The Global Warming Challenge - Report Example

The Global Warming Challenge Student’s Name: Institutional Affiliation: Instructor’s Name: Date: Introduction The global debates on environment are discussed on specific problems affecting the environment and humanity. At present, the environmental challenges have triggered debates within the society and in every country. From small, grass root organizations, local to National Governments, the international and global bodies, the debate on global warming is becoming part of the issues of great concern in the current century. This paper gives a report on the global warming as one of the environmental challenges facing the world today. The theoretical understanding of global warming will be discussed in this report alongside the communication strategy that can be used to control the adversity of its effects. Theoretical Understanding of Global warming Like any other scientific theory, the global warming theory begins with the assumption that the global temperature is naturally kept constant by the earth. This results from the balance between the quantity of sunlight absorbed by the Earth and the quantity of the infrared radiation emitted by the Earth to the outer space (Kowalski, 2004). In other words, absorbed energy is equal to the emitted energy. On average, the energy flows in and outside the climate system within one year is estimated to be between 235-240 watts/square meter. The greenhouse components like methane, carbon dioxide and water exert very strong control over the rate at which the Earth loses infrared radiations to the outer space. Human activity like burning of fossil fuels leads to emission of more carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. Continuous addition of carbon dioxide into the air causes trapping of the infrared energy thereby strengthening the greenhouse effect of the Earth. The likely outcome is warming effect on the surface and the lower atmosphere (Weart, 2003). As per the global warming theory, the lower atmosphere is expected to respond to such imbalances of the energy by causing triggering temperature increase until a point s reached when the amount of infrared energy emitted equals the amount of sunlight energy absorbed by the Earth. That is to say that the Earth is expected to raise its temperature up to when the global energy is restored to its initial position. The concept off balance between the amount of infrared radiation energy released to the outer space and the corresponding sunlight energy absorbed by the Earth forms the basic foundation of the theory of global warming. However, it is surprising to note that the quantity of warming caused by extra carbon dioxide is relatively small. Theoretical calculations done by the scientist reveal that if no changes are made on the climate system, doubling the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere would lead to less than one degree centigrade of surface warming. It is also important to note the statement above should not raise controversies as the issue has been researched thoroughly and accepted widely by the scientists. However, not all components of the climate system are expected to remain the same. For instance, the precipitation systems, water vapor and the clouds are expected to react to the warming tendency in one way or another with the aim of reducing or increasing manmade warming. Such forms of changes are referred to as ‘feedbacks’. In the climate system, the total of all feedbacks determines the climate sensitivity. Low climate sensitivity (negative feedbacks) indicate that manmade global warming may not be quantifiable and is likely to be lost in the noise of the natural climate variability. On the other hand, high climate sensitivity (positive feedbacks) implies that the intensity of manmade global warming could be harmful. The knowledge of strengths and weaknesses of feedbacks in a climate system is very significant as it forms the basis of any research on global warming. Such errors as confusion between feedback and forcing when observing the behavior of the clouds may lead to illusions of an accurate and sensitive climate system. An insensitive climate system implies addition of extra carbon dioxide into the atmosphere may not be sufficient to warrant the observed warming. Communication Strategy Despite irresistible agreement among the scientists that global warming is real, hazardous and caused by the activities of human beings; many people view the issue from different perspectives. For instance, there are those who would ignore the danger, others remain unaware of the significance while others are really concerned and willing to take action. In order to build public engagement and understanding of global warming, there is need to understand these diverse views (Archer, 2007). It is difficult to realize the effectiveness of communicated if the population is treated as homogenous mass, without considering the diversity of their opinions. This strategy will give a framework for passing messages on global warming and its impending threats to various audiences. The following are the approaches rolled out from this communication strategy. Putting emphasis on the sense of urgency- everyone needs to be informed about the global warming challenge as well as its effects as an issue of urgency. , it therefore needs immediate attention. Many people specially those residing in rural areas struggle in the face of the ever increasing unpredictability of weather. The individuals as well as the communities need adequate resources, information and relevant practical information that will help them respond and adapt to global warming impacts. Also, there is need to invest in development of the correct global warming terminology in local languages so that the issue can be discussed even in local ways that could be relevant in providing an insight into the realistic global warming challenges experienced by most people (Henderson-Sellers & Mcguffie, 2011). By linking global warming to sustainable development- traditionally, global warming has been communicated and viewed as a complex and scientific challenge to the environment. However, the challenge should be interpreted as a deeply entrenched environmental and socio-economic issue. The impact of global warming cuts across all the dimensions of development such as agriculture, infrastructure, forestry, water and sanitation, energy industry, fishing and tourism. Promotion of models of best practices- demonstrating models for best practice for mitigation and adaptation at community level is a useful strategy as it can be replicated across a wide range of socio-economic and climate contexts. Learning platforms, networks as well as inventive approaches can be used as tools for disseminating information on such models. The government institutions and the civil society across the globe can adopt the models. The media- many players in the media industry do not posses adequate knowledge of global climate and have a tendency of considering it as not a priority to the audience. The capacity of both news and non-news forms of media is very important if global warming information is to be passed in relevant ways at local levels. Mobilization of resources- resource mobilization at all levels is necessary form communication strategy. Additional funding will facilitate effective communication of the desired messages. The public forums can be used as ideal avenues for communicating globalization issues to the general public. The Feedback mechanism- through the development of the feedback tool, it will be easy to monitor the progress and level of balances between the amount of infrared radiation and sunlight absorption in the climate system. Therefore, the levels of globalization can be tracked easily and controlled appropriately. Establishment of appropriate system of leadership- majority of the decision makers are doing a lot of work to provide a stable and reliable leadership that could assist in tackling the global warming challenge. Those in leadership positions ought to know more about the global warming so as to communicate with confidence on matters regarding the issue. Leaders who are knowledgeable about the challenge can also ensure incorporation the adoption and mitigation of strategies into their respective processes of making decisions (Kowalski, 2004). Despite the fact that local leaders are in a better position to communicate global warming information and assist communities in responding to the challenge, they lack adequate information on the issue. Also the religious as well as faith leaders have a role to play in not only communicating but also catalyzing responses to global warming challenge. Written and Visual Communication Language is a critical aspect to effective communication about global warming and the climate change at large. In passing the information on global warming challenge to the audience, both written and visual communication strategies are applied. An effective communication involves doing more than only choosing the correct words. The way in which messages are structured, the values in which the message speak to as well as the descriptions that puts live into the global warming message are extremely powerful. Most global warming communicators find themselves spending more time trying to counter the opinions of those who differ with the science of climate change. The media is an ideal mode of communicating written and visual messages to the public about the global warming challenge. The media has the power to influence the attitudes of the public towards the global warming. Through media reporting on global warming challenge, the audiences can be notified of the dangers of global warming through the print media. The daily publications, magazines, journals and newspapers are ideal sources for reaching the largest number of audiences. Visual communication strategies for Global warming challenge The use of images as communication tools has proved to have great and positive impact on the audience. However, sometimes images tend to be sticking point for global warming communicators as the majority of audiences living in nations that are industrialized view global warming as something that is abstract, vague and very hard to visualize. For instance, in the United Kingdom, it is hard t point out and visualize the impacts of global warming that occurred in the past. Like anywhere else, the seasons keep changing and the temperature averages rise gradually, hence making difficult for detection of the changes without studying the weather and the climate at large (Dryzek et al., 2011). Many artists have tried to create impressions of how the future would look like after the impacts of the global warming. However, their efforts have been met with mockery from the climate skeptics for raising the alarm (Goldstein, 2009). However, looking for visual evidence I places where the impact of global warming is already being experienced is useful. For example, using the images of starving children in campaigns against global warming creates an impression of how the challenge can cause drought and eventual death of people, children and other living organisms. However, even though the use of such images give a genuine representation of the likely effects of global warming, the images have also received criticism from the communication experts on climate change as being psychologically and geographically distant from the people who are being communicated to (Dornbusch & Poterba, 1991). Some academic research shows that the use of certain images to represent specific effect of global warming may induce fear on the audiences. However, such images are good as they attract the attention of audiences but they are ineffective when it comes to motivation of personal engagement. Those images that don’t pose any threat to the audience are effective and linked to the daily actions concerns of people (Anderson et al., 2006). This is also linked to the social norms which steers the achievement of sustainable behavior. The use of images may be more productive as when people are shown pictures of other individuals like them who engage in meaningful behaviors that conserve the environment, rather than showing them apocalyptic images which scares them. Conclusion The concern about global warming challenge has gone to a higher pitch. In addition, the discussions on matters greenhouse effect have spread from the initial forms of media like the scholarly journals and articles to popular press. The challenge is an essentially a transitional policy challenge. Global warming challenge must be recognized by the global commons as a threat to world environment. It is an environmental challenge that involves a complex system of socio-economic and the earth’s eco-system. There is need to develop sound communication strategies to sensitize people on the effect of global warming and the likely implications in the future. Every organization and country should play a role in developing plans and policies that will govern the emission of carbon compound into the atmosphere. However, this requires commitments by all players in the carbon fuel sector. References Anderson, G., Maasch, A., & Sandweiss, H., (2006). Climate change and cultural dynamics a global perspective on mid-Holocene transitions. New York, Elsevier. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&scope=site&db=nlebk&db=nlabk&A N=212 288. Archer, D. (2007). Global warming understanding the forecast. Malden, MA, Blackwell Pub. http://public.eblib.com/EBLPublic/PublicView.do?ptiID=428143. Dornbusch, R., & Poterba, M. (1991). Global warming: economic policy responses. Cambridge, Mass, MIT Press. Dryzek, J. S., Norgaard, B., & Schlosberg, D. (2011). Oxford handbook of climate change and society. Oxford, U.K., Oxford University Press. Goldstein, N. (2009). Global warming. New York, Facts on File. Henderson-Sellers, A., & Mcguffie, K. (2011). 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