Monday, October 27, 2014
A Chronicler of Warnings Denied; Naomi Oreskes Imagines the Future History of Climate Change
Source: The New York Times
Author: Claudia Dreifus, October 27, 2014
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/28/science/naomi-oreskes-imagines-the-future-history-of-climate-change.html?ref=science&_r=0
Naomi Oreskes is a historian at Harvard University, as well as a geologist. When she took the plunge into climate change, she wasn't aware of the splash she would make. In the beginning, Naomi had believed like most of America in 2004 that the facts pertaining to climate change were inconclusive. The way the data and articles had led her and most of America to believe that not all scientists were convinced of climate change, let alone had definitive or any proof for that matter. However, while researching for a book on oceanography she looked at 1,000 articles published in a peer reviewed scientific literature in the past 10 years. Now, in the interview with Dreifus, she discovered that not a single scientist disagreed that the increase in global temperatures in the last 50 years was due to the increase in green house gasses. She then published her findings in Science, which was titled "The Scientific Consensus on Climate Change," which gained a great amount of publicity, and even Al Gore mentioned it (with negative connotations). Five years later, she ditched the oceanography book, and published a book on climate change with another scientist named Erik Conway.
Now, Naomi says that the battle is not about science, but rather economics. When it comes down to it, most people can probably acknowledge the increased changes of the Earth, but if this threatens their money, then there is no argument really there. Money trumps change. However, Naomi says that today, more people are willing to deal with the problem, stating that 70-80% of the American public is ready to deal with this very real problem, politics now standing in the way. By the end of the interview, Oreskes speaks about how she thought we would have cut down in our intake of fossil fuels, but as we have, in fact increased, there are real challenges that lay ahead.
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If 70-80% of the population is ready for action, why is it that more politicians have not taken note? Mostly, politicians do what the people want, if they want to keep their jobs. If the trend was this obvious, you would think that more would be supporting climate change action.
ReplyDeleteMany politicians see that the economy could initially take a dip, and are not willing to threaten our economy, as well as the businesses it may effect. There may also be sponsors that dislike this, which could prohibit politicians' abilities.
DeleteHow do they think that economics has influenced climate change? The numbers showing temperatures going up ask for a more concrete reason than that. Do they think that people are reacting differently now than they would if it was a different period in time? They say 70%-80% of people are ready to deal with this problem, but would it be more if we lived in a time without all of the media influence?
ReplyDeleteWhile affluent countries try to limit their usage of fossil fuels, developing countries consume great amounts due to its considerably cheaper price than renewable energy. There have always been people ready to accept change, and those who aren't, but I think that the media does help because it at least gets the topic out into the public's attention.
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