My WoRLd

My

WoRLd
I was listening to the evening news a few nights ago, it was CNN and the corky newscaster was roaming the streets of New York City and questioning random citizens about global warming, pollution and the state of our global environment. “Do you believe in global warming?” she casually questioned a crowd of young adults. Out of four seemingly intelligent human beings ONLY one addressed the topic from an academic perspective, referencing statistics, relevant facts and worries pertaining to the topic. I was astonished to see that the other three individuals seemed clearly oblivious to the idea of climate change and long term effects of our infinite desire and dependence on non renewable resources such as oil, coal, natural gas and uranium. One even ventured to declare that the theory of global warming was simply some conspiracy theory cooked up by left winged extremists…Honestly I’d laugh if it weren’t so sadly frightening and pitiful. At that moment I imagined some 10th grade science professor rolling over in his grade in embarrassment of, a possibly successful student, he had once had.
I can’t wrap my mind around how in this day in age; the concepts of climate change and global warming are still debated, let along questioned! Where has our society and public school system gone wrong? Why is it that thriving American citizens, with jobs, homes and children are still contemplating the severity and importance of such “theories?”. Is it because recognizing, accepting and then addressing such issues are overwhelming, are we not able to adequately conceptualize the scope and significance of such subject matter. Is it possible that human beings would choose blatant denial over having to recognize these imminent dangers we ourselves have created??? I make these seemingly pathetic excuses for our peers in order to make some kind of sense of the barefaced negligence we ALL take part in everyday. It is easier to not acknowledge such terrifying truths about our environment, lifestyles and future. Many feel that since they will be dead when such catastrophic consequences begin to arrive, that it is not a topic of importance or worth actually addressing. The saddest part of such a mindset is that they do not consider the near future, their children and grand children, the world…
The following excerpt is taken from the website dedicated to the Environmental Protection Agency, here there are several informative and descriptive links to related websites and reports regarding the topics of global climate change, renewable/non renewable resources, pollution and endangered species protection programs.
“Collecting and interpreting environmental indicators play a critical role in our understanding of climate change and its causes. An indicator represents the state of certain environmental conditions over a given area and a specified period of time. Examples of climate change indicators include temperature, precipitation, sea level, and greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere. EPA's Climate Change Indicators in the United States (PDF) (80 pp, 13.3MB) report will help readers interpret a set of important indicators to better understand climate change. The report presents 24 indicators, each describing trends related to the causes and effects of climate change. It focuses primarily on the United States, but in some cases global trends are presented to provide context or a basis for comparison. EPA will use these indicators to collect data and generate analyses to:

• Monitor the effects/impacts of climate change in the United States
• Assist decision–makers on how to best use policymaking and program resources to respond to climate change
• Assist EPA and its constituents in evaluating the success of their climate change efforts”

http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/indicators.html