Last week in my Environmental Science lab, we watched a movie called “An Inconvenient Truth.” It was an educational film about global warming narrated by Al Gore. Before watching this movie, I admit that I didn’t really know what global warming was. I knew that it was dangerous to us and the Earth, but that was the extent of my knowledge. I didn’t know that it was the cause of Antarctica slowly breaking off and melting, or the reason so many species are relocating, dying off, and/or becoming extinct. The film presents several good arguments for why we should be more worried about global warming. It seems though, that some politicians are out to create doubt in the public mind so that we don’t “waste” money on such preventative measures.

As a project, my class has been divided into groups of three, and we were given an aspect of global warming to research. We then have to present our findings to the class via PowerPoint. My group was assigned to present scientific studies that have shown evidence of global warming through issues such as species ranges, extinction, and relocation. We could also discuss the happenings of coral reefs, bird migration, etc. I have started my research tonight, and have already found several species who have become threatened or moved due to climate change. Among these are polar bears, phytoplankton in the ocean, and toads. It’s amazing to see what is going on in the world around us…when before I was quite ignorant to the problem.