Part I: Assessment of How Class Contributed to Personal
Understanding of Global Warming
3. What is your personal outlook concerning the global climate?
Has this class made you more optimistic or pessimistic about the
future of our climate?
I think that the issue
shouldn't be about global warming at all. It should be about pollution
in our environment. If we were developing clean energy, and building
sustainably, the pollution factor would be low, thus there would
be less atmospheric pollution. Global warming wouldn't even be
an issue. Another issue is overpopulation, which I believe largely
contributes to the problem, but that's a whole-nother can o' worms.
3. My personal feelings about global climate change are mixed.
The nature of the material presented, and the large amount of
facts explaining the role of humans in affecting climate change,
should trouble any conscientious person. Certainly, the Earth
would be in a much more natural state without man's influence.
However, after collectively drafting a proposal that turned out
to be accepted by all countries involved, I have hope that the
same sort of compromise could occur on a global scale.
3. This class has completely opened my eyes to what is really
going on in the world and how we have been and will be affected
by climate change in the future. Not only the climate change though,
but more over the impact the international policies that will
be implemented because of this change.
I have always seen global warming as a huge issue and have tried
to always reduce my personal energy consumption. After taking
this class I realize there are even more ways to live a low impact
lifestyle. The class discussions have made me more optimistic
about our future because we did come to a protocol agreement and
I think that the world will also do so. Every little step counts,
so even if a protocol barely reduces emissions, we are still on
our way.
3. My personal outlook of the global climate is that it is a serious
problem and needs to be addressed more seriously by nations and
hopefully studied more around the world. This class has made me
more pessimistic because I was really unaware of how severe of
a problem it was.
Confronted with the problems facing the global climate, I try
to maintain a positive outlook for the future. This class has
amplified my positive feelings. I believe that through work such
as what we have accomplished, steps can be made in the direction
of positive changes. Although there are many forces working against
our world developing sustainability into the future, there are
many advances toward the goal of sustainability as well. The idea
of education as an impetus for change keeps me optimistic about
the future of the global climate.
3. I still am a little uncertain about the current situation.
History has shown that we have had ice ages and warm periods.
Who's to say that we are not in another one of these periods?
Also, I think the Milankovitch cycles need to be understood more
because they might play a huge role as well.
I personally am caught between optimism and pessimism. I can sometime
say well in the future I am sure someone will come up with a better
way of cleaning the environment or we will be able to adjust to
the new environment thus I don't need to worry. Then on the other
had I think what if the climate keeps changing at this rate then
am I even going to be able to live till 80 or are my kids even
going to be able to see a natural forest or wild tiger or a elephant,
dolphin. I hope we are able to preserve what is left behind by
the past generation for the future generation.
To be honest, I had a little more hope with decisions such as
the Kyoto Protocol until I took this class. It made me realize
how much effort and time was being put into something of such
little significance. All this work for a measly couple percentages.
In arguing and debating over the issue, I realized how complicated
it is to solve a problem before it actually happens. People need
to see results before they will take action and in today's global
society, planning ahead is not high on the agenda. I definitely
obtained a more pessimistic approach to the future of our climate.
I realized that it is possible to solve problems, but only at
an extremely high cost.
3. Personally, I realize my individual contribution to global
warming thanks to this class. My daily activities and schedule
are a reflection of my American consumerism. These activities,
I realized, make a significant contribution to the health of the
atmosphere. I believe the information I have gained from this
class is beneficial to my understanding of the health of our environment.
This class has made me definitely both optimistic and pessimistic
about climate change. I hope that through education and scientific
innovation we can combat the current emissions and alter the state
of the environment for the better. I also believe I am more pessimistic
about my daily life and the personal activities that contribute
to global warming. This class has made me aware of the current
situation, so that now I look at the issue critically form both
a positive and a negative standpoint.