I want to preface this article with the fact that I do not seek to change the minds of people who do not believe in climate change. What I am trying to do in this article is to make sure people at least become mindful with the ecological and environmental challenges that our country faces.
"I don't think there's any doubt that we've had climate change over the last 100 years. What has initiated it, though, has sparked a debate that's gone on now for the last 10 years. I don't think we're any closer to the answer than we were 10 years ago." – Speaker of the House, John Boehner
Huh? John Boehner believes that climate change is real but he then states that we are not closer to an answer on how and why climate change exists. I am guessing that John Boehner never reads or watches the news. I say this because a study published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that 97 percent of the 1,372 scientists questioned agreed that climate change is "very likely" caused mainly by us humans.
In a story composed for USA Today, it was found that “nearly all the experts agreed that it is ‘very likely that anthropogenic greenhouse gases have been responsible for most of the unequivocal warming of the Earth's average global temperature in the second half of the twentieth century.’”
I used to be a climate change denier. I do not know why I was a denier, especially since I always championed at getting to the truth, no matter the ideology. However, I was using my ideology to deny climate change. I always thought that it was presumptuous of us humans to say that we could explain and predict the cycles and habits of a planet that has been around for billions of years. The Earth has gone through times of higher temperatures and it has gone through times of lower temperatures. It is all about the cycles of the Earth. It has nothing to do with a man-made shift caused by pollutants. That was my reasoning and logic to deny climate change. I look back at that reasoning and I become embarrassed. Someone needed to smack me in the head. I needed that smack because I am not an expert in the field of sciences. I have a degree in Political Science and Sociology. I have very little training within the physical and natural sciences (like most Americans). If I am looking for the answers to scientific questions then I believe it is my duty, as someone who wants to seek the truth, to defer to the experts. This does not mean that I cannot be skeptical or critical of any scientist or scientific field. If I believe that something I am reading is junk science then I will investigate further. However, when 97% of scientists believe that it is “very likely” that humanity is the cause of climate change then I must accept that. It is hard for me to disagree with that number. I am also not saying that science is ever wrong, in fact, most scientists would probably never say that science is always right. That is why science works with theories. Theories explain nature and science, but it is just a theory (based upon evidence and facts). A theory can be proven wrong. If new evidence comes to light on a specific theory then scientists are pretty willing to say they got it wrong and they adjust their theories within the constraints that the new evidence provides. They work within the confines of the scientific method to confirm (or deny) the validity of their theories. Most scientists (there are some unethical, bad apples) are passionate about their subject matter and they want to provide the American people with the most accurate information as possible. Some people might accuse scientists of having an agenda, and maybe they do, but it is because they have the knowledge and the evidence to back up that agenda, like climate change. That is why I believe in climate change and in all science, in general.
Even if I cannot persuade you on accepting climate change as fact, why not accept the notion that you would want to live on a cleaner planet? I think all humans would enjoy and thrive in a cleaner world. I would think that all of us would want cleaner air to breathe and cleaner water to drink? Or hell, I’d just like to have water to drink and bathe in, period. In other words, we need to plan out where and how our cities will grow so we can know if the environment can sustain us humans. Climate change or not, we still have some serious natural and environmental problems that will pose great challenges to this country and to this world.
I would implore you to read and become familiar with some of the pressing natural and environmental problems we face as a nation.
As an example, look at the water crisis that is hitting the city of Las Vegas. Las Vegas (a city of two million residents) depends solely on Lake Mead for their water. Lake Mead is running dry due to a drought that has been devastating the area for the past 14 years, as the Telegraph reports. If the drought continues and Las Vegas does not find alternative water sources then they could run out of water by the year 2036. This might be one of those situations that could have been thought out better before Las Vegas grew to be the size that is today. Maybe the early Mormon settlers should have thought twice about establishing a city in the middle of the desert? (On a side note, is it not ironic that Mormons settled the area and funded many of the casinos in the area?) Maybe there should be greater strides at conserving water in Las Vegas? Surprisingly, as the Telegraph points out, the mega-resorts and casinos have done an excellent job at conservation. The Las Vegas Strip only accounts for 7% of the total water usage in the area. This fact surprised me because I assumed those casinos used up a greater share. But, the casinos should be applauded for their conservation efforts which include the recycling of water used in those massive structures and removing live grass and installing artificial turf. I am sure more can be done; maybe all businesses and homeowners in the area should be required or incentivized to install artificial turf instead of grass? Something has to be done; the desert cannot support a city the size of Las Vegas for an infinite amount of time. Even though it seems pretty ignorant to establish a city in the middle of a desert, let’s not forget that Las Vegas is not the only city suffering crippling drought. The majority of the western region within the United States is suffering from drought too. If this situation continues year after year then life cannot be sustained. If the climate continues on this path, there will be no way that people will be able to live in this part of the country. This may not too far off from happening, remember, Lake Mead could be dry by 2036. In twenty years, Vegas may look a lot like the ghost-town of Detroit. I’m not trying to sound alarmist but we must deal with the facts and the facts look quite bleak for Las Vegas and the rest of the western part of the country.
In my humble opinion, climate change is real. Climate change seems to be causing a great drought that is plaguing a sizable chunk of this country. But climate change or not, even if you refuse to believe that it is real, please at least realize that we have a lot of environmental issues facing us. Ignoring these issues is of great detriment to us and to our future generations. Just because you believe that climate change is fiction does not mean that you should ignore or deny individual environmental crises. The human race has not conquered mother nature. I would say, "let's ask the Mayans" about conquering mother nature. Sadly, however, their civilization was wiped out, along with many others, because they did not heed that warning of possible environmental catastrophes. We should not let history repeat itself again.
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