Imagine that every weatherman in the country is telling you a massive tornado is about to run into Montgomery County and destroy Rockville — would you try to find shelter, go to your basement, even evacuate, or would you plug your ears and keep going about your life and wait for the tornado to sweep you away?

In denying the reality of climate change, you’re doing exactly that. There is no debating the science. None. The scientific consensus is that the world is undeniably warming, and that there is a less than four percent chance that it is not caused by human activities. Every UN Member State (193 countries) in the world has accepted this; every scientific institution of national or international standing has done the same, according to the United Nations.

It is increasingly difficult to find scientists who disagree with climate change. Deniers, namely oil companies who benefit from hiding the truth, have resorted to what amounts to propaganda to conceal the unconcealable. Leaked documents from the American Petroleum Association and ExxonMobil show that all the world’s major oil companies have acknowledged the truth of climate change for decades, but have actively promoted decades of misinformation to protect commercial interests.

“I would imagine people have statements and work to support an agenda. If corporations aren’t going to profit or [will] lose money from something they’re doing causing climate change, of course they’re going to support [the con position],” biology teacher Jeff Grandin said.

The evidence is overwhelmingly clear and blindingly simple. Carbon dioxide is a gas that traps heat from the sun. Humans began putting it in the atmosphere at an unprecedented rate during the industrial revolution about 150 years ago. The world has been getting exponentially warmer since exactly that time. Yes, we did just experience a massive blizzard, but do not let that fact mask that 2015 was the hottest year on record, both in our state and worldwide. The previous hottest? 2014. 14 of the 15 hottest years on record have been in the past 15 years.

All of this is evidence that we need to think about more than the fact that we got to wear short sleeves in December to have a real debate about climate change. Climate change is depressing and morbidly frightening. It means droughts that destroy our food supply and make water as scarce as oil. It means hundreds of major cities, like New York, D.C. and Paris, going underwater from rising sea levels if we don’t do anything.

“Our culture sees it as an issue the next generation can take care of,” Manuella Lopez said. “I don’t think a lot of people realize this is going to directly impact us now, in an impending future.”
We do not need to and should not talk about whether or not climate change is true – we are past the point of contention. We need to talk about how to solve the problem — how to fix the future of our kids and grandkids before it’s too late.