Eleanor Babcock
9/3/15
Why climate matters

I would have to say the words climate change is an ideograph. Those words are heard in a variety of contexts and invoke a variety of emotions, opinions and values. To me, climate change is a basic fact of science. It gives me a negative view of the impact our consumer society has today. Our society is structured in a way that basic activities such as driving a car, turning on a light and taking a shower emit small amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. The combination of all consumers on this planet engaging in those activities has created the changing global temperature. In her article published int the Guardian, Naomi Klein highlights some of those alarming impacts. She discusses the melting of the Greenland ice sheets, causing sea level rise and acidification of oceans. Her blunt facts should prove to any audience that climate change is happening.
I think that it is interesting that so many people know and believe that climate change exists but take minimal efforts to reduce their personal carbon footprint. I agree with Klein with her argument about consumerism and how it shapes our society. We continue to contribute to the crisis of cimate change despite our awareness of the upcoming consequences.
I believe one of the most compelling arguments made by Bill McKibben is about the clash between politicians and environmentalists. There is more support for industries producing fossil fuels than renewable energy. There is a clash, however, I see some efforts made by politicians taking preventative measures to put a halt to additional climate change contributions. For example, Obama vetoed the Keystone pipeline in February. This veto demonstrated to the general public that a person in a position of power is taking more effort to help global climate change.