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Global warming: more than an inconvenient truth
In anticipation of the 2008 presidential election, former Vice President Albert Gore has received the Nobel Peace Prize for his work on the issue of climate change. Gore, who last year released a documentary about global warming titled "An Inconvenient Truth", has made this issue a priority since leaving office. His film focuses on awareness, both of the issue of climate change and of Gore himself. One does not have to think back very far to remember when the issue of climate change was not a topic of discussion amongst the second Bush administration. It is both pathetic, and a sad reflection on the state political discourse in America that it required Gore making a movie about climate change to prompt real discussion amongst our political leaders. Proving what many like Neil Postman have predicted: the modern political climate is engulfed in influence by the world of Show Business. Global climate change is not a new problem. America had the opportunity to begin solving this issue years ago when it created the Environmental Protection Agency. Instead, we have let the EPA crumble under its own bureaucracy while our air gets dirtier, and our streams more toxic. The Bush administrations appointing of former oil company executives to run the agency has only exacerbated the problem. Any sane person should be asking: what can I do about climate change? Sadly, at this point there is nothing that individuals can do. Corporate and political change on a worldwide scale is the only action with the potential to solve this problem. While some recent United Nations resolutions have offered the opportunity for global change to take place, they lack both teeth and the critical support of the United States. Thusly, they will not be implemented in the near future. Humans have exploited the resources of our planet and pushed it to its limits. The opportunity for any solution to this problem at all may have already slipped through our fingers. This is the second, and indeed more unfortunate, inconvenient truth in regards to climate change. This publication is the voice of the students on each GHC campus. As such, it requires input from the larger college community. Please, let us know what is on your minds. E-mail us at: [email protected] |
Save perhaps the Iraq war and Healthcare, there is no issue on the American political scene that is more discussed, or indeed, more polarizing, than global climate change.