Social Psychology of Culture and Ethnic Populations: The Impact of Global Warming on Social Change within Culture and Ethnicity

Hundley, Kathleen G., Forum on Public Policy: A Journal of the Oxford Round Table

Introduction

Our planet is in a state of strife and crisis from a number of fronts. This paper examines the Social Psychology of Culture and Ethnic Populations, examining particularly a subtopic of that topic of great interest world-wide, global warming, or climate change. Three major points discuss a hypothesis that establishes a link between climate change and social change that impacts cultures and related ethnic issues across the globe. Point 1 is the reality of a changing worldwide climate and the negative impact of such change on the natural, social, cultural and ethnic fiber of life in various parts of the globe. Point 2 discusses the catastrophic results in a growing number of distressed countries of corrupt governments that thrive on desperate conditions and that often spawn civil war that results in disenfranchised people being driven out of their own country, and Point 3 addresses the trauma and upheaval of leaving traditional homelands to escape starvation and warfare and, in the process, losing the thread of ethnic identity that makes a people unique and binds them together. A final point raises questions with regard to potential solutions to the social situations that are occurring in desperate parts of the world and that will see worldwide increase if and as the climate continues to warm.

Climate Change Defined and Its Effects Described

What is meant by climate change? Is it a potentially cataclysmic change in the planet's processes, or simply another of Earth's ancient cycles? That the question is of general interest to the world population is evidenced by numerous articles and reports available for review. According to the web site of Heartland Institute, a national nonprofit nonpartisan research and education organization (Heartland, 2007), 863 titles were listed on its Global Warming/Climate Change section during 2007, and many other similar sources provide ample scientific evidence that the climate worldwide IS changing and that the world IS becoming warmer. The web encyclopedia for the lay public, Wikipedia, published an overview of the implications of global warming and states, in lay terms, that "the predicted effects of global warming on the environment and on human life are numerous and varied ... recent effects of climate change may be already occurring." The article goes on to address relevant subjects such as rising sea levels, glacier retreat, altered patterns of agriculture, all of which are cited as direct consequences (of global warming) (Wikipedia, 2007). James Hansen, PhD, Climatologist and Director of NASA / Goddard Institute for Space Studies at Columbia University, is one of the world's foremost scientific authorities on global warming, and during 2007, Dr. Hansan wrote 14 articles and gave numerous presentations discussing his concern for and evidence of global warning (Hansen, 2008). In his comments, Dr. Hansen explained how gases being produced by the combustion of fossil fuels are contributing to a "greenhouse effect by retaining heat on the planet like glass panels do on a greenhouse." In a January 29, 2008 talk to the Royal College of Physicians, London, UK, Dr. Hansen speaks of "Global Warming--The Perfect Storm: Health Implications of Climate Change" in which he contrasts the global effects of C[O.sub.2] and the resulting threat to the health of the youth of today and their inheritance of a sick planet with efforts that, if made today, could change the potential end result of increased sickness of living things and the planet alike. (Hansen, 2008). In a January 20, 2008 interview on a television special program, Dr. Hansen warned that the earth has no more than 10 years to reverse the present undeniable trend of drastic changes in the earth's climate, or the change will be unstoppable (Peley, 2008).

A report on a study published in the journal, Proceedings in the National Academy of Sciences, states that there has been a dramatic decline identified in the ability of the Earth to soak up manmade emissions of carbon dioxide, as well as an acceleration in the rate of increase of greenhouse gas in the atmosphere (Canadell, 2007). According to Dr. Canadell, these facts indicate to environmental scientists that they signal a potentially dangerous turn of events for climate world-wide. He explains that a "feedback" in global climate, which occurs when carbon dioxide increases in the air, resulting in atmospheric concentrations of CO2, has already begun several decades before many predicted. One reason given for the new evidence is that, for the first time in the past 100 years, "the efficiency with which fossil fuels are used has stagnated." According to a United States governmental report, the Year of the Ocean, 1998, changes in the ocean climate were already observable, and there was evidence ten years ago that the human influence was separable from natural long-term variability (Year of the Ocean, 1998). The Pew Center on Global Climate Change says that a gradual warming of our climate that is already underway will continue and will pose serious risks to economies and environments across many nations, particularly poorer countries without the ability to tolerate lost crops, grazing land, fishing and gross national product (Pew Center, 2007). The Center cites the two primary processes that contribute to sea level rise as thermal expansion, the increase in water volume from heat uptake, and mass inputs or the transfer of freshwater from land to ocean, the largest potential source of additional water mass being the large ice sheets on Greenland and Antarctica. The International Council of Academics in Engineering and Technological Sciences (CAETS, 2007) at their convocation held in Tokyo, in October 2007, published a report that states, "greenhouse gas emissions in the newly industrializing countries are increasing rapidly to rival those of the highly developed countries ... most of the observed global warming since the mid20th century is very likely due to human-produced emission of greenhouse gasses, and this warming will continue unabated if present anthropogenic emissions continue or, worse, expand without control."

Another term used for the by-products of greenhouse gasses is global dimming, the reflection of the sun's heat, which has been blamed for many negative effects throughout the globe. Certain of these effects include: health impacted by environmental problems such as smog, respiratory problems and acid rain; death from these problems and from starvation brought about a decrease in rainfall and subsequent failure of agriculture, as well as the failure of Asian monsoons (Shah, 2005).

Observable and Detrimental Evidence

As the temperature of the planet rises, so does the temperature of the oceans, causing a melting of ice in the two polar regions which raises both water temperature and ocean levels. As a result, low-lying countries, such as The Netherlands, Bangladesh, Mozambique, the Asian Pacific countries and the Chesapeake Bay area of Eastern United States, and major cities world-wide, such as New York, Shanghai, Miami, New Orleans, Buenos Aires, and London, may be faced with rising sea levels that will cause significant damage to life, the national economy and infrastructure (McKinney, 2007).

According to Ian Sample of Guardian Unlimited, a scientific web site, a collaborative statement from experts from 13 nations indicates that nearly 1/4 of the world's mammals, 1/3 of amphibians, and 1/10 of bird species are threatened with extinction ... (Sample, 2006). "We are on the verge of a major biodiversity crisis. Virtually all aspects of diversity are in steep decline and a large number of populations and species are likely to become extinct during this century." According to these scientists, the following representative species are already in danger of extinction:

   The great white shark population has decreased 95% in the past 50
   years, polar bears are expected to decrease 30% in the next 45
   years, the dama gazelle population has decreased 80%, and 1/4
   of fresh-water fish in Africa is threatened by human activity
   (Sample, 2006).

According to Clive Wilkinson of World Wildlife Fund and echoing what Anup Shah had said the year before, "20% of the world's coral reefs {an important part of the total ecosystem} have been effectively destroyed and show no immediate prospects of recovery ... 24% of ... reefs are under imminent risk of collapse through human pressures, and a further 26% are under a longer term threat of collapse" (Goldberg & Wilkinson, 2004; Shah, 2004). From long ago as 1998, much of the blame has been assigned to the rising temperatures of the oceans which bleach the coral white; as the algae that feed on and color them are driven out, the coral dies (Lardner, 1998).

Couple the natural results of …

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Publication information: Article title: Social Psychology of Culture and Ethnic Populations: The Impact of Global Warming on Social Change within Culture and Ethnicity. Contributors: Hundley, Kathleen G. - Author. Journal title: Forum on Public Policy: A Journal of the Oxford Round Table. Publication date: Spring 2008. Page number: Not available. © 2008 Forum on Public Policy. COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale Group.

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