Sunday, March 11, 2012

Who Should Decide Whether the Globe is Warming?


General Electric, a champion of environmentally-firendly technologies, denies global warming caused by carbon emissions. Even though it is a scientific consensus, General Electric is not alone in this position. Earlier, Mr. Romney said we do not know the cause of global warming yet; Mr. Santorum said political science and climate science are equivalent; and Mr. Gingrich said global warming is not proven. The attached article provides readers with some possible reason that led to the denial of global warming: Tea Party raised the anti-regulatory suggestions out of unemployment concern and the fossil fuels interests of Super PACs donors (Financial Times).

If we want to prove global warming, we should trust our scientists, researchers, and academia. They are experts on the subject matter. Environmental scientists know the variables to look at and come up with a relatively accurate conclusion about the causes of climate change. However, the documentary Inside Job scared me with the fact that prestigious experts are connected with institutions and that they manipulate the messages sent to the public. That is how we have concerns about untrustworthy scientific claims. I think the best way to avoid the collaboration between leading companies and prominent scholars would be to enable all scholars to do research on the subject and allow their voice to be heard, which requires investment in academic research. Leading companies or institutions should not dominate the voice about climate change. The hierarchy in science that is related to collaboration with big institutions is unhealthy. Only when all the people who care about the environment can equally do research, draw their conclusions, and exchange their ideas, can the conclusions about whether global warming exists be convincing.

1 comment:

TJE said...

Article states that GE believes that climate change is occurring