Global Warming

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Speaker 1: I’ve absolutely no doubt that global warming is happening and that it’s causing the world’s climate to change. Just look at the number of irregular weather phenomena in recent years: hurricanes, storms, floods, drought and so on. It’s beyond doubt, to my mind anyway, that it’s caused by human activity. It’s imperative that we act now to prevent it getting much worse. Governments should invest massively in renewable energy, set up wind farms, tidal barrages and so on. And don’t fall into the trap of thinking that nuclear energy is the answer to our problems, because there’s the problem of disposing of the nuclear waste. There are lots of ways to reduce your own carbon footprint too, but to make a real impact on global warming we have to make radical changes to the way we live. For one, we should travel less. Don’t go abroad on holiday, and if you have to travel, avoid flying if you can use a train or coach instead. Second, become a vegetarian. Meat production causes global warming. How? When farm animals digest food, they release vast amounts of methane, which is a very potent greenhouse gas.

Speaker 2: I must say I’m a bit of a global warming sceptic. I know I’m in a minority, but I do think people exaggerate the problem. I agree that the Earth is getting warmer, but I’m not 100% sure that human activity is entirely responsible for it. I think there are natural processes at work too. In the past the Earth has been much hotter and much colder than it is today, and that had nothing to do with us. And anyway, I don’t think there’s a great deal we can do about global warming. Governments waste huge amounts of money on inefficient renewable energy schemes, like installing wind turbines and solar panels. Of course we should try to conserve energy and avoid polluting the atmosphere and oceans, but you can’t persuade people to change the way they live. Basically, I don’t think we should worry too much about climate change. We just have to learn to live with it.

Speaker 3: The vast majority of scientists have linked the increase in the Earth’s temperature with CO2 emissions, so I guess it must be true. The problem is what to do about it. It’s all very well for us in the developed world to say we must cut carbon emissions and rely less on fossil fuels: we’ve already benefited from centuries of economic growth based on high energy consumption. What about India and China? They are going through a kind of industrial revolution as we did. What right have we to tell them what to do, especially if we don’t practise what we preach? I think it’s down to each of us to do our bit: use public transport to get to school and work, insulate our homes, reuse and recycle. Every little bit helps. As for what the government should do, personally I think the answer is to build more nuclear power stations. We’ll have used up all the natural resources like coal, gas and oil by 2100, so I think we’ll have no choice anyway.