Global Cooling vs. Global Warming

While it is not widely recognized that waste prevention and recycling are critical to reducing climate change, many environmentalists believe that it is necessary to focus on these practises as we try to minimize our levels of greenhouse gas emissions. An example of this necessity can be seen in waste-to-energy plants, where heat and electricity are created from burning mixed solid waste (Evans, 2008).

In Steven Evans article, “Landfill Problems and Global Warming Effects”, he describes current issues that arise from landfills and how they contribute to global warming. He also explains how the adoption of large scale waste prevention and recycling will help address global climate change (Evans, 2008). While doing so, he makes mention of current global warming controversies and compares it with the concerns of global cooling that were in existence in 1997. He states, “The perspective in global cooling is similar to the way people view global warming now” (Evans, 2008). This phrase requires conceptual analysis to avoid misunderstanding in the sense that there are various ways in which people presently view global warming. From reading the context that surrounds this statement, I believe that Evans meant that there were many controversies with the idea of global cooling, as there is now with global warming. He is implying that during the period when global cooling was a major issue, many people questioned the predictions of which it was based on, and the same can be said for global warming. Examples of the bases of these questioned predictions could include previous ice ages, the depletion of the ozone layer, and climate change.

A possible misunderstanding that could be derived from this statement is that since a portion of society believes that global warming is indeed scientifically proven and has concrete, evidential proof, such as the disappearance of glaciers, this must be how global cooling was perceived in the late 1990’s. On the other end of the spectrum, since another common view on global warming includes the idea that it is non-sense, and is just a political scheme, this may lead readers to interpret that the perspective for global cooling was the same.

I think it is important to arrive at the correct interpretation of this phrase, as well as in any other piece of writing that is environmentally based, because if the reader misapprehends it, the relevancy of the article is lost. In this case, the purpose of Evan's statement was to show that not all members of the community at large are on board with large scale waste prevention and recycling since there are still questions remaining about the idea of global warming. This in turn relates back to the same response that occurred during the time of global cooling concerns.

Reference
Evans, S. (2008) Landfill Problems and Global Warming Effects. 5 December 2008. http://www.articlesbase.com/technology-articles/landfill-problems-and-global-warming-effects-672693.html. Accessed 25 October 2009.