Environmental Studies Paper on Environmental conservation
Science and climate change
The first video is about the impacts of science to humans with Mooney pointing out that science is likely to be instrumental on key policy choices faced by the Americans. It is worth pointing out that some of the issues and challenges brought about by science and affects humans is climate change; it is one of the serious issues that has a large stake for the future (Mooney, 2009). According to the video different people across the country have varied beliefs concerning climate change issue, some believe that climate change is not caused by humans while others believe that humans are responsible for the global problem (Mooney, 2009). It has been established that difference in understanding is attributed to the ability of people to accept scientific reality due to their education level (Mooney, 2009). It is affirmed that most people who do not accept that science is responsible for climate change and global are neither stupid nor unintelligent but instead come up with arguments against the scientific position that are quite ingenious and very misleading (Mooney, 2009).
The other area that most people have problems with science is vaccination and it believed that it is one issue that took off in the last decade where a lot of people were convinced that there is an epidemic of autism, and that this was brought about by science through vaccines (Mooney, 2009). However, most people have rejected the idea having researched on it and they have countered the arguments with their own judgments and a lot of people find them more convincing than scientific positions (Mooney, 2009). According to Mooney (2009) low understanding of science by humans is due to limited coverage of science issues making it an uphill task for people to grasp the potentials of science in everyday life issues. The challenge is for the media to improve on the coverage and translation of science to ordinary individuals while highlighting on how science actually affect lives of people. It is affirmed that despite many people graduating with science degrees, there is still a huge gap between science understanding and the society (Mooney, 2009). It remains to be seen how scientists can make scientific knowledge available to the society which may trigger ingenuity and creativity of people to help bridge existing knowledge gap (Mooney, 2009).
Climate science
The second video is about how climate science has gained more popularity to the extent of instigating more debate with local politician accepting the impact that science have on the environment and the threats that such issues have on the environment and its inhabitants. It is affirmed through science that life on earth would continue without major disruptions only if society took immediate and drastic action to reduce global warming scientifically (Oreskes, 2010). Oreskes (2010) has explained exhaustively that sections of society believe that scientific debate on global warming is open and that a consensus needs to be reached on how global warming affects community. According to Oreskes (2010) it means that in situations that the public realize that scientific issues can be settled, their views about global warming will change accordingly and will be significant in tackling the issue.
Even after further research on climate science many scholars and professionals continue to cast doubt on the area with individuals pointing out on a website of March 2016 which asserted that many of the temperature data and computer models used to predict climate change are uncertain, just like understandings of important interactions in the natural climate (Oreskes, 2010). The solution to this would be to significantly transform and improve on how climate change research is conducted with much effort concentrated on the uncertainties. An example has been put forward on how tobacco industry contributes to global warming, however scholars have come out to defend tobacco against the scientific evidence of its harms. There have been a lot of uncertainties on the effects on tobacco industry to the environment with medical professionals confessing that scientifically the smoke has been responsible for instances of cancer and environmental pollution (Oreskes, 2010).The use of fossil fuel is another area that has raised more debate on how it scientifically leads to global warming with environmentalists agreeing to the fact that scientific environmental issues emerged scientifically just as the Reagan administration in the United States and the Thatcher administration in the United Kingdom were arguing for less government, less regulation and also less internationalism putting administration on a collision course with science (Oreskes, 2010).
Opinion and Analysis
From the videos it is clear that there are a series of uncertainties that prevent accurate predictions of climate change for example cooling towers of power stations (Mooney, 2009). It is affirmed from the videos that with continued advancement in science and increase in greenhouse gases, many uncertainties are likely to persist (Mooney, 2009). This means that the rate of global heating is also likely to depend on emissions of the future and the feedback will be instrumental in scientific research on the impacts of global warming to the environment and its inhabitants. Just like in the video and from class materials it is clear that uncertain processes will also affect emissions to the environment that will provide a cycle of greenhouse gases. These videos have been informative in adding more knowledge and supporting the assertion that most people do not believe in science due to inaccuracies in the data and potentially important factors the lead to incomplete information (Mooney, 2009). My view, which is anchored on the videos, recommends that science is an important tool that plays a significant role in identifying and resolving uncertainties, and informing public policy on climate change (Mooney, 2009).
My scientific opinion is reinforced by the fact that society should make wise and informed choices on environmental protection through managing risks and opportunities that is likely to accompany climate change and global warming. In doing this, there is need to engage and incorporate objective scientific knowledge that can be instrumental in informing and reducing the knowledge gap on the consequences of emissions to the environment. The choices that society takes should be reinforced by ethical frameworks that would see people exploit natural resources cautiously while protecting the same through reduced emissions to the environment (Oreskes, 2010). The videos have affirmed that the role of climate science is to inform decisions by providing the best possible knowledge of climate outcomes and the consequences and alternative course of actions that will be aimed at protecting the ecosystem (Oreskes, 2010). It remains to be seen how society will accept and embrace science in explaining the impacts and consequences of human activities to the environment and its inhabitants.
References
Mooney Chris. (2009). Living on earth: Unscientific America. Retrieved from
http://www.loe.org/shows/segments.html?programID=09-P13-00029&segmentID=7
Oreskes Naomi. (2010). AAAS Conference on Promoting Climate Literacy Through Informal
Science. Retrieved from http://www.project2061.org/events/meetings/climate2010/videopop.html?v=NaomiOreskes