Things are heating up, while most of the planet is left without sunblock. Perceived debate on the subject of global warming only has been perpetuated by the media, but for those who truly understand the issue, it is apparently a real and imminent threat.
This was the claim presented in a lecture Friday afternoon, where curious members of the student body sat around to hear the datails of this current issue.
"Warming of the climate system is unequivocal, it is now evident from observations," Nobel Prize winner and Texas Tech geosciences professor Katherine Hayhoe said in a recent lecture on Global Warming. "Most of the observed increases in global temperatures since the mid-20th century is very likely due to human activities, including burning fossil fuels."
Students close to the subject feel it is something to at least be concerned with.
"I would say we should start taking some action to help prevent the disastrous effects of global warming," said Brian Horton, a sophomore political science and geography major from San Angelo. "CO2 emissions, from what I've seen, spiked directly around the Industrial Revolution and skyrocketed in the 18th century."
Horton said he personally feels urged to learn more about global warming not only to fuel his own curiosity, but even more so just to understand what is going on in the environment and world around him.
"We just can't deny that it exists anymore," he said.
One student who sat through Hayhoe's lecture claimed she had no idea there was so much exclusive evidence to show the current and future effects of increased atmospheric radiation.
"I guess so many of us just don't realize the effect we are having on the world with our little cars and abuse of the planet, we still have time to change our habits though," Katheryn Weaver, a junior international economics major from Tyler, said. "Although global warming is not reversible, if we do what we can to lower greenhouse gas emissions now, we can prevent global devastation."
Hayhoe agreed the smartest move would be for humanity to look for solutions now, before it is faced with unbearable side effects and economically crippling solutions for what she says undoubtedly will occur as a direct link to CO2 emissions.
"You can take CO2 into a lab to see if it absorbs heat radiation, and I can assure that it does, so we have unequivocal evidence that climates are already changing, now we need to do something," she said. "It's like why we go to the doctor for checkups - to catch things before they get really bad. We need to be dealing with it now."
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