Global Warming: Irrelevant or Irrefutable?

By Claire Rose

staff writer

Global Warming is one of the hottest topics (pun very much intended) involving the environment, and one on which nearly everyone seems to have an opinion. While most scientists agree that global warming's effect is being accelerated by human habits, some people will still claim it’s a myth. “There are just cycles in weather...It’s a cyclical pattern that occurs through time,” says Northview chemistry teacher, Jim Haveman, arguing from the point of view of a skeptic despite his personal belief.

To further argue for the side of skeptics, Haveman supported the idea of a cyclical pattern in climate by explaining that before the Ice Age, temperatures were warm. When the temperatures dropped, the Ice Age was brought on, but then the temperatures rose once again and the Ice Age came to an end. To skeptics of global warming, this is the type of thing they believe is occurring with the planet right now; we’re just at the point of the cycle where climates are rising.

Despite nearly 30% of people disbelieving in climate change or global warming, if one were to ask around, they’d find that nearly every single teacher in the Northview school district shares the same opinion on global warming: it is a real problem and it’s process is being accelerated by humans.

This opinion is shared by Linda Fleeger, a seventh grade science teacher, Kris Walendzik, one of the high school’s biology teachers, and a number of other teachers in the district. “The science is clear that there is global warming,” Ben Mitchell, Crossroads teacher said, “I understand that over the last couple thousand years it has been a naturally occurring thing, but we have fundamentally changed the climate of our planet.”

While there are people who will say that global warming is 100% real or 100% false, there’s also plenty of room in the issue for gray areas, such as those seen in the opinion of Todd Lentner, a math teacher at Crossroads. Lentner does believe in human impact on global warming, however, because of false information about the matter presented under former vice president, Al Gore, Lentner suspects that the issue has been over dramatized. “I know that, from what I’ve read, there’s a lot of falsified reports, but I do think [humans] impact it to a certain extent,” he said.

Whether it’s a cyclical pattern, a phenomena made up by Al Gore, or the result of human industrialization, the fact is that climates are heating up; that’s an irrefutable truth. Where opinions branch off though, is when the issue becomes about whether or not it’s a result of human habits and if we need to do something about the warming climate. To many of our educators, something needs to be done about the issue and it’s much better to be safe than sorry.

Photo courtesy of apostolic-ministries.net

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