A crowd of students, faculty, and members of the community gathered in Ingram Library Feb. 1 for Dr. David Bush’s presentation ‘Global Warming and Climate Change: Fact versus Fiction.’  With trees around the University of West Georgia’s campus blooming months before their normal spring season and temperatures climbing close to 70 degrees, there seemed to be no better time to address the issue of global warming and climate change.

The presentation was focused on clarifying many of the commonly held misconceptions about global warming.  The event was sponsored by the Penelope Melton Society and Ingram Library’s Friends Organization.  Bush began with a thorough explanation of the difference between global warming and climate change, and what could be causing the Earth’s temperature to rise at this time.

“Is the Earth warming? Yes. Are we to blame? Partly,” said Bush.  He described how the Earth has natural cycles of warming and cooling called “hothouse” and “icehouse” periods.  Contrary to popular belief, the Earth is actually in a cooling or “icehouse” phase at this time.  In light of this cooling period, Earth’s temperature is rising rapidly.  Scientists have measured the impact of this increase in temperature and have also reported that 95 percent of the Earth’s alpine glaciers are retreating.  Bush went on to explain the impact Earth’s greenhouse gases are having on the overall temperature of our planet.

Bush dissected many of the popular arguments that can be heard today on the subject of global warming.  One such well-known idea is the belief that methane gases are having the greatest impact on Earth’s temperature.  Bush explained that it is not methane gases that pose the greatest threat to Earth’s temperature, but carbon dioxide.  According to scientific research, humans produce approximately eight billion tons of carbon dioxide annually, while volcanoes emit just 300 million tons within a year.

According to Bush, the key to reducing the impact that humans are having on global warming is to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide emissions we are releasing into our atmosphere.  The increase in carbon dioxide emissions does not only damage Earth’s atmosphere, but it is having an increasingly devastating impact on our oceans.

“Too much carbon dioxide in our atmosphere will cause oceans to become more acidic, which will reduce the calcification rate of marine organisms,” said Bush.

Although the debate among politicians across the nation rages on about global warming and climate change, there is no dispute among scientists as to whether or not it is a viable threat.   A recent study published by researchers from the University of Illinois conducted a survey of over 3,000 scientists, with over 90 percent of the scientists stating that Earth’s climate is indeed changing.  Senator James Inhofe recently described global warming as “the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people.”  The American Meteorological Society released a statement claiming, “Humans have definitely had an impact on climate change.”  The heated political discussions and debates regarding the accuracy of claims made by scientists and researchers on the topic of global warming and climate change is a subject that will likely become more prevalent in the future.