The reality of climate change is getting to the point where it is impossible to ignore. A large percentage of Earth’s population is in a state of denial about the effects that our race is having on the planet. No matter what evidence and numbers and statistics of the past weather are placed in front of them, many find ways to deny it. A common response is that the Earth is just going through another cycle like it has done for the last billions of years. Although the fact that the Earth has gone through phases of global temperature is true, the rate at which the temperature is increasing has never been seen before.
Most of these past climate changes took millions of years to change, and even then, the Earth’s global temperature has never been higher. I found an article on Business Insider written by Dina Spector titled, “Before and After Pictures Show how Climate Change is Destroying Earth“. The article states that since now almost all scientists agree that global warming is happening, the White House has invested $1 billion towards climate change and preparing for our near future’s inevitable storms and natural disasters. “Rising global temperatures, largely due to man-made greenhouse gases, are the source of widely-discussed observable changes to the Earth like melting glaciers, rising sea levels, warming oceans, and more extreme weather events, such as hurricanes, droughts, forest fires, and floods” (Spector).
Along with the article there are numerous before and after pictures taken different locations around the world. The devastation that has occurred since the Industrial Revolution has completely transformed our planet. The Great Barrier Reef was once filled with color and life, and now the coral, which is crucial to the survival in sea life, is white and on the brim of death. It doesn’t stop at sea life. The Muir Glacier in Alaska in now completely gone and has transformed from icebergs to a body of water. These pictures are a powerful tool to stop the nonsense that our current climate change is just another part of the Earth’s natural weather cycle. The facts are in. Humans are the cause.
I agree that generally individuals are in denial about the Earth’s changing climate and that climate change is not a serious issue. I also agree that those same individuals do not believe that humans are the main cause of it. They do not correlate greenhouse gas usage to climate change a lot of the time and that is extremely baffling and sad. I like the examples of climate change that you used and think it’s a good way to show folks how it is seriously happening and should not be ignored.
I agree about people are in denial and even the facts and research won’t make anything change. My parents don’t even talk about climate change because they don’t want to admit it’s true. I wish this issue was talked about more and people acted and wanted to make a difference. It only takes one person and by taking a class about climate change has educated me a lot. This class makes me think about how the world is headed in a bad direction.
I agree with your first statement about how climate change is getting to the point where it’s impossible to ignore because that is completely true. I think that more people are starting to realize how large of an issue climate change is because the various ways in which it is affecting the Earth at large and also how much people are starting to talk about it. The more we talk about it, the more people are going to realize that climate change is an issue that is not going away so something needs to be done about it.
These before and after images are very powerful — thanks for sharing them. As we talked about briefly in class earlier this week, people often have a difficult time perceiving changes that take place slowly and over a longer period of time (that is, we’re bad at recognizing trends); this seems like a reason why before-after pictures could be such a powerful form of evidence and visual rhetoric — to help people see these stark changes. You might also be interested in this project http://extremeicesurvey.org/ , which uses time lapse photography and video to capture the melting of glaciers.
Also, one thing you might consider, especially in the context of the final project assignment — do you think literature/fiction can function as a kind of “before and after” rhetoric, like these photographs do? If so, what kind/style/form of fiction might be useful in this regard?