Social Theories and the Environment

Tec, E. (2013). Solar energy.

1. There are two schools of thought regarding climate change. One school believes that climate change

is caused by human activity and another school that espouses the belief that climate change is a natural

phenomenon that occurs in cycles. Search the web for arguments for both schools of thought. Write an

essay briefly describing the arguments for both schools of thought. Finally, state what you think about it.

(15 pts)

It seems to me that the proponents of the environment-induced climate change theory are avoiding

responsibility for what’s going on in our planet. They are saying that it is the “fault” of the environment

itself that it is undergoing climate change as it is a natural process. Yes, climate change may be a natural

process but what we human beings are doing is just speeding up the rate that it’s proceeding in. On the

other hand, the proponents of the man-induced climate change theory are putting the blame entirely on

the human population. Ever since our population learned how to manipulate our environment, we had

been putting so much stress on it that it cannot recover as quickly as it probably did before. Too much

carbon emissions from our activities increase the greenhouse effect, which hastens global warming, and

eventually leads to climate change.

At this point, I guess it doesn’t even matter who or what we blame for climate change. What is

important to think about now is how to at least try to reverse what we had done to our environment. If

and when our tries are successful, then we can continue doing these tries until they become our habits

already. Reducing our carbon emission will definitely be a big boost to our environment. If only the

population today will start trying.

2. Solar energy is an abundant free source of energy. Discuss ways by which we can use it and reduce

our dependence on other forms of energy (eg. Nuclear, coal, petroleum etc). (10 pts)

Saving on electric bills and saving our environment at the same time may and can be done by using solar

energy. And we can do this right in our own homes. We live in a tropical country