[Opinion] Global Warming Crisis

The war in Iraq is giving a hard time to U.S. President George W. Bush. However, there is something else that is also giving quite a big headache to Bush and that is Ice Age 2; a hilarious animated adventure movie about animals that have to leave their homeland due to the threat of a flood from melting ice. The sequel, the second highest-grossing animated feature, has made average American families with children realize the seriousness of global warning. Of course, it must be difficult for Bush who received support from giant oil companies to avoid rising criticism since he refused to sign the Kyoto Protocol.

Stoked by both the El Nino phenomenon and global warming, this year is set to be the second hottest since records began, breaking the record set in 1998, according to the British Meteorological Office. The world average temperature whose mean temperature of the past 40 years is 14 degrees Celsius is also expected to rise about 0.54 degrees Celsius this year. It has been also disclosed that the U.S. Defense Ministry made a secrete report about global warming. According to the report, a catastrophe will take place due to climate change within 20 years and it will be a more serious security threat than terror.

The Union of Concerned Scientists revealed that Exxon Mobile, the world’s largest oil company, gave 16 million dollars to 43 organizations to misinform the public that there is no scientific evidence about global warming between 1998 and 2005. Whenever global warming becomes an issue, Bush has repeatedly said that, “We need more evidence (to prove that carbon dioxide is causing global warming).” However, continuously escalating temperatures clear indicate that the earth is becoming hotter.

Scientists predict that if carbon dioxide is released at this rate, the global temperatures will rise about two to six degrees Celsius within the 21st century. The temperature change is as serious as what made dinosaurs extinct. “The earth will be completely a different planet in the future from that we now know of,” said the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. In this regard, global warming is not just an environmental issue. This is an economic issue that demands the restructure of industries, as well as a political issue that demands a political decision. It is now time for the global communities across the world to act to cool down the earth.

Chung Sung-hee, Editorial Writer, shchung@donga.com