The Secret Behind the Misconceptions

Before developing my thesis for my first essay, I needed a topic that intrigued me, something that I could learn about and at the same time write a book about. That for me was clearly climate change, as it is, in my opinion, the biggest problem us humans will face in the next century. Of course, climate change as a topic is incredibly broad, as it entails so much politics, economics, and science. To add some specificity, I looked for something that bothered me most about climate change. It was the way so few people truly understand the subject.

 My inspiration came from a five minute conversation with the store manager at my work. After mentioning that I was in school as a geography major with hopes of studying climate, he piped up saying that “global warming is fake.” Of course, my next move was to refute that statement. I told him about carbon dioxide emissions and how it correlates to global temperature, out of control fossil fuel burning, and how rising populations will continue to demand more and more resources. Expecting more push-back  I was surprised to hear his response. In his words, “we’ll have to do something about it, but the problem is that no one can agree on a solution.” Here he was, an educated professional, starting with an anti-climate change belief and coming to a conclusion, after a two minute conversation, that there might be some truth in it. This led me to believe that he really has no concrete opinion on the matter. It made me think about how many other people I know are in the same situation. Upon more research, I found that this pattern is all too common. 
                According to a Yale University study, only one in ten Americans feel that they are “very well informed about climate change.” Along with this, only fifty percent of the subjects in the study believed humans were the cause. The fact that climate change is caused by humans is no longer debated by the scientific community. This has been the case for half a decade, yet so many members of the public, my store's manager included, still wonder if it is true. There is a factor in our society that inhibits knowledge about climate change, and I set out to figure it out. 

After setting up a causal chain, I realized that the underlying cause of such a lack of knowledge could very well be, special interests. More specifically, businesses like Exxon Mobil and BP who profit solely off of fossil fuels, a huge contributor to global climate change. They have more power than we can ever imagine in media, government, and in their customers. It only makes sense to me, that companies so dedicated to discredit climate change as a myth would be one of the biggest causes to the lack of knowledge in the general public about it. Upon further investigation, I found this to make more and more sense.

Works cited

Leiserowitz, Anthony, Nicholas Smith, and Jennifer R. Marlon. Americans’ Knowledge of Climate Change. Yale.edu. N.p., 12 Oct. 2010. Web. 03 Feb. 2013.