Truth vs. Truthiness

One of the most debated topics in our world today is global warming. There have been many debates about this topic. My goal is to provide accurate information about climate change and do my best not to show my opinion, but information that will show the facts. I must admit that I have not worried too much about climate change because I feel most of the time, I am not being told both sides of the story.

Sean Hannity declares: " The debate is over. There is no more global warming".

Hannity claims there is no more global warming after a journalist in Great Britian got after Al Gore in a press conference. I find it interesting that after all of the facts and studies shown, Hannity would come out and make such a declaration like this. http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200910130011

ABC news reporter denying global warming

ABC's news reporter John Stossel met with over 400 attendee's at a conference in NYC March 2008.
He blamed the "socialist media" for scaring the general public with their information on climate change. The Washington Post, The New York Times, and The Independent were just a few he mentioned.
He related the scare over climate change with the Y2K bug and killer bee's. He also added he doesn't think that by changing to an energy efficient light bulb or buying a Prius will make much of a difference. http://http//www.publicintegrity.org/blog/entry/458/?gclid=CNy3rpXJv50CFR4HagodRTKwjA

I agree with Stossel that the media makes global warming sound like it is going to be Armageddon, but he is denying the fact that global warming is happening all together. If you're going to be a journalist, you must show the whole truth. This seemed like a speech mixed with "truthiness" and some truth.

Can We Prevent Global Warming?

Figure 1. Observes the annual growth rate of atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations, during the past 30 years. It was given by the Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center.


Figure 2 & 3. Were given by The World Climate Report. We can see that the temperature is going at more of a constant or linear rate rather than a accelerated rate.










There is global warming happening, the globe is warming because we are cutting down forests and burning fossil fuels, the question is, how much of global warming can us as humans prevent?

The ad council states that the earth will warm about 2.3 degrees farenheit between 20 to 50 years, during that time they mention we will have extreme weather conditions. The ad coucil states that most of the extreme weather conditions COULD happen around 30 years based on scientific opinion. The ad council also uses commericals of children in the future who feel they were given a poor planet because of our choices. http://http//www.youtube.com/watch?v=QU7BO35n47I&NR=1

The International Panel on Climate Change(IPCC) reported the potential for large scale and possibly irreversible impacts poses risks that have yet to be reliably quantified.
Regarding the accusation that the earth will see more hurricanes and more severe weather in the next 30 years, Roger Pielke who directs the University of Colorado's Center for Science and Technology Policy Research said: "linkage between global warming and hurricane impacts are premature . . . (and) any future changes in hurricane intensities will likely be small in the context of observed variability".


There is no way to fully prevent global warming from occuring. As citizens of the United States we can do all that we can personally to cut down on global warming, but it will not make enough of a difference. The Ad Council gives suggestions of what we can do to cut the co2 we put out in our daily lives. Drive less often, don't use the a/c in the car as much, washing clothes in cold water, and using less lighting. All of these things are good and might help a little, but scientists claim that we need nations to cut their carbon dioxide about 30 % below what it was in 1990 by 2020 according to a report done in the Netherlands. That could take some work because China will pass The United States on the amount of green house gases they are putting into the atmosphere by 2010.

The IPCC states that what the nations in the world need to do is have taxes and more regulations in order to make a significant difference in climate change.
IPCC: " The portfolio may include -according to national circumstances-emissions/carbon/energy taxes, tradeable or non-tradeable permits, land-use policies, provision and/or removal of subsides, deposit/refund systems, technology or performance standards, energy mix requirements, product bans, voluntary agreements, government spending and investment, and support for research and development".

CONCLUSION
There are a lot of opinions about global warming. I am sure I could have given a lot more examples of debates and facts about it. Journalists and the media like to give their opinions about certain subjects, so I have really wondered how much information I have heard in my life that was just truthiness. As I was studying this, I have learned that FOX News, CNN, and MSNBC have shown me truthiness. From doing this blog, I have learned that I need to search out the truth with almost everything I hear in the news no matter if it is right wing or left wing.