Conflict And Controversy: A Case Study

Improved Essays
Ted Summative Part C: Conflict and Controversy Energy is being consumed in ways that are not sustainable. This is a serious issue that is already affecting the environment and its effects will only worsen. With any issue, there is conflict and controversy surrounding this topic. There is controversy between people who agree that global warming is a serious issue and those who think otherwise. There is also conflict between people who think global warming will fix itself and those who think action needs to be taken to change this. The presenter in the Ted Talk I have chosen, Rob Hopkins, briefly addresses one of these controversies; however, his lack of mention to this controversy slightly detracts from the overall impact of his presentation. First, this controversy, between people who view global warming as a threat and those who do not have this opinion, is conflicting with the excessive oil consumption issue. For the most part, people who believe global warming is not an issue just want to live on without change and therefore are in denial about the inevitable. It can be argued that “science does not offer certainty” (Jordan), so people take this uncertainty as an excuse to avoid this issue. Meanwhile, the other side of this controversy, the side that believes that global warming is a threat, argue using science. …show more content…
This relates to the controversies because it shows Canada does believe global warming is an issue and that it will not fix itself. The oil sands provide Canada with economic growth, but the recent Canadian Energy Strategy says that this focus on the financial aspect of energy should be reconsidered. This issue is conflicting though, as some would prefer that Canada maintains its current energy strategy, relating to the opposing sides in the aforementioned

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    In the reading, “The Environmental Issue from Hell” the author portrays some of the dangers of global warming, such as how it affects the polar bears in the Arctic, how SUV’s are a big part of the problem and how we can influence change to people by switching to solar power and possibly change the politics that affect global warming greatly. Although the influence of solar increasing and GNP’s is generally reducing the amount of smog that goes in the air slowly, that still doesn’t mean we’re better off now and there’s still much we can do about global warming. McKibben’s main argument is the crisis of global warming is affecting us, animals and how it’s our own doing because of financial gain for the economy the smog that comes certain from…

    • 1187 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Stop Oil Sands Expansion

    • 1032 Words
    • 5 Pages

    There are many conflicting opinions whether the development of the oil sands in Canada should proceed or whether it should slow down on any plans to move forward. Although both arguments have valid points, when it comes to educating the general public, the results depend on who presents their argument in a more understandable and convincing way. I found that between the articles Why Canada needs to develop the oil sands and Stop Oil sands expansion, says Canadian and U.S. Scientists. The former was a superior article because of its detail and organization as well as the evidence provided to support their statements. The first article, Why Canada needs to develop the oil sands, starts out by discussing the diverse economy of Canada and how…

    • 1032 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In addition, a sub claim that is presented in the article is that there is a lack of agreement between people’s opinion regarding the contribution to climate change to that of scientists. With the public support, a senator claims that climate change is only a “hoax” used to scare “America” (9). Scientists with knowledge in the field, on the other hand, acknowledge that climate change is due to the activities performed by humans. Therefore, the public is constantly avoiding acknowledging climate change and it’s…

    • 1028 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Just as Klein states, “The bottom line is that we are all inclined to denial when the truth is too costly- whether emotionally intellectually, or financially”(46). Even though we all aware of the implications of our actions to the environment, we continue to repeat those actions. Some of us chose to look away, especially “political right”(Kelin 63)because they fear to change; fear to accept the consequence of climate changing. Some of us chose to deny because they lack trust to the scientist.…

    • 1049 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Comprehending Climate Change Climate change has been a pressing issue in our world. There are multiple factors that negatively impact our climate; ranging from businesses using fossil fuels, people’s negative habits, and so forth. Even though the government and a portion of society have been taking immediate action towards reducing further effects, there is still a good amount of people who are in denial of climate change or just do not understand it. There has been numerous articles, books, and talks about climate change and the dangers of it.…

    • 912 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Canada’s Economics and Science Technology by Kristina Canada’s Economics Canada’s economy creates resources, it uses land, it provides the country with money, goods and services and it employs citizens. All these factors help to define Canada’s identity. About one hundred years ago Canada was identified as a country of farmers, fishers, hunters and loggers. Along with these industries Canada is now known for its mining and for supplying gas and oil to the world.…

    • 802 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Only two barriers remain, the social and political ones. Every scientist agrees that climate change is an issue, there is no debate. This is not speculating how the Dinosaurs died. There are cold, hard facts supporting the looming menace that is climate change.…

    • 427 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Teddy Willcocks Y1 Civics Ms. Marshall Essay Climate change affects everybody and everything all over the world and is impacting how we live our lives. Around the world, we need to tackle the issues of climate change and alter the way we consume and dispose of resources. The pollution we create from factories and vehicles goes up into our atmosphere and creates a barrier of greenhouse gas. When the sun 's rays come to earth and then radiate back out to space, they can’t go back because of the one way, very thick greenhouse gas barrier. The 20 warmest years ever have happened since 1981 and with 10 of the warmest happening within the past 12 years and this is continuing to get worse as the years go on.…

    • 1187 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “Hot, Flat, and Crowded”, had a general theme throughout the entire book about the current state of the world and what we should be doing in order to make it better. The author, Thomas Friedman, discusses the three major issues he sees in the world, as evident by the title of this informative book. The term “Hot” refers to the current state of the climate and how the Earth is experiencing a process known as global warming. Global warming is the process by which the planet becomes increasing hotter due to the release of large amounts of greenhouse gases. These greenhouse gases that are affecting the environment to such an extreme extent are from human generated sources mostly by the burning of fossil fuels.…

    • 1900 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Global warming, the carbon footprint, the greenhouse effect, whatever you wish to call it climate change is an issue that not only affects us but every living organism on this planet. In American author, Michael Pollan’s essay “Why bother?” he presents the issue of climate change and the very reason why it is still a problem after so many years, because of people who believe “why bother.” “Why bother” refers to the mental reality of believing that one individual can’t make any form of difference for an issue. Now while this idea is not entirely false I do feel it has a rather large hole in it.…

    • 1403 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Climate Of Doubt Analysis

    • 903 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Frontline’s Climate of Doubt was a compelling film showing how climate change has become more of a political issue than an environmental one. The film followed correspondent John Hockenberry around the United States as he interviewed several individuals that included scientific specialist, conservative republicans and liberal democrats who may or may not have been holding a position in office at that point in time. He asked simplistic questions surrounding the issue of climate change that could have been answered by anyone who was able to comprehend their own beliefs, however some individuals refused to answer the question directly and the pattern seen behind their response seemed to be associated with their political choices. It was clear to see that throughout the film there was a trend occurring. Republicans refuse to believe that human-made climate change is an issue and the real question is why they believe such lies.…

    • 903 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The concept of face and how it relates to conflict can be complicated. However, understanding and evaluating the role that face plays in a conflict can help those involved understand the actions of the others involved and possibly hold a key toward resolving the conflict. In the Conflict and a R&D Organization case, saving face plays a prominent role in the conflict between Glenn and Greg (Conflict in an R&D, n.d.). Glenn and Greg both are concerned with face loss, this concern contributes to Glenn and Greg’s inability to resolve the conflict and understanding the role face-saving played in this conflict could have meant a different outcome (Conflict in an R&D, n.d.; Folger, Poole, & Stutman, 2013, p. 177-202). Both Glenn and Greg have concerns over positive and negative face (Conflict in an R&D, n.d.; Folger, Poole, & Stutman, 2013, p. 177).…

    • 844 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    CREDIBILITY : I did an assignment about two different thoughts between two environmentalist : Al Gore and Botkins. Al Gore, with the article “The time to act is now”, informed to the reader how bad global warming is and alerted them the need to react now . Botkins with the article “Global Warming Delusions” said that global warming is not a very serious problem and we don’t need to waste money on this problem . I have looked for much research to answer the question by myself as to whether global warming impacts seriously on our life or not and what we can do to protect our living environment. That’s why today I am very interested to share with you some basic information about global warming.…

    • 1108 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Superior Essays

    In fact there are boatloads of articles regarding climate change, with various opinions and statements. Unfortunately this can lead to the confusion of the public and render their understanding incomplete. With the variety of media such as the internet and the different information that contradicts each other the public can be sent out on their own to create new assertions. Segal explains that, “Each side of the climate debate accuses the other of exaggeration and suffers from its own….Each narrative doesn’t just oppose the next but is deeply incompatible with it” (122).…

    • 949 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    People seem to care less and less, sometimes not even believing in climate change at all, and want nothing to do with cleaning up the planet. Anup Shah, author of GlobalIssues.org states in his article discussing climate change, “The United States plus a few other countries, and many large corporations, have opposed climate change treaties seemingly afraid of profit impacts if they have to make substantial changes to how they do business”. However, these people do not realize the rude awakening they are in for once the earth starts to fix itself. Bryan Walsh, author of various pieces on climate change, states in his 2015 article entitled “Obama Takes the Lead on Climate Change but Needs the World to Follow”, “The Clean Power Plan is a start, even a historic one. But when it comes to a superwicked problem like climate change, as Obama himself said, “there is such a thing as being too late.””…

    • 953 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays