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Opinion
 

Staff Editorial

                        Robyn Morrow             Chris Elliott                        
                                               John Arterbury       Caitlin Cuppernull

Stop blaming and start correcting 

The debate surrounding global warming and its causes continues. Some argue that the changing climate is the result of greenhouse gas emissions while others claim the changes are part of the natural ebb and flow of Earth's climate fluctuations. However, with a new report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change detailing severe and detrimental effects on poor countries, many of which produce the least amount of carbon dioxide gas, many are calling on the largest producers of these gases (which tend to be the largest and wealthiest countries) to begin working to rectify this dire situation. As the largest single emitter of carbon dioxide, the U.S. is the focus of a number of these debates.

The countries emitting the most carbon dioxide should make serious changes to halt their emissions, but the burden of global warming should not fall on any one or number of countries. Granted, some are certainly contributing more to the problem, but with so much disagreement over the actual cause and no final consensus appearing, efforts to stop global warming must be implemented by everyone. They don't call it "global" warming for nothing.

Whichever side one takes in the great debate, the bottom line is that the increasing temperatures are going to bring about dangerous consequences -- consequences someone must take action to prevent or curb. 

If the countries in question will not take responsibility for their actions we cannot wait for them to do so -- too much time is being wasted. In the big picture, it absolutely does matter who is causing global warming. But in the bigger picture, what matters most is stopping it. It may sound idealistic to implore all nations to work together to prevent these climate changes, but when the changes affect an entire planet there is no other way to solve the problem.