There are two sides to the growing global warming debate, with very little room in the middle of the argument. The scientific community on one side of the aisle warns of the consequences of continuing with policies and practices that offer little or no change in behavior, while the other side claims it is a dire prediction offered by Chicken Little and the sky is not really falling.
As candidates line up for representing their party in the 2008 presidential election, other players in the mix are former Vice President Al Gore and global warming. Following his lost bid to be president in 2000, Gore became the standard bearer in the fight against global warming and even won an Oscar for his performance in the environmentally-based movie An Inconvenient Truth.
Used as an educational tool, a global warming webquest can be helpful in not only teaching the facts surrounding the global warming debate, but also help develop an opinion on the fact or fallacy of global warming. With the hotly divided issue being debated on two main fronts, using a global warming webquest to help formulate an educated opinion can help separate the facts from theory.
There is no lack of numbers, charts and graphs that appear to support the global warming statistics being touted are the world as a preview of things to come. However, as many of the more cautious point out, weather experts and climatologists have such a difficult time predicting the weather on a daily basis, that projecting what the world’s weather patterns may be in 50 or 100 years, is simply guessing.
There are numerous people pushing the theory that global warming will soon result in the end of the world as it is known today, and there are just as many global warming skeptics that accuse them of walking around with “The End Is Near” signs to create a panic while pushing an unproven theory to support their personal agenda. When former Vice President Al Gore took up the cause, global warming skeptics claimed it is to draw attention to his future political agenda.
Global warming is happening quickly and the battle rages on for the reasons for it. Whether the cause is natural or man made, there are species of animals that are in danger of becoming extinct if something isn’t done soon. One of the species of animals that are at great risk is the apex predator of the north, the polar bear. Global warming is easiest to see where extreme temperatures are found such as the ice caps of the north and south. The temperatures at these locations are warming pretty quickly. The sea ice that the bears depend on is forming later while they are also melting earlier than normal. This equates to the bears having less time to hunt which means that the population of bears is declining.
It seems as though one cannot turn on the TV without seeing something about global warming and the dire straits the planet will soon be faced with. Most of the world believes that global warming is going to bring on death and destruction, leaving the planet as a hostile environment that most people will not be able to survive. Whether this is true or not can be left for people decide at another time.
The global warming reports that frequently are released by various organizations in the world lead many people to believe that the world is undergoing a rapid increase in temperature due to the wastefulness of mankind. Since the industrial revolution began man has allowed pollutions and toxic gases to be released into the atmosphere that now are believed to be harming the environment. There are many theories in the global warming report but there are very few provable facts. One fact is that the global warming report stirs up controversy and that there are many opponents to the report.
Whether a person subscribes to the global warming theory or does not there are many things a person can do to become more environmentally friendly and to conserve the planets natural resources. Conservation is a great aspiration for anyone and if it does lead to ways to stop global warming all the better. If global warming is a true occurrence people have to take action immediately and if it is not people can feel good that they are taking care of the planet anyway.
There are many graphs of global warming that show the warming trend of the earth’s temperature. These graphs come from a variety of resources but all tend to show the same data. The difficulty with these graphs is that most average people do not understand the graphs and rely on their interpretation of the scientists who present them. Should the common man fear the global warming issue or is it an unfounded crisis that has become a worldwide political issue? For people to make a decision they need to become informed and able to interpret all the data that is presented.
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