As a professor at Florida International University, I push my students to think critically about history, religion, science, culture, government, economics, and so on. "Critical Thinking" requires observation, analysis, and conclusions that are fact-based and evidence-based. With the onslaught of social media and everyone's opinion as fact, it sometimes seems like a losing battle. Nonetheless, their class comment and essay grades depend upon their ability to provide accurate, knowledgeable, fair, and balanced arguments. Most live up to the challenge, which shows they can do it.
Sadly, critical thinking seems to be becoming extinct in our current political and culture wars. In today's climate, facts and evidence are dismissed as "fake news," and opinions become "alternative facts." Lying for some politicians becomes a norm rather than an outlier. This distortion of truth and reality might seem laughable if it did not have such dire consequences.
Climate change is becoming one of those life-or-death propositions. So, today, we will look at the scientific facts. By the way, “climate change” is the more updated terminology, but it is synonymous with the earlier term “global warming.” To help you, I strongly urge you to watch David Attenborough's amazing series on our planet and climate change. Start with David Attenborough: A Life On Our Planet, then Breaking Boundaries: The Science of Our Planet, Climate Change: The Facts, Extinction: The Facts, and finally, Our Planet I and II and Blue Planet series. You can find them all on Netflix and Amazon Prime. If your heart is not breaking at what we are doing to our beautiful planet and its creatures after watching these films, I guess there is not much we can say to convince you. So, I'll simply add that as we destroy our planet, we end up destroying ourselves.
False fact: Climate change is a hoax and not supported by the science. In fact, the vast majority of scientists and science organizations in the world agree that climate change is real. As the NASA Global Climate Change reports, "Scientific evidence continues to show that human activities (primarily the human burning of fossil fuels) have warmed Earth's surface and its ocean basins, which in turn have continued to impact Earth's climate. This is based on over a century of scientific evidence forming the structural backbone of today's civilization." Go to https://science.nasa.gov/climate-change/scientific-consensus/ for more detailed information.
True Fact: Until modern times, the Earth remained in a balanced ecological state. After the last Ice Age and for the past 11,000 years, we have lived in what is called the Holocene Era. This has been a particularly stable climate period where the Earth's temperature has not varied by more than one degree. It has allowed us to have regular, stable seasons and predictable climates. This was essential to the development of farming and food production, which allowed civilization to advance. However, it also created a balanced nature with incredible biodiversity, crucial to a healthy environment.
True Fact: The Earth has been warming over the past 200 years. Due primarily to human activity and an increasing worldwide human population (now more than 8 billion), scientists have observed a steady increase in the world's temperature. Even an increase of a few degrees dramatically impacts our climate. It continues to melt our polar icecaps, whose vast sheets of white ice and snow reflected much of the sun's heat back into space. Now, that heat stays on the planet and in the oceans. Warming oceans are killing all the coral reefs on the planet, which are the nurseries for millions of ocean fish and species. Deforestation and the killing of our rainforests are so vast it is disrupting our oxygen-carbon cycle. Trees and rainforests are the lungs of the planet. They remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and produce oxygen. Increasing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere significantly increases planetary warming through the "greenhouse effect." We are also losing our predictable seasons. Spring comes sooner and winter later.
True Fact: There have been five extinction-level events in Earth's 4.5 billion-year history. The last extinction event occurred 65 million years ago when a massive asteroid hit the Earth, creating a freezing worldwide winter and wiping out 75% of the Earth's species, including the dinosaurs. Many scientists believe we may be on the verge of another extinction event, this time by our own hands. They are already warning that there will be more terrible wildfires, stronger hurricanes, longer droughts, and greater floods. Sea levels are already rising and are anticipated to overrun much of our coastal areas and small Pacific islands in the next fifty years. We also see evidence of increased hurricane activity in the flurry of unprecedented early and late hurricanes, a number going to Level 5. Recent wildfires have had a devastating impact in Australia, California, and Hawaii. Finally, we have had the hottest worldwide temperatures on record for the past several years.
False Fact: It's too late to do anything about the climate crisis. Actually, it is not too late and there are things we can do to turn it around.
Stop the annual deforestation of billions of trees. Plant lots of trees. Return our wildlands.
Stop relying on gas, oil, and coal (fossil fuels) and switch to the unlimited power of solar, wind, water, and geothermal energy sources.
Stop unchecked overfishing of the seas (some 90% of fish species are overfished and dwindling). Create no fishing and fishing zones. Countries implementing sustainable fishing laws have seen the return of fish and ocean wildlife.
Change our diets. Move away from a meat-eating culture where much of the world's animals are now herds of cattle and other meat producers. We need more biodiversity, and a more plant-based diet is also, of course, healthier.
Work on climate change as a planet. The Paris Accords and other treaties are a great starting point, but only a starting point. The Biden-Harris administration passed the largest increase in climate change funding in the world in a bipartisan bill. Again, it is a start, but we must keep it going.
Educate yourselves and your children about the issue.
Vote for government officials recognizing climate change and supporting policies to save our planet.
This little blog is just a toe dipped in the water to inform you and me. Please dive in deeper and see David Attenborough's ground-breaking films and advocacy. Become an activist for Earth yourself. In so doing, you and I will leave our children and grandchildren a living, breathing, beautiful, green planet.
Blessings,
Tom
Rev. Dr. Tom Norris
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