By NICHOLAS NEGRON
Opinion Editor
What is up with the weather? There has not been a steady pattern of temperature in quite some time. Scientists and politicians are screaming that climate change is an immediate danger, happening now. Others are screaming louder that there are other issues to allocate time and money towards, global terrorism and poverty being the brunt of their argument. Global initiatives to counteract climate change have been proactive for years in their efforts. “Going green” has become a lifestyle, one often made fun of. However with all of the new information about climate change that has been generated within the last decade, it seems that people are still misinformed.
There is concrete evidence of climate change to justify the Green Peace movement. A lot of this is simply exemplified in temperature changes. Look at Albany, N.Y. The city has had all forms of precipitation, and summer like days within the span of one week, multiple times during the winter. Students do not know whether to bring their winter clothes home during Easter. Winter festivals have been cancelled, due to the lack of winter.
The years of lectures and seminars giving warnings about the dangers of climate change and the wearing of the o-zone layer have not delayed the inevitable. Despite all of the tangible information about pollution, people will choose to do what is easy and convenient. If this means dumping waste into fresh/salt water or building factories that create cloud of smog, then it will be done.
Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore is the Chairman of The Climate Reality Project. The goal of the organization is to simply raise awareness about the physical and manmade dangers threatening our world. Since 1976, Gore has been on the forefront of environmental issues. As a congressmen he was one of the first to speak on toxic waste and global warming. His passion for clean air and water has been essential to his success, has caused numerous amounts of Democrats to embrace Green change. While he still faces backlash on both sides of the political spectrum, he continues his advocacy. Additionally Gore went Vegan in 2013, claiming that meat production is a large part of factorization around the world.
Polls do indicate that fewer people then eve doubt that climate change is happening. According to Thinkprogress.org 70 percent of Americans believe that global warming is a real threat. Republicans who have doubted this, have now dropped from 41 percent to 26 percent.
Nine of the warmest years in a 134 year record have occurred since 2000. 2015 ranks to be the warmed on this record. This information was released by NASA and agreed upon by the Climatic Research Unit. Now that people are feeling the results of climate change, response should be quick. Unfortunately this is not the case.
Climate change has taken a back seat to issues concerning terrorism, poverty and the economy. The phrase “you can’t change the weather” might have sunken into the heads of the public too easily. It is an inconvenient truth that climate change is a real threat to the future of the human civilization. Whether humans will react quickly and swiftly will l unfortunately depend upon how many natural disasters and weird weather strikes that Earth gets. Hopefully, a global initiative to save the Earth will indeed do that.
