What is Climate Change and What Does it Mean to You?

By Nicole Cruz

So what does climate change mean to you? Honestly as of recently I didn’t know much about it. In fact, I learned a lot within this past week in regards to what climate change is and what we can do about it. 

For class, we read the first two chapters in Communicating Nature by Julia B. Corbett. The first chapter discussed what nature and environment is and how we perceive both as well as introducing the belief system that everyone has, consciously or unconsciously. This is what really got me thinking. What about my belief system? Where do I lie on the spectrum?

Now you may be wondering, what belief system and what spectrum? Well I’ll tell you for those of you playing along at home. Your belief system is how you view your surroundings and ultimately your environment. How you see nature and your experiences mixed with other factors influence your belief system. To summarize, it’s your viewpoint on everything relating to the environment; and how you relate to that is entirely up to you. 

The spectrum can be broken down into: Unrestrained Instrumentalism, Conservationism, Preservationism, Ethics and Value Driven Ideologies, and Transformative Ideologies. All these titles are just main ideas with other sub-categories under each, sort of like an umbrella. Each falls under a spectrum from anthropocentric (human centered) to ecocentric (no single species rule) with Unrestrained Instrumentalism closer to anthropocentric and Transformative Ideologies being closer to ecocentric. Knowing where you lie on the spectrum is important but can be quite difficult when you really don’t know much, I would know. My question is, could this be explained in a more precise manner, especially in regards to climate change?

In the documentaries; Everything’s Cool (can be rented on Amazon) and Earth 2100 (found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUWyDWEXH8U) both showed us what climate change is but with different views (stylistically). Earth 2100 told a fictional story of woman throughout the years where climate change was inevitable. It was a worst-case scenario type of situation that could possibly become a reality if we as a society don’t change our ways. It was based off actual science and really made the viewer think. Everything’s Cool shows the debate on Global Warming and the back and forth between whether it’s a hoax or if it’s really happening. This was more of a typical documentary that really demonstrated what climate change is doing. To put this into better words I’d like to discuss the articles that I read on climate change and how it’s affecting our planet and what can possibly be done to save it. 

In Charles’s C. Mann’s “How to Talk About Climate Change So People Will Listen” (found here: http://m.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/09/how-to-talk-about-climate-change-so-people-will-listen/375067/) , he discusses what climate change is and the economic and political standpoints needed to get there. Ultimately he talks about how we really need to get climate change across and the best way to talk about it and really start any type of way to really make a change. In Bill McKibben’s article “Global Warming’s Terrifying New Math” (found here: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/global-warmings-terrifying-new-math-20120719), he talks about the statistics in climate change and shows just how much we need to actually get the ball rolling as well as point out who the enemy is. He throws in terminology like ‘gigatons’ and uses all these different percentages that for me just get muddled with his passionate writing.

McKibben’s article shares a lot in common with two chapters in Mark Schapiro’s book Carbon Shock and goes in to detail talking about the increase in Carbon and fuel emissions that need to be controlled internationally. The focus is over aviation and keeping record of all the CO2 emitted into the environment, as well as talking about being economically sound in the example of coffee cups. The environment is around us and climate change is happening whether or not we realize it. Global warming is happening and we seriously need to start thinking about where we go from here. But here’s the dilemma and where I’ll really get into the nitty gritty. 

Communication is key and where these articles, documentaries, and chapter excerpts lie similarly, they differ in communication. Mann’s article talks about how to talk about climate change and that’s really important. Scientists and experts in their field of study who are familiar with climate change know how to talk about it but what about people who don’t? I’m a student and still the terminology and statistics confuse me, so how can we expect people with little knowledge to know what the math truly means in terms of global warming and Carbon emissions? We need to be able to reach out and explain so people care. In Everything’s Cool they gather a group of people and ask them to define global warming and climate change. In the beginning of the documentary you see people who try to make out the word global warming and can’t. They talk about the gap and I really believe that gap relies heavily on communication. That’s why Earth 2100 is a great documentary to watch. It blends the science with easy to understand information and it was made readily available by being on a TV and being able to watch free on YouTube. One thing Everything Cool did was they talked to kids in school and at one point related the movie The Day After Tomorrow to how climate change can affect us as a society. 

To sum up, communication is key and in order to get anything done we need to be able to talk to people in ways everyone can understand. I found this short 4 minute film on YouTube about climate change by The Daily Conversation aptly named Morgan Freeman’s Powerful Climate Change Short Film (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YQIaOldDU8). He explains what’s happening in our environment but in a manner that intrigues you and helps you understand. He gives you hope unlike those documentaries which can terrify you, as it did me. It’s short and sweet and to the point. Now with everything I mentioned, try and be a part of the conversation and find out where you stand on the spectrum.