Global Warming: An Inconvenient Debate;

Global warming: An inconvenient debate; a deadly delay in taking action

Despite the overwhelming evidence in support of the idea that global warming is a very real phenomenon, the political inconvenience of the hard steps needed to circumvent it, such as limiting fossil fuel and meat consumption, makes the issue politically unpopular. An industry devoted to global warming denial has arisen, while the long-term risks of doing nothing escalate every day. "Climate policy is gridlocked, and there's virtually no chance of a breakthrough. Many factors have conspired to produce this situation. Human beings are notoriously poor at responding to problems that develop incrementally. And most of us aren't eager to change our lifestyles by sharply reducing our energy consumption" (Homer-Dixon 2010, p.1).

Environmentalism is embraced during fuel shortages, such as during the 1970s, when solar panels were commissioned for use on the White House, and then abandoned when economic conditions changed and gas prices went down. More recently, hybrid cars became popular when gas prices spiked -- now, once again, concern about over-consumption of fuel by cars has begun to abate as gas prices decline. According to The New York Times' overview of the topic of global warming: "A growing body of scientific evidence indicates that since 1950, the world's climate has been warming, primarily as a result of emissions from unfettered burning of fossil fuels and the razing of tropical forests. Such activity adds to the atmosphere's invisible blanket of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping 'greenhouse' gases. Recent research has shown that methane, which flows from landfills, livestock and oil and gas facilities, is a close second to carbon dioxide in impact on the atmosphere." Significant warming since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in the early 19th century indicates a climatologically pattern that cannot be ascribed to merely natural shifts in climate change, and supports a causal link between warming and the human-based use of fossil fuels in transportation, agriculture, and manufacturing.

For scientists, the evidence of global warming is visible everyday: "I can see vivid evidence of climate change. Channels through the Canadian Arctic archipelago that were choked with ice at this time of year two decades ago are now expanses of open water or vast patchworks of tiny islands of melting ice" (Homer-Dixon 2010, p.1). More severe weather conditions have also been linked to an increase in greenhouse gasses, including snow storms as well as hurricanes. Despite the harsh, cold winter, 2010 is likely to be the warmest year on record (Homer-Dixon 2010, p.1). But powerful special interest groups with an economic incentive to fight global warming legislation, such as cattlemen who raise methane-generating livestock or the oil and gas industry, may win out in the short-term, politically. Yet they cannot fight the facts. Due to global warming, the "Northern Hemisphere's jet streams… could alter storm tracks, rainfall patterns and food production far to the south" of the equator, and create the conditions for famine and fuel further political unrest in an already war-torn region (Homer-Dixon 2010, p.2).