Many people within the scientific community are divided when it comes to the issues of Global Warming or Climate Change. The argument for or against this phenomenon has bled over into party politics. Both sides attempt to disprove the other one. They attempt to prove they are right by cherry picking a specific scientific study that supports their argument. Conservatives do that in trying to disprove Climate Change. Liberals will take even the smallest victory for Global Warming and turn it into a momentous occasion that proves everything. The fact is neither side is correct nor is the study of science. Science itself cannot support the answer one way or another at this point.
People often have been misguided in believing that science is nothing like religion. Science must always be true in most people’s minds, yet science is ever-changing. In that sense, science is no different than religion. We learn new things about our existence and challenge what was previously known about the subject (does that sound like anything else you know?). It is similar to how some religions have changed to incorporate more people.
People trying to use science to explain climate change or global warming are incorrect. They are incorrect for basing it on current scientific knowledge. Science needs time, at least multiple decades, to study every detail on Climate Change or Global Warming. Scientists have not been studying this extensively for that long. It is a relatively new science problem that did not gain traction until the early to mid-2000s. Sure, some scientists probably studied this as early as the 1970s, but it did not gain national recognition until recently. National recognition brings funding and more scientists.
The real way to determine whether one believes in these phenomena is through the eye test. Everyone has a perception they believe to be real, no matter how much one argues it, and that comes from our eyes. Two people look at my computer monitor and see different colors. I see an orange background. My friend, she sees a red background. Whether the colors we see are the same or not, we’re going to believe what we can see with our own eyes. I challenge everyone to compare last year’s weather to the year before and the year before that. Are there any changes to the pattern no matter how small?
For me, it certainly feels like the weather has been changing for the worst. California and other west coast states that get almost no rain now suddenly have flooding. I live in an area that has always had some flooding, but the past few years the flooding has ravaged towns and become more widespread. Where I live, we went from a relatively warm winter two years ago, especially towards the end of the year, to an unbearably cold winter last year (2016). Two years ago the summer was cool and last year it was hot, more like an average summer. The weather and the patterns to it make no sense here. Just about a week ago, we went from snow and 15-degree weather to 30-degree weather to 60-degree weather out of nowhere. That pattern changed this week from 40-degree weather and has been alternating into high 60-degree weather then back down to the 40-degree weather.
I trust my ability to feel cold and hot. Scientists can study and come up with different experiments, but my ability to feel temperature remains steadfast. Maybe, we cannot fully trust scientific studies on these matters yet, but we can trust our bodies. Scientists need more time and funding to study this extensively. Most of us are not scientists. We are not going to fully comprehend the meaning of numerous studies and what they show. However, anyone can feel temperatures.
We need to use our eyes, our sense of feeling, and determine what does this weather mean to us? Does it feel like something is wrong? That’s the question most of us should ask ourselves. Science may not be infallible, but climate change and global warming are a worthwhile investment. We already waste money as a country. Our government and tax money certainly pay for a lot of unnecessary things we do not need. If this turns out to be a waste, at least this waste will give us knowledge on a debated topic.
Maybe, the scientists that say the fossil fuel industry is blocking them are telling the truth. Perhaps, the conservatives that have disproven it are correct. Right now, we’ll never know one way or another.
We should take some of that tax money away from unnecessary things and find out the truth behind climate change and global warming. If you disagree with this article comment below, do the same if you agree with me. Tell me what you think we should do about climate change or global warming.
