Clarity on Climate Change - Patrick Grant

http://search.proquest.com.ursus-proxy-10.ursus.maine.edu/newsstand/docview/866521613/EC9BB23F8D0D466CPQ/3?accountid=17222

What is the editorial's central claim?

The central claim of the article states that climate change is definitely occurring, but the government is not doing enough to help try and fix the problem. Written by Anonymous, the author claims that science has the data to back it's position on climate change, stating that human actions can (and will) lead to breakdowns in human and natural systems.  The author specifically targets the Republican Party for not seeing the reality of the situation and are therefore not willing to take on the responsibility.

What is a significant piece of evidence used to support the argument?

A specific piece of evidence used by the author would be that the scientific community has tracked the cause of climate change with research, data, and therefore evidence that climate change is directly related to human action.  So, in essence, the author is actually using evidence from the scientific community to back his claim.  Nevertheless, Anonymous repeats this evidence over and over, in different forms in order to keep attacking the government lack of concern for this issue.

What is your opinion of the claim?

I completely agree with the claim presented by the author because I am a passionate believer in maintaining a green world and cutting down on pollution in any way that we can.  Unfortunately, we may be too late in trying to solve these issues because carbon emission levels are still very high and damaging.  Also, even if the United States Government does enforce more and more plans to cut down carbon emissions, what are the chances that we will stick to these rules?  Despite this bleak personal outlook, I see hope, as does the author, that we will respond and slow emission rates enough so that the earth will not be damages.