Reflection on an Inconvenient Truth

An inconvenient truth. What is the inconvenient truth? Do we truly have an understanding of the predicament facing us? The effects of global warming are not occurring at a linear rate, but rather an exponential rate. The rapid accumulation of CO2 has caused more of the sun's heat to be contained in the Earth's atmosphere. The more heat that is trapped by these greenhouse gases in turn cause temperature around the world to melt. In addition to making you sweat a little more each summer, the increased temperatures are causing the icebergs and glaciers to melt. They directly affect the sea level and salinity of the earth's oceans. It is remarkable that such simple changes such as the melting of huge ice sheets can have so many disastrous effects on the natural environment around the world. The effects of the melting ice is not localized, but rather felt in the opposite parts of the world. Personally, I find this amazingly enticing because of its hidden power.

In the past, we have overcome some immense impediments on the road of the Earth's survival such as the reduction of the hole in the ozone layer. It is certainly possible that we can achieve much success in the aspect of global warming. Note the key words in "global warming." The word "global" gives the connotation that this is a global thing; therefore, should not every single country be participating and contributing its maximum effort to the pressing issue of global warming? Many have realized that global warming is a problem that must be dealt with, but we have not taken enough action. In fact, many politicians have ignored the issue of the environment and global warming because they know it is a difficult issue to deal with. If they promise to control global warming, the people will simply assume that he or she is making false promises. On the other hand, if they beat around the bush on the topic of global warming, then it is quite obvious that they will not take any action to mend the problems of global warming. A famous quote by Upton Sinclair is, "You can't make somebody understand something if their salary depends upon their not understanding it." It is such a powerful and sincere statement. How many times has each one of us "played dumb" or pretended we did not know anything if it meant a favorable outcome? The majority politicians have the primary goal of being elected so they tend to make numerous speeches and promises about what they will do. But what we truly need is a politician that the people will trust to protect the environment because without the environment and its natural resources, we would have a tough time surviving. Obviously we could probably survive, but what about the aesthetic beauty of the natural environment? One could argue that it has little immediate value if it's just pretty, but then again, why do we like pretty and beautiful things so much? Obviously they have some purpose and even if that purpose is simply to satisfy our own desires, it is still worth it.

Furthermore, how many times have we heard the word procrastination? It seems to be quite a popular word among high school students nowadays. In some places, students are "proud" that they procrastinate a lot. Of course, the word "proud" has to be enclosed in quotes because why would anyone be proud of doing something last minute? If anything, they should be ashamed that they are wasting their life away. But the word procrastination links us to a meaningful quote by Churchill. He said, "The era of procrastination, of half measures, of soothing and baffling expedients, of delays, is coming to its close. In its place we are entering a period of consequences." The quote addresses the fact that people today simply procrastinate and believe that they can simply fix the problem in the future. But trashing our planet Earth is similar to plastering your wall with many posters. The first few are fine and they are easy to remove. But after a while, the tape is going to start sticking and become nearly impossible to remove. Pretty soon, we are going to use up our natural resources and scar the planet past the point of restoring it to the pristine condition that it once was. So maybe we cannot turn it back into the perfect world that it once was, but what we can do is slow the process of destruction and adulteration. One essential method that can be employed is conservation. Conservation is wise use of our natural resources, which differs from preservation, which would be preserving the natural resources. Perhaps what is more interesting is the fact that people are under the dangerous misconception that because global warming seems like such an enormous problem, that we cannot do anything. They believe that they might as well throw their hands up in despair. Their actions show their quick shift from denial to despair, without pausing on the intermediate of action doing something about it.

A truly motivational and moving perspective on global warming is if the speaker can make the individual feel as if he or she is a part of the problem. Essentially, we are all contributing to the problem of global warming. But what we seem to overlook is the fact that each of us can become apart of the solution. All we need to do is make wiser decisions about what we buy, the amount of electricity that we use, the cars we drive, and just how we live our lives. If we have the concept of conservation engrained in our heads, it certainly will not be hard to practice wise uses of our Earth's limited natural resources. I also remember Gore saying a sharp and cutting, yet necessary comment. "The truth about the climate crisis is an inconvenient one that means we are going to have to change the way we live our lives." He admits that the change will not be easy, after all, we have to change the way we live. But the options are simple, either we change or cease to exist.

And I needed to include this quote by Mark Twain:

"It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so."

-Mark Twain