Science Department Head Weighs in on Climate Change

Courtesy+of+BusinessNews

Courtesy of BusinessNews

As most scientists agree, the climate is changing as humans send more carbon dioxide into our atmosphere. In fact, this month there is a major global summit on climate change being held in Poland.

Yet many people don’t believe the scientific consensus that climate change is real, said Kevin Dickson, the head of the science department.

“Well, the thing is people live in the moment–they don’t see the bigger picture,” Mr. Dickson said.

Mr. Dickson said many people look outside in the middle of the winter see a lot of snow, so they don’t believe scientists who say there’s global warming.

“One day Global Warming will get to a point of exponential increase that we won’t be able to make a change, but if we take action today, we can make a difference,” Mr. Dickson said.

 

Graphic courtesy of The Economist.

But people want a quick fix, he said.

“People think there’s a magic button, like an app on a phone, that can fix all the problems,” he said.

The controversy has to do with a lot of other things, like whether we need to use fossil fuels.

On the scale of time for the history of the planet, 10 years is a relatively short time. Yet it can seem scary to see the dramatic weather we’ve been having in the past decade.

“We’re seeing more hurricanes were seeing more rain and longer summers,” Mr. Dickson said.

He said we will see a lot of politicians talking about how to address these problems.

The issue of climate change comes up often in politics and is considered partisan.

“To any argument there’s always two sides,” Mr. Dickson said, noting that there’s one side that says climate change happens anyhow so we don’t have to do anything, while another side says it happens anyhow but we can make the change.

“One side that says we need fossil fuels to run our economy and there’s another side that we need to stop the fossil fuels,” he added.

Mr. Dickson said it’s not too late to stop climate change.

 

 

Graphic courtesy of BusinessNews                                                                     “No, it won’t ever be too late,” he said. “I think we can fix it, it’s just going to take a unified effort of all countries.”

Senior Daijah Ogletree said people deny climate change because “people don’t want to believe that the earth is suffering from people’s actions.”

She’s concerned about the future of the planet, noting how hot it was last month.

“I’m worried that people’s ignorance to climate change will only make it grow worse,” Ogletree said.