Professors join to educate students on global warming

Many say global warming is already underway, but can we afford to stop it? UNCG hosted several lectures on the topic of global warming, one of which being "Can We Afford to Stop Global Warming"? Ann Somers, a biology professor, Dr. Stephen Holland, an assistant professor of economics, and Dr. Steve Kroll-Smith, a sociology professor, all spoke on the costs and benefits of stopping global warming.

Somers, first to take the podium and address the students who had gathered, stated that global warming was already underway. She offered two scientific perspectives as proof for global warming. The first was Earth history, that climate change is a natural dynamic of the Earth.

"All disciplines support climate change: astronomy, biology, ecology, etc.," said Somers, in response to those who deny global warming.

Somers ended the first point saying that many people think humans and the environment are on two different tracks. She empathetically stated that they are not.

"The human economy is a subset of the Earth's economy," explained Somers.

Next, Somers gave the second perspective from her own life. She said the population of humanity has doubled in her lifetime, while many animal populations decreased and even went extinct. In addition, the world has used more resources recently than ever before in all centuries combined.

"When I was in high school, global warming was only the last paragraph in a chapter," Somers sadly told the audience. She said it was not until the 1970s that global warming really became known. Somers stated that global warming should be addressed in all academic disciplines; she also believes that universities are the "think tanks" of society.

The next lecture was Dr. Holland. Holland had three simple points: global warming is a real problem, and it is global; addressing it will be costly; and the benefits of reducing global warming are uncertain. Holland explained that the cost of reducing global warming is only a small percent of the economy's production, somewhere around two percent. The audience laughed as he gave a simple solution.

"We should have carbon taxes," he said, then paused. "No, no, carbon fees. People don't like the word taxes."

The final lecture was Dr. Kroll-Smith. He talked about humans using symbols and nature using cycles, and while we can alter those cycles, we cannot always understand them.

"We tinker with nature, and nature tends to tinker back," Kroll-Smith said.

He agreed with Holland about the costs and spoke on problems with global warming from a sociological perspective. He said where people live determines where they intersect with nature, and the human population is not in agreement about what to do because they are not all affected the same.

Tanicia Barnes, a junior, felt the lecture was well done. "It gave you a broad perspective of different disciplines," said Barnes.

Another student, Renee Wilson, also a junior, gave her opinion and quoted Kroll-Smith's last point.

"We're not going to do anything until it affects us."