy land elsewhere so its people have somewhere to go once living there becomes unviable (Byravan 22). Situations like this can occur in other parts of the world, such as in the low-lying river deltas of Vietnam and Egypt. This could pose an even more serious political question: Where would these people go if their homeland was put in jeopardy and how would host countries receive them?

Along with our politics, climate change has the potential to affect the economy. Scientific evidence states that in many parts of the world, climate change will “adversely affect human health, ecological systems...and important socioeconomic factors, including agriculture, forestry, fisheries, water resources and human settlements” (Watson 17). In an MIT journal, authors Edward Goldsmith and Caspar Henderson cite a report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development stating that damages as a result of climatic destabilization could cost up to $970 billion worldwide, even with using optimistic climate models.

What’s worse, climate change has the capacity to seriously disrupt insurance companies. Disaster assessment expert Julian Salt of the Loss Prevention Council, says “the reinsurance pool contains between $200 and $300 billion. A couple of big storms in the wrong place…could pretty much wipe that out.” If insurance companies were to collapse, the effect on the global economic system would be devastating (Goldsmith 69) .

Perhaps most significant of all, climate change has the ability to put human safety at risk. In his New York Times Bestselling book, An Inc

onvenient Truth, former Vice President Al Gore explains some of the dangers of climate change. Due to rising seas caused by melting ice on the poles, some of the most populous places on earth such as Miami, Amsterdam, Calcutta, and Manhattan could be uprooted. Natural disasters such as hurricanes, tornadoes, heatwaves, droughts, floods and wildfires have risen in number and intensity, and have cost lives. When will society as a whole realize that action must be taken to prevent this crisis from becoming more severe?

Even if climate change does not turn out to be as serious as data may have suggested, action still must be taken, just like it would be in any situation that posed a threat. In a recent suicide near the US Capitol, officials locked down the building in response to the potential threat of the man who committed the suicide being a terrorist. Even though no one else was hurt, and the man was not a terrorist, a serious situation was avoided by taking preventative action. Responding to climate change is just like this situation: by taking action on climate change, a potentially risky situation can be avoided that possibly endanger the lives of generations to come. Naomi Oreskes, Professor of the History of Science at Harvard University sums it all up:

“The scientific consensus might, of course, be wrong. If the history of science teaches anything, it is humility, and no one can be faulted for failing to act on what is not known. But our grandchildren will surely blame us if they find that we understood the reality of [human-caused] climate change and failed to do anything about it” (Oreskes 1686).

Works Cited

Byravan, Sujatha, and Sudhir Chella Rajan. “Sea level rise and climate change exiles: A possible solution.” Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists 71.2 (2015): 21-28. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 6 Apr. 2015.
Conway, Erik. “What’s in a Name? Global Warming vs. Climate Change.” NASA. National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 5 Dec. 2008. Web. 23 Apr. 2015.
Cook, John, ed. Skeptical Science. N.p., 1 July 2014. Web. 12 Apr. 2015.
Friedman, Lisa. “Immediate Risk to National Security Posed by Global Warming.” Scientific American. Scientific American, 14 Oct. 2014. Web. 8 Apr. 2015.
Goldsmith, Edward, and Caspar Henderson. Global Warming Threatens the World Economy. 1999. Is Global Warming a Threat? Ed. Mary E. Williams. Farmington Hills: Greenhaven-Gale, 2003. 67-70. Print. At Issue.
Gore, Albert. An inconvenient truth. Rev. ed. New York: Viking, 2007. Print.
Moore, Thomas Gale. Climate of Fear: Why We Shouldn’t Worry about Global Warming. Washington: Cato, 1998. PDF file.
Oreskes, Naomi. “The Scientific Consensus on Climate Change.” Science 306.5702 (2004): 1686. Science. Web. 23 Apr. 2015.
Watson, Robert T. Human-Induced Global Warming Is a Serious Problem. 2001. Is Global Warming a Threat? Ed. Mary E. Williams. Farmington Hills: Greenhaven-Gale, 2003. 16-20. Print. At Issue.