Global Warming...or should I say not?

Many people seem to not really know much behind the basis of global warming. Often finding themselves confused and frustrated with the inability to connect this wicked cold and very snowy winter with the idea that the whole planet is raising in temperature.


First! Let's not call it global warming. I do not know how the science got twisted to the point that everyone in the world now calls GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE global warming. Now think of it at this new perspective. The climates are changing, all of the coral reefs are in extreme danger. Mainly because global climate change is impacting the ocean environment by causing the water to become more acidic at an increasing rate due to carbon dioxide dissolving in the ocean from the atmosphere. That fact the media got right, YES the carbon dioxide levels are getting scary high.

Coral reefs are most at danger because corals build their skeleton with calcium carbonate, which dissolves in acids. Coccolithophores, a small microscopic phytoplankton important for primary production, are also in danger of not being able to produce their shells. If you mess up the primary producers in a food web, you are in serious trouble. Image if all of the sudden corn plants were unable to make corn ears with edible yellow corn for us to make into almost EVERYTHING we eat (if that statement bother's you read "In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto" by Michael Pollan or watch Food Inc.). What would then happen? We would not be in a very good place, and that's what going to happen in the ocean. When an imbalance occurs from an ecological standpoint a few things can happen. 1) Evolution 
2) Extinction
3) Domino effect disaster


Basically, without any one species in a food web a niche now becomes available. Even if it is just a microscopic plankton that no one thinks about on a daily basis, without them the world would change forever. 


Which brings me to my next point, we really need to care about global climate change. Stop worrying about which scientist is lying and others that are wrong. More often than not, scientist are not wrong, the media is. Scientists don't get paid billions of dollars to lie to the public, they don't go around making up things as they go. There are very standard, strict rules revolving around methodology, publishing, and ethics that make it virtually impossible for a scientist to just be any old crack out there. I once got into a very frustrating debate in a 100 level history class with the professor and some political science students. Whenever I would drop a science term that seemed scary and too smart they would shoot me down saying the public and them don't know what I am talking about, we have scientists for a reason and that we need to dumb down so that everyone understands. Not Cool. People should be told exactly what is found out and if they are unable to understand then google it!! Find the information, how can the whole world just sit back and take ignorance as their main basis. This is why there is so much confusion surrounding global climate change. It's not a political battle.


Global climate is real, it's going to happen. The ecosystem will change. Please don't ignore something with blind ignorance and unwillingness to learn. It's your world too.




-Mia