I have to admit, thinking about global warming in the present is rather terrifying. I can only imagine a broken world. One that does not function, one that lacks the specifications to sustain human existence. There will be an end, but I do not believe it will be anytime soon. Not in my lifetime, not even in my great-grandchildren's lifetime. I'm not an expert in climate change by any means and I most certainly can not argue against McKibben, but I am very skeptical. I am skeptical of the term "global warming", simply because the earth is also getting colder. It almost seems like the world is leaning more towards the extremes during the seasons, not just constantly warming.
Another topic touched in McKibben's book is deforestation. This subject is also very devastating because trees are such an essential part of Earth. There is no denying the fact that this is happening and because of it, the removal of carbon dioxide in the air has slowed, along with the production of oxygen. This is especially scary, because oxygen is essential to human existence.
Earlier, I mentioned that the Earth is also cooling, which easily discredits the term "global warming". In fact, McKibben mentions that the freezing of the Great Lakes will begin to slow, but in 2014 the ice coverage of the Great Lakes reached 80.3 percent, the second highest percentage of all time. There is no doubt that the climate has been changing, but I do not believe global warming gives justice to these occurrences.
As this class goes on, I am confident I will grow more knowledgeable on this topic, but as of now I am very limited in my research. I do not have to tools to conclude or argue McKibben's claims. I can tell you this, he comes off as passionate and emotional about this subject, which makes me curious on whether or not he denied the access of his biases into the text.
I appreciate your doubts. That's why we are doing the research next, and reading more. To understand more about how global warming is causing the shifting of the jet stream and the "polar vortex" that we have experienced I googled "polar vortex and global warming. I found some interesting results. Here are a couple of the websites: http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2014/09/15/polar_vortex_deep_meanders_in_vortex_linked_to_global_warming.html, http://www.usatoday.com/story/weather/2014/09/02/polar-vortex-climate-change/14973047/.
ReplyDeleteDifferent points of view are important for any conversation or, in this case, debate. Climate change is a difficult concept to grasp simply because it is such a grand concept. Having doubts about it is perfectly acceptable as admitting doubt leaves room for discussion. The important thing is for us to sustain a quality debate about the topic moving forward.
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