Phase 1. Ask: Topic Exploration

Here is a discussion regarding Global warming is going to be elaborated. The topic has been chosen here by considering its importance in the current scenario. In the following sections, a discussion regarding the history, controversy and other factors related to the topic are going to be highlight so that students will gain more clarity about global Warming.

How the topic is alive in the world

My understanding says that global-warming is the gravest threat to the lives on this planet, Earth, in all of the overall human-history, which reflects this fact that Global-warming is still alive in this world. Earth has been warming to a degree beyond what most of the species could handle, altering or even eliminating habitat, reducing the sources of food, causing drought, and severe weather events causing harm to species.

Figure 1: Global Warming Affecting Lives

This gravest threat has simply been killing those species, which cannot stand the heat of this planet. As per the NASA report, Earth already experienced a climate-change in its past-scenario without help from humanity; however, the current climatic-warming has been occurring much-more rapidly as compared to the past-warming events (Global Warming. earthobservatory.nasa.gov, 2021).

Figure 2: Mean temperature of global surface

 

The above-figure represents that the mean-temperature of the global surface rose 0.6 to 0.9 ⁰C or 1.1-1.6 ⁰F between the years 1906 to 2005. Furthermore, the rate of temperature gets increased nearly almost double of its standard figure since last 50 years.

What the topic’s history is all about?

A Swedish scientist, Svante Arrhenius (1859-1927), was the one, who first claimed in 1986 that combustion of fossil-fuel could eventually result in the enhanced global-warming. This Swedish Scientist had proposed a relationship between the concentrations of atmospheric CO₂ and temperature. The prevailing-construction driven by Science of the related topic seems to be a contingent social-outcome (Demeritt, 2001). For instance, in the U.S, the first systematic network regarding weather-stations had been established in the early 19^th century, in parts, for helping the debates based on whether the clearing of agricultural and forest settlement of lands had been changing the climate.

Figure 3: Effects of the topic

I find global-warming and climate-change as a synonym. Scientists utilize climate-change while describing the complex-shifts now influencing this planet’s weather including climate-systems in some parts since a few areas get actually cooler in the short-period (What Is Global Warming?, National Geographic, 2021).

What are the controversies related to the same topic?

I find “Amazon rainforest” as the most popular controversy related to this topic. In addition, a specific area associated with controversy reflects that what has been done with the money guaranteed from the environmental-services regarding the Amazon rainforest (Fearnside, 2012). While going through this controversy, I find some key insights such as one primary problem with this topic is that the distribution of sufficient financial benefits, which could rewards environmental-services that could be used by the politicians or governments for political gains, specifically become a suitable way to obtain votes.

Figure 4: Americans likely for voting for a Presidential candidate

The above-figure reflects about the American people’s perception based on whom they need to vote when it comes to a concern like actions for reducing global-warming. I believe that controversies will be common everywhere, wherever, it is unclear whether the disagreement about the distance to any waterfall highlights political or scientific differences. Global-warming is the actual distinction between policy and science, this fact is almost absent (Gfdl.noaa.gov, 2021). Most of the controversies have been originated by the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change),which can also be considered as hybrid political/scientific organization.

What the key questions are within the topic?

From my perspective, some key questions related to this topic are below:

• What are the major causes of global warming?
• Why this topic needs to be considered as a primary/major area of concern?
• What can be evidently encountered about the relationship between politics and global-warming?
• Is global-warming and climate-change same? If so then how?
• What is ocean-acidification?

How I am deepening my understandings of the same topic beyond surface-knowledge?

While surfing about this topic, I could have gathered some unique and new insight, for instance apart from scientific knowledge, this topic could offer to its reader, a huge and in-depth understanding about its link with politics can also be gained. Thus, I could have deepened my understanding about this topic with respect to policy, political-system, politicians, and voters. I could have observed that how scientific ground had been turned into political arguments. For instance, some policy arguments raise direct questions regarding efficacy with expense of the proposed carbon-taxes with emission-regulation schemes (Weart, 2011). I find that conspirators played a drastic role in accusing the contribution of scientists, for instance it has been alleged over scientific establishments that these were untrustworthy and arrogant, which were corrupted for political-power and fame on the behalf of liberalism. I finally concluded that coping with this drastic/gravest threat seeks for the collaborative efforts to be put forward by the people belonging to diverse backgrounds.