Earth in an Oven

Global Climate Change: Fact or Myth?

Introduction

Is the Earth warming at an alarming rate? As a result of warming, will sea-levels rise, storms increase in intensity, droughts become more severe, and harmful insects pose more threats to valuable crops? To what extent are human activities, particularly those that result in carbon-dioxide emissions into the atmosphere, responsible for warming? These questions and others have taken center stage worldwide during the past decade. This presentation provides a few readings about global warming, not nearly enough to fully educate us about the topic of global climate change, but enough for us to realize that the topic is one that engenders much debate among scientists, policy-makers, and environmental organizations.

We will discuss global climate change for several reasons:
  1. Throughout this semester, you have come to recognize that the social sciences cannot answer all questions about social problems. There is much that is unknown, and therefore much debate occurs among social scientists about the best way to reduce social problems and mitigate their negative consequences. This presentation on global warming reveals that even within fields such as physics and atmospheric sciences, which have more ready access to observable data and much more accumulated knowledge, much debate can occur about what is observed, how to interpret these observations, and what kinds of social policy might be most effective in addressing potential problems.
  2. At the close of this semester, we want to recognize that to some extent scientific uncertainty and subsequent debate itself is a social problem. That is, science to some extent reflects constructed knowledge that is influenced by economic, political, religious, and cultural factors.
  3. We want to introduce the topics of risk assessment and risk communication as part of our understanding of social problems.
Global Climate Change: The Debate

The 2007 report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change states that, "An 'unequivocal' warming trend of about 1.0 to 1.7°F occurred from 1906-2005. Warming occurred in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, and over the oceans." This statement summarizes the point of view of "global warming." The phrase "global warming" is a misnomer in the sense that this general trend results in some areas of the Earth being warmer compared with long-term temperatures, while other areas are cooler. We use "warming" because most of the debate about climate change regards the extent to which the Earth's atmosphere and seas are warming.

Readings That State the Case for Global Warming and Warn About Severe Negative Consequences Readings That Express Skepticism About Global Warming and Question the Potential for Severe Negative Consequences The Position of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Global Climate Change as a Social Problem

At the outset of this semester we said that a social problem exists: If we assume that global warming is occurring and that to some extent the causes of this problem are social, then we can use the guidelines provided above to define global warming as a social problem. For the purpose of this lecture, suppose we reject this assumption? Suppose we choose to believe that climate change is not occurring, or that the change that is occurring presents little immediate threat to humans, or that the causes of any changes that might be occurring are not related to human behavior? Then, do we still have a social problem? I will argue that we do in the sense that the public is being asked to support or reject public policies that might be prohibitively expensive and significantly affect our way of life.

That is, the social problem is the debate itself. The debate creates uncertainty among the public about the topic. And the debate and uncertainty forces citizens without the knowledge or experience to interpret complex atmospheric and climatological data for themselves to make important decisions about public policies related to the potential threats of climate change. In this sense, we have expanded the definition of a social problem to include a debate about risk assessments.

If this definition of a social problem seems odd, then consider that public debates regarding complex and controversial ideas are an integral part of all social problems. For example, in reviewing the facts about acts of violence, such as rape, murder, assault, and child abuse, we noted that a large majority of these forms of violence are perpetrated by men. With these facts in mind, we considered whether redefining masculinity might reduce acts of violence committed by men. As part of this discussion, we noted that science is uncertain about the extent to which human behaviors are the result of genetics or socialization. We noted also the uncertainties involved in pursuing alternatives to socialization designed to redefine masculinity. Thus, we said that "there is a lot that is unknown to sociology about this problem." At the same time, we noted that sociologists ask the public to support policies for change that might or might not work to reduce violence. Thus, to some extent, all social problems involve the added complexity of trusting in incomplete science in formulating social policies aimed at reducing the social problem.

Consider another facet of public decision making about potential hazards. Whether the causes of these hazards are defined as social or not, the debates about them become social to the extent that political, economic, religious, and cultural factors affect: Thus, risk assessments and risk communication themselves are social in nature.

Engineers, mathematicians, economists, psychologists, and sociologists have conducted extensive research on the social construction of scientific knowledge, the communication of this knowledge to the public, and the responses of the public to science-based communications. As it turns out, the act of gathering information about potential problems, whether caused by human activities or not, and the communication about these problems to others is a complex social issue in itself. We will not pursue this line of inquiry in Sociology 235. I invite you to view the information provided on the web site for Sociology 415, the Sociology of Technology, to learn more about the social problems involved in risk assessments and risk communication.