Scientific Method and Climate Change One of the predominant changes occurring in the late 20th and early 21st centuries has been the manner in which economic, political and cultural movements have evolved to bring the world closer. This paradigm, globalism, tells us that a number of actions in modern life are connected, regardless of the political unit or geographic location of a country. Globalism shows us, however, that there have been a number of trends occurring over the last century, at least, that involve the manner in which industrial activities in one region have a negative effect on other regions -- sometimes globally (Speth, ed., 2003).

How is it, though, that we can formulate both an argument or a way to validate claims made about global environmental issues? Of course, all research actions begin with a question since research is the process of answering unknowns. For research to be valid across all disciplines and over time, however, there must be an established way to formulate a hypothesis, collect data (experiment) and measure and report the results. This is called the scientific method, and refers to a way of investigating, testing, observing, analyzing,...

The method consists of: a) formulating a question or hypothesis, b) designing an experiment or means of collecting data, c) observation or experimentation, d) analyzing the results and considering the proof or disproof of the hypotheses, and e) suggestions for future research (Cary, 2003).
Former Vice-President Al Gore and others have indicated that because of the Industrial Revolution and then rapid growth of the economy, the environment has been adversely affected, causing global warming. The basic hypothesis would be: in combination with the Earth's natural geologic functions, the process of globalization has radically changed earth's environment, causing global warming (Gore, 2006).

If we plan to use the scientific method to understand this hypothesis, our research plan…