Colloquium Blog #8

In your view, is climate change anthropogenic (manmade), "natural", or some combination of the two? What (or who) would you consider reputable sources for climate change information? How is climate change portrayed in the media? Does this portrayal make you more or less likely to alter your lifestyle? What do you think the effects of climate change will be on your children and grandchildren?

In my view, climate change is due to a combination of both anthropogenic and natural causes. I believe that man has sped up the process by emitting an excessive amount of fossil fuels into the atmosphere, drilling for oil, and adding more waste into the environment, amongst many other reasons. The change of temperatures, and the rising and falling of the water levels, has been an ongoing event since the beginning of time. Through the division of the super continent, Pangaea, through the cold Ice Age, and so on. The Earth's climate is a cycle, that changes every hundred thousands of years. Therefore, this proves that the climate change is due to natural causes, but the fact that it is occurring at such a rapid pace is due to mankind. Climate change is portrayed in the media to be explicitly man-made.

The media at first started out by calling it Global Warming, and now they are calling it Global Cooling. I feel as if the media is aggressively pushing the green movement to the public's attention. Wherever you turn, the "green" movement is everywhere. I personally do not mind it and am for the movement, except I don't just blame humans as the sole cause of the climate change. The green movement has taught me to recycle and be more resourceful, which is a positive lifestyle change. 

For my future my children/grandchildren, I believe that the climate change will cause harm if we don't take sustainable measures now. We have already increased the hole in the ozone layer, which has caused multiple of negative effects already. We don't need to make it any bigger. In order to have a better future, we must establish better methods and implement them on a worldwide scale.