#Textbroker sample on Climate Change
Proof of Climate Change is all over Social Media. Mother nature will not be denied.
The evidence supporting climate change has grown substantially in the last 10 years, with real-time indicators right outside of our windows. The warnings of scientists mostly go unheeded. Despite the in-your-face weather changes, skepticism persists.
Due to a variety of personal, political and economic factors, citizens still want their unchanged lifestyle behaviors respected by Mother Nature. Posts from the latest weather victims throughout social media capture moments of dangerous torrents of water rushing past out-of-the-way mountain homes that aren’t in flood plains. What was once a babbling brook or a stream is now a reason insurance companies use to deny claims to rebuild near them. Some insurance companies are debating in the news, where they won’t be writing flood insurance policies, as there were none before.
The root of climate skepticism is distrust. It explains why some resist climate science consensus even when a river is their new front lawn. Some think by not accepting climate science, they are resisting excessive government control. Their denials are based on political ideology. Agreeing with the facts could cast a polarizing light, adding to the burden of reality. Evidence of the changing climate should be viewed with a clear eye, not a partisan lens. Policies such as carbon taxes, stricter environmental regulations, and energy transition plans are known to slow down climate change effects.
Another wedge of skepticism is rooted in economic concerns. Fossil fuel industries such as oil, coal, or natural gas often view climate science as a threat to their livelihood. Climate action could mean reduced demand for fossil fuels, leading to perceived job losses. Employers and industry thought leaders are responsible for this stance toward workers’ perceptions. Companies with financial ties to these industries downplay climate science and want to delay regulatory action, going as far as to create resistance to electric vehicle infrastructure, hindering industry growth.
In America, where its citizens are guaranteed the right to free speech, many are expressing a mistrust of government, scientific institutions, and the media, viewing them as participants in a mysterious cabal. Climate science is an excuse for a power grab, in the eyes of some, creating additional layers of governmental interference instead of the help it intends to give citizens. Disinformation spread on social media for clicks and likes (which bring financial gain) fosters skepticism toward climate science and creates a false debate around provable facts. Simple counter-narriatives are easy to understand and talk about but the delusion they create is deadly.
A knowledge deficit is why some struggle to understand the complexities of climate science. Concepts like greenhouse gasses, carbon cycles and climate modeling can be challenging, but simplified counter agruments are easy to understand and explain, so they are believed and repeated.
More intense and frequent heatwaves, 100-year floods, and balmy 70-degree midwestern Chrismasses, catch everyone’s attention but there are no clear instructions on how to act on this information. Global citizens do not have action plans. Regular citizens don’t have action plans. People and communities are being washed away by floods and dam failures. Exccesive heat brings wildfires that engulf whole neighborhoods. Severe drought lead to higher food prices, and restaurant prices. Altered lifestyles due to home budget cutbacks are unexpected and unwelcome, which can lead to strife.
Glaciers are visibly receeding in places like the Alps, the Himalayas and Greenland. Artic Sea ice is also at record lows. There are daily articles published and reposted on the matter. The changes are observable in satelite imagery and in person. All of this affects wildlife and ecosystems and the communities that rely on them. More intense hurricanes threaten to add levels to long standing measuring devices like the Saffir-Simpson Wind Scale that measures sustained wind speed. It goes from one to five. There is no Catagory six where winds would be in excess of 160 miles per hour. Experts in the field of climatology have yet to weigh in publically if additional levels should be added. An article on the World Economic Forum website states that researchers are proposing a “Catagory 6” for winds exceeding 309 kilometers per hour as there have been five storms since 2013 within this range but no action has been taken on the matter, yet.
Real-time examples of climate change are right outside of the newly installed, insulated windows and it proves the reality of climate science. Reality should naturally reduce skepticism but it does not. There is no trust being built between the most affected individuals and those who have actionable plans of care for endangered municipalities. Trust can bridge the gap skepticism brings but a plan is needed. And the plan has to be easy enough for children to implement.
