Horgan Seminar Blog

Rahim Salhi I have always found enormous delight in nature. Growing up in Malaysia, my sibling and I were often immersed in nature, trekking, discovering new pathways, canoeing, and looking for the fish below in Penang National Park's deserted beaches (a town in the far northwest of the country). These encounters with our wonderful surroundings changed the way I saw the world. I learned to look for the beauty all around me and the great pleasures that come with exploring nature. But as I've gotten older it becomes depressing for me to learn about issues that our beautiful world is facing and specifically the issue of global warming and its causes. For many years we have struggled to figure out the real cause of global warming. We often bounce between blaming it solely on nature or attributing it to our society's disregard for the environment. However, there is zero controversy within the scientific community that global warming is occurring. The only people that doubt that ...

To many, climate change is a largely invisible problem and has little effect on the day-to-day lives of first world citizens. As such, it is easy for corporate magnates and conspiracy theorists to dismiss science in the name of whatever misplaced beliefs that they hold. Thankfully, however, outreach in climate change has taken greater hold over the years, and many more now understand the truth: climate change will have disastrous environmental and geopolitical consequences, and, unless we adopt a serious plan of action now, we are collectively screwed,      Unfortunately, however, there is no magic bullet solution, and reducing fossil fuel emissions won’t be sufficient on its own in the fight against climate change. Even in the most ideal case in which we immediately eliminate all carbon emissions, humanity will likely experience severe climate impact until 2040. For instance, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimates that climate change will jeopar...

Turning a Blind Eye to Climate Change As much as the media and large movement groups spread the word about climate change and its daunting repercussions, most people forget about these issues immediately after they read about them. Such climate issues are far more impactful on our lives and future generations than other things we may focus on like material possessions or the countless forms of media we consume on a daily basis. Everyday when advertisements based on climate change are posted on one's timeline, they usually scroll right through, and give their attention to something which may grab their attention in the moment, but will have no meaning in the long term. So how can climate change activists catch people’s attention without making it so easy to dismiss? By finding out why and how people can continue to ignore such important issues so effortlessly, we may find more solutions and a way to attract more participation.  Since most people don’t see how climate change is aff...

Until recently, I was never too invested in the unfortunate realities of the Earth’s changing climate, and the consequences of humans rapidly destroying the environment with pollution, but then oceanographer Phil Orton came to talk to us alongside the Hudson river, and I began to take the topic of climate change more seriously. However, after he spoke to our class, I was left with more questions than answers. Growing up in New Jersey, my grandparents have owned a beach house down the shore, and the only major natural disaster that I can remember living through was hurricane Sandy. For the past decade, I have believed that the superstorm that ravaged ocean county was a result of climate change, but Phil had a different perspective on the event. Hoboken was one of New Jersey’s cities that was affected the most by hurricane Sandy, leaving the area with more flooding than it has seen since the eighties, as Phil shared with us. One of Mr. Orton’s main goals in his studies has been to succes...