A 17-year-old student at a rural high school in Ohio stormed out of her classroom when her science teacher showed a video pertaining to the validity of climate change, sparking what the New York Times deemed a “Classroom Culture War.”
This self-dismissal from class seems random, but it was the culmination of several arguments over the course of the school year between the student and teacher debating the legitimacy of climate change.
Gwen Beatty is a junior at Wellston High School in Wellston, Ohio — a small town with a population of 5,535 people. She is a straight-A student and described by her science teacher James Sutter as someone who would have “no trouble comprehending the evidence, embedded in ancient tree rings, ice, leaves and shells, as well as sophisticated computer models, that atmospheric carbon dioxide is the chief culprit when it comes to warming the world.”
Despite Beatty’s dismissal of climate change, the evidence provided by science that it exists is out there and in great numbers. The issue stems with the way we address the problem. The term climate change is a euphemism for global warming — as if talking about the status of our planet is taboo.
The U.S. Department of Energy conducted a 20-year study in conjunction with scientists across the country that explored what clouds and cloud patterns can tell us about climate change.
Based on the large-scale patterns of cloud change, scientists could see the poleward retreat of mid-latitude storm tracks, expansion of subtropical dry zones and increasing height of the highest cloud tops.These changes are consistent with predictions by global climate models and are likely to have a warming effect on the planet.
The Center for Climate and Energy Solutions breaks down the impact of coal mining and the burning of coal on the environment on its website. It includes charts, explanations on mining emissions and the process of mining coal.
In addition to contamination of bodies of water, coal mining and burning also releases the greenhouse gasses methane and carbon dioxide. All greenhouse gases, including methane and carbon dioxide, destroy the ozone and contribute to global warming.
Carbon dioxide released directly from coal amounted to 24.5 percent of the total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions from 2012 — a pretty large chunk for a single activity. Furthermore, coal is responsible for 44 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions.
Why the focus on coal? Gwen Beatty’s hometown of Wellston, Ohio is a former coal and manufacturing town. Her father was a coal miner, so her apprehension to acknowledge the existence of climate change makes sense.
With President Donald Trump placing emissions reduction on the back-burner, I can understand why young people like Beatty would have a hard time seeing how her denial is an issue.
Everyone is entitled to their own opinions about any issue, but when there is clear, factual evidence that something exists, you cannot ignore science. Especially when it is being taught in a classroom setting in order to educate students.
Consider this analogy: if you had terrible headaches, fever, stomach aches and muscle fatigue, you’d assume that something is wrong and you need a doctor. Your parents take you to the doctor, so you can get medicine to keep your symptoms at bay until you become better.
However, once you arrive, and the doctor has clear evidence supporting you have the flu, your parents say, “Nah, they’re fine. We’ll just go home, the problem will fix itself.”
You don’t get medicine. Instead, you go home and lay in bed suffering, taking the risk that the symptoms will worsen and potentially kill you.
You, the sick patient, are climate change. Yes, science is not always absolute, which is why we have trial and error, and laws begin as theories. When there is ample evidence that it is true, it’s better to be safe than sorry. Not to mention, residents in Louisiana didn’t experience any kind of winter this year. While this may be relatively normal for Louisiana, climate change is affecting our receding coastline. According to a 2017 CBS News article, Louisiana loses about a football field per hour in land. Am I the only one who thinks that’s an issue?
To young people like Gwen Beatty: use your intelligence to look beyond what your parents and your president say. Find out for yourself what information is out there, and begin to form your own opinions. To teachers like Sutter: continue teaching and allowing students to express their concerns and disagreements. That’s the only way we will learn.
Myia Hambrick is a 21-year-old mass communication senior from Temple, Georgia.
