Evironmental Studies panel: global warming is real threat

The co-director of the En­vironmental Studies program organized a panel on climate change and environmental ethics in hopes of raising awareness of current ecological issues.

The goal of professor Judith Stark's panel was to inform the audience that climate change is occurring as a result of a well-dis­cussed phenomena called global warming.

Stark said she wants citizens of the world to realize that the warming of the Earth is occur­ring even though it is not directly in front of us. She said we need to understand that no single indi­vidual is to blame, but instead so­ciety is collectively responsible.

The presenters discussed dif­ferent ways and reasons that cli­mate change is in the works. They offered both simple and advanced methods on how the people can collectively end and slow down this change.

A huge sign that verifies re­searchers' theory about global warming is the well-known green­house gas effect, according to Stark. The Earth's atmosphere traps solar radiation caused by the presence of gases, such as carbon dioxide.

Students that attended this panel learned about reasons why global warming is occurring. Rea­sons include: heating and cooling homes/businesses, food choices, driving and flying, and eating high on the food chain, according to the panelists.

It was made clear during the presentation that models project a large warming by the year 2088.

A subtopic covered by Stark and her presenters was that of moral psychology.

Today's researchers are asking questions such as "What is go­ing on here? And why do we as members in society not feel ruth­less?" To address this world issue, people must first understand that individually they do not perform acts of destroying the planet, ac­cording to Stark.

When it comes to the food chain being an issue related to global warming, a vegetarian diet is suggested since growing those foods produces less greenhouse gases, according to Stark.

There were a number of theo­retical and moral solutions dis­cussed at this panel as well. It was mentioned that global warming was defined as the "human domi­nation of nature."

The panel concluded by ex­plaining to students that the ac­tions performed by past genera­tions are now irreversible and it takes an estimated 1,000 years for bits of carbon to be released from earth's atmosphere.

Samantha Singh can be reached at samantha.singh@stu­dent.shu.edu