Global warming shrugged off as 'conspiracy'

We’ve all seen the images: a polar bear balancing atop a shrinking ice cap as their habitat melts away. Or the haze of smoke blocking the sight of a once-blue sky. Every year, countless photos like these are published; all of them ugly and foreshadowing a doomed Earth. Along with these photos, plenty of articles, studies and scientifical evidence predict the worst, warning the population about fossil fuel use and other damaging contributors to global warming. Other people don’t even believe in global warming. ”They say we have all been fooled. Global warming is utterly insane. These so-called “scientists” must have been paid by some conspirator to spew such preposterous lies,” they contend.

For any person with a shred of common sense, or logic, these conspiracy theories appear ridiculous, as they should. Global warming is a very real threat and it is affecting us all. The fact that people choose to blatantly ignore all the research that has been published towards this topic is disheartening, not to mention disrespectful towards the earth and the people living on it.

A Gallup Poll released April 22, 2015, revealed that 59 percent of self-identified conservative Republicans believe that global warming isn’t currently happening. Seventy percent of this same group claim that they do not believe humans are responsible for climate change. These statistics were gathered over the course of five years (2010-2015) by conducting interviews with politicians from a diverse number of political affiliations. I would like to note that conservative Republicans are not the only people who believe these claims, nor do all Republicans believe that global warming is a hoax. However, conservative Republicans are the largest pool of individuals with these beliefs and, therefore, are the easiest to use as an example.

The impacts of global warming are not at all invisible to those in the United States. The government’s national assessment of climate change, issued in 2014, depicts the devastating effects climate change has in our very own backyard. We can no longer cast the effects of global warming off onto a polar bear floating on melting ice. Rising sea levels, heat waves, changes in seasons, flooding and storm surges; these are all happening in America. The Southeast experiences water shortages and hurricanes, while the Southwest battles wildfires and drought. These are all occurrences we can witness and attest to with our own eyes, not to mention the piles of scientific studies supporting human-contributed global warming. The fossil fuels we burn every day are releasing carbon dioxide which is heating up our atmosphere and destroying its layers. That is fact, backed up with inarguable evidence. There is a reason that the consensus throughout the scientific community is that global warming is a very real and very threatening occurrence.

Referencing back to the 2015 Gallup poll, a particular statistic may raise some eyebrows. Nineteen percent of conservative Republicans believe that global warming will only affect future generations. So maybe part of the problem, a reason for the denial of global warming’s existence, is because older politicians don’t think it is their problem. They don’t want to worry about it now; it’s a problem younger folks will have to take care of. That means us.

We need to take action-- not tomorrow--today. We need to encourage the science and innovation that will help save our earth. We need to make small changes in our lives today, so there is a tomorrow.

As some of us enter the world of adulthood and gain the ability to vote, we need to pay attention. What are the candidates’ views on the environment? Are they going to contribute money towards slowing down global warming; are they willing to fund the scientific and innovative community? We are reaching the age where we can make a difference. It is essential that people, especially young people, stay informed about who they are voting into office. Why vote for a politician who doesn’t care what happens to younger generations? Because the undeniable truth is this: global warming is real.

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