Global
warming dilemma, demands attention
Lee
Underwood
Let’s assume for the moment global warming is a theory based on shaky
scientific evidence developed by scientists who want you to believe the sky
is about to crash on your head and ruin that expensive hairstyle. Ponder for
a minute that the increase of our planet’s temperature is purely a result
of natural variability. Imagine that.
Compared to Africa, the United States is well insulated from the immediate
effects of drastic climate changes. Scientific breakthroughs in agriculture
have allowed for the production of “super foods.” Survival has
never been easier.
In Africa, things get complicated. A drought can be deadly. With natural disasters
increasing in frequency and intensity, these communities have very little time
to recover.
Some 770 million Africans, or 63 percent, live in rural areas and depend on
the health of the environment for their own survival. Global warming is a real
threat in Africa, and the facts cannot only be seen but are disturbingly obvious.
What does any of that have to do with the United States? More than you would
think.
Despite overwhelming scientific and ecological evidence that burning fossil
fuels greatly contributes to the rapid warming of the planet, we have slipped
into an attitude of apathy.
We cannot actually “see” it happening, centered as we are in sprawling
cities. For the most part, we do not care. A thick brown haze may drift around
the valleys like mustard gas, but our coastal winds usually send it packing
and it’s gone the next day.
Due to my hedonism, it does not take much for government officials like Sen.
James Inhofe to convince me that global warming is, in his words, a “hoax.”
Perhaps any one of us would fight to disprove the effects of global warming
when given large heaps of cash from oil, mining and logging industry strongmen.
These are the industries with the most on the line.
According to an study conducted by Mother Jones magazine, ExxonMobil “has
funded some 40 organizations that either have sought to undermine mainstream
scientific findings on global climate change or have maintained affiliations
with a small group of ‘skeptic’ scientists who continue to do so.”
Without support from scattered government officials and think tanks (many of
which received money from ExxonMobil), these industries would be forced to
decrease their atrocious treatment of the planet and re-think their attitudes.
In their annual climate change report, the World Health Organization said, “Climate
change represents one of the greatest environmental and health equity challenges
of our time: wealthy, energy-consuming nations are most responsible for global
warming, yet vulnerable, low-income populations, least prepared for the impacts
of climate change, are most at risk.”
If the United States is not going to admit global warming is a real threat
for the nation, then they should at least consider the toll it takes on the
continent of Africa. With many in Africa already subject to recurring droughts,
floods and soil degradation, a drastic climate change will make things worse.
This administration’s refusal to sign the Kyoto Protocol and reluctance
to preserve the wilderness or regulate major polluters is a spit in the face
of the world community. This would, however, be a good time to exact a preemptive
strike on poverty while strategically avoiding a future situation that will
blossom into a waking nightmare.
Lee Underwood is a graduate student in the English education credential program.
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