Kathryn Cunningham

Professor Gardner

CE 1010

20 February 2018

How is America Handling the Heat?

Climate change: is it real, and does it affect Americans? Everyone has heard of climate

change, and some people have experienced its effects first hand. But because it is not happening

in everyone's backyard, there are doubts about the reality and validity of climate change claims.

To understand how climate change affects Americans, it is important to first know what it is

exactly. Climate change is an increase in average global temperatures, “rising temperatures cause

global climates to change in sea level, more droughts and floods,...expansion of deserts and

changing in patterns of precipitation” (Blackwell). The evidence of Climate change is abundant,

from hurricanes in Florida and Texas to floods in New York, as well as the wildfires in

California. Understanding the effects of climate change can be unhelpful if its causes are

unknown. So what causes climate change? The Earth is supposed to be warm and that warmth is

maintained through a process called the greenhouse gas effect, “the greenhouse effect is the

result of certain gases in the atmosphere keeping the heat from sunlight close to Earth’s surface”

(Blackwell). Without these gases the Earth would not get enough sun to feed plants, and it would

be too cold to sustain animals and human life. But excess gases cause the Earth to get too hot for

life, drying up water sources, and melting ice caps.

Climate change did not simply appear out of nowhere, though it may seem that way. The

Earth has always had a changing climate with hot and cold spikes. Everyone knows that the

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Earth revolves around the Sun, as the Earth spins we get our seasons. But as the Earth goes

around the Sun it moves in an ellipse, (an elliptical, or oval like path). While the Earth is

spinning on its axis around the Sun, it is also changing the angle of its axis, “This angle changes

with time and over about 41,000 years it moves from 22.1 degrees to 24.5 degrees and back

again” (Kring). The changes to the angle of the Earth's axis causes hot spikes and the cold spells.

While this is the natural process, that the Earth can adapt to, the process has begun to speed up

causing damage to the Earth’s normal weather patterns. The planet can handle the temperature

fluctuation on a minimal scale, but humanity has caused the natural gradual shift in temperature

to speed up, and the planet can not keep up. Some may bring up the fact that there was the ice

age years ago and now this is just the opposite, where it could look that way there is evidence

against that. In an interview on a National Public Radio (NPR) podcast Christopher Joyce give

his scientific insight on how President Trump is handling the climate report. Joyce is a

correspondent at NPR’s science desk, he goes to exotic places as tells what stories lie there and

he thinks that climate change is increasing by human influence. In this interview Joyce says,

“definitely climate change is being caused by humans. I mean the temperature's gone up 1.2

degrees Fahrenheit since 1950, and they’re [Trumps administrators] saying with high confidence

that it’s all caused by humans” (qtd. Scientists Fear Trump Administration Will Counter Climate

Report). Since the begging of the industrial revolution now to a high quantity of machinery

burning fossil fuel, all of this development has lead to an increase of greenhouse gases in our

atmosphere specifically a rise in methane and carbon dioxide gases. There has been a significant

rise in methane and carbon dioxide gases. They do come from the planet naturally but are also

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released in large quantities when humans burn fossil fuels and change up the land, carbon

dioxide is responsible for 63% of the greenhouse effect.

Individuals that believe in Climate Change are trying to get the Government involved

because they can help solve the major problems by using clean energy and avoiding coal. Some

argue that, “doing too much about it means we are focusing too much effort on climate change

and forgetting all the other things that we have a responsibility to deal with, like HIV/AIDS...and

malnutrition” (qtd. In Berger). This does raise a fair point, there is no way that America can fund

every project it wants to. But there are those willing to argue that climate change is funding

worth fighting for. The melting of the ice caps might sound like it makes little difference, but

with rising sea levels not only will places like Florida be flooded but some islands will be

completely submerged. There will be an increase in hurricanes like in Georgia and Texas. Paying

to fix the damage comes out of our pockets eventually, the government is expected to pay $150

billion for repairs in Florida and that doesn’t even include flood insurance. The longer climate

change goes unmonitored the more problems will arise along the way.

There is a D.C. based organization called the The Pew Research Center, who provide

information on social issues, public opinion, and demographic trends shaping the United States,

and the world. Pew has a policy on the integrity of their research, and it has to be open minded. It

is a requirement to keep their personal opinions out of the think tank, they just produce the facts.

Pew Research Center took a poll to see what what the top concerns American citizens thought

were major threats to the United States. (See Figure 1).

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(Figure 1)"ISIS Viewed as America's Number One Threat." ​Tribune Content Agency Graphics​, 2017. ​Opposing Viewpoints in

Context​, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/JJYFPG150681919/OVIC?u=pioneer&xid=4e0c1d34. Accessed 4 Feb.

2018.

The fact that climate change and an ISIS attack are so highly ranked together is alarming.

However it is reasonable to see how people are worried about an ISIS attack; ISIS reportedly has

a $2 billion war chest, which can cause as many attacks as they have people to carry them out.

But it is worth mentioning that their $2 billion dollar attack potential is nothing compared to the

cost of road repairs after a natural disaster.

I think whether you choose to acknowledge it or not, climate change effects each and

every one of us. I think it would be tremendously constructive if everyone realized this now

while we still have time to fix it. The farther we sail down this path, the harder it will be to get

back to shore. The first step to fixing the problem is making everyone realize that there is a

problem. The hardest part about fixing climate change is getting people to wake up and feel the

heat. The more evidence we can show the non believers of how it affects them is how you get

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people to start caring. The sad reality is no one wants to do anything about a problem until it

starts to directly affect them.

Through the advancements of industry people have been creating this problem but a

number still neglects to view it that way. Climate change is a problem in our lives that is not

going to go away overnight, but with a little effort we might be able to significantly reduce it in a

decade or two. There are other issues that plague our society and in no way should this influence

you to give up on those and devote all time and resources to climate change. However, this

should make us more aware of climate change and know that it is a consequence that we cannot

outrun or out live forever. A small but significant way to help is to recycle. You could walk or

ride your bike to work or school instead of driving, or if you have to drive consider public

transportation. Something we could do as a nation is increase production of clean energy such as

wind farms, and decrease usage of coal and gas. A clean idea would be nuclear power, though it

has its drawbacks with the fact that it makes other countries nervous about nuclear war and once

unstable it can no longer be used,still it is a clean and effective source of energy. The best thing

for you to do is to do your part, make sure you recycle and save electricity by not running your

dryer in the middle of a summer day. Every little bit counts toward a better future.

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 Work Cited

"Climate Change in the United States: Benefits of Global Action." ​U.S. EPA's Video

Collection​, 22 June 2015. ​Student Edition​,

https://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A424370886/STOM?u=pioneer&sid=STOM&

xid=cfaeee1b​. Accessed 23 Jan. 2018.

Berger, Kevin. "Climate Change Is Not a Catastrophe." ​Conserving the Environment​,

edited by Debra A. Miller, Greenhaven Press, 2010. Current Controversies. ​Opposing

Viewpoints in Context​,

http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/EJ3010040207/OVIC?u=pioneer&xid=336be6e6.

Accessed 23 Jan. 2018. Originally published as "Bjørn Lomborg Feels a Chill,"

Salon.com​, 29 Aug. 2007.

“Global Warming.” ​UXL Encyclopedia of Weather and Natural Disasters​, Edited by Blackwell,

Amy Hackney and Elizabeth Manar, 2nd ed., vol. 2, UXL, 2016, pp. 357–360. ​Science

in Context [Gale]​,

link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/CX3629500121/SCIC?u=pioneer&xid=a3c7d841

"ISIS Viewed as America's Number One Threat." ​Tribune Content Agency Graphics​, 2017.

Opposing Viewpoints in Context​,

http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/JJYFPG150681919/OVIC?u=pioneer&xid=4e0c1d34.

Accessed 4 Feb. 2018.

Kring, D, A. 2007. The Chicxulub impact event and its environmental consequences at the

Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary. ​Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology​. Vol.

255, 4-21.

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McPherson, Stephanie Sammartino. ​Arctic Thaw: Climate change and the Global Race for

Energy Resources. ​Minneapolis: Twenty-First Century, 2015. Print.

“Scientist Fear Trump Administration Will Counter Climate Report.” ​Gale Group​, Utah's Online Library,

8 Aug. 2017, link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A500651602/SCIC?u=pioneer&xid=83eff2c2.