A comparison by Rachael Young
ENVS 1020
The Centre for Biological Diversity and Care for the Wild International have recently documented new and disturbing facts concerning global warming and it’s detrimental effects. With Shaye Wolf at the lead, Extinction: It’s Not Just for Polar Bears was set off in September of 2010, which covers most, if not all, aspects of how global warming is affecting Arctic life, including the endangerment of seventeen species. This report was cited in a recent article for CNN, Arctic Species under Threat, by Matthew Knight, and as mentioned by Mr. Knight, polar bears are one of the most popular icons for the global warming catastrophe, but certainly not the only one.
The report starts off chronicling the most severe consequences on the Arctic itself, describing how increased heat temperatures are decreasing sea ice levels, snow cover, the ice sheets and the glaciers; these are some of the most defining and important features of the Arctic. As stated in the report, the Arctic is the earth’s warning system, meaning that whatever happens to it, we can expect the same kind of damage to the rest of the planet and so it must be protected. Every form of life becomes adapted to its surroundings, and that is no different for the species found in the Arctic. Therefore since that environment is changing so drastically and rapidly those species are all struggling to survive the change, as is understood in the report and briefly implied in the article.
As previously mentioned, the report and the article for CNN talk about how there are seventeen species being negatively impacted by the changes to the Arctic, covering both land and sea animals. Mr. Knight briefly touches on ocean acidification which is detailed in the report by Mrs. Wolf. As Mrs. Wolf explains, the ocean absorbs carbon gasses from the air and this in turn causes its chemical makeup to change; this change greatly disturbs the life forms found in the Arctic waters, and if it continues it will also impact other bodies of water close to it. And finally the report gives many helpful suggestions about how to conserve the Arctic, and how to stabilize and ultimately reduce the effects of global warming on it, which the article also briefly touches on.
Though both the report and the article both cover this subject, there are significant differences in the style, strength of claims and limitations of work presented by each paper. While the report goes into far more detail, presenting data, facts and general information concerning ever aspect mentioned above and more, the article of course cannot go into as much detail as it would no longer be an article. And while the report makes strong claims, easily backed up by the research done by Mrs. Wolf and her team, the article does not have the evidence to be able to make stronger claims and the question of course is whether this makes a difference.
In fact yes, this most certainly makes a difference; the strength of the claims made by the report reaches people on a different, higher level, since the information is so much more disturbing when presented with hard facts and images proving everything they are trying to say.
Summer sea-ice minimum in 1979 (far left) and
2007 (left). Sea ice is melting across the Arctic,
and loss of summer sea ice has been particularly
rapid. Images courtesy NASA Goddard Space
Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio
Extinction: It’s Not Just for Polar Bears, Shaye Wolf, CBD.
One such image, like the one illustrated above is an example where there is nothing to dispute; it is a hard fact which is difficult to not accept. This benefit of the research paper is lost on the article and so the reader doesn’t have as great an appreciation of the severity of the situation when reading the article compared to seeing these images and reading the statistical evidence straight from the primary source.
Another important part of the report made by Mrs. Wolf is that it does not simply list the seventeen species like a checklist but instead goes into detail about each one; including its origin and background, area of where it resides, and of course how, specifically in relation to that particular species, climate change is impacting it. Mrs. Wolf also explains how they are all inter-related and also how the changes made to the Arctic, though it is seemingly so far from the rest of us, will end up affecting us just as much in the long run.
Staying on that topic Extinction: It’s Not Just for Polar Bears outlines for us clear and concise steps that need to be taken in order to affect the right change, unfortunately this is a section of the report that the article failed to give enough attention to. This section is so important because while reading the formal report given by Mrs. Wolf, the reader may start to feel helpless in their ability to do anything about this situation, as I did, once they reach the end however, there is an entire section dedicated to explaining to the reader how they can make a difference, no matter how small it seems. Not only does it tell how we can make a difference but it also outlines for us how to become involved in these organizations, because as Mrs. Wolf says we must “become the change we want to see”(Wolf 2010).
Overall the article, Arctic Species under Threat, was a satisfactory representation of the report given by CBD and CWI, Extinction: It’s Not Just for Polar Bears. However since there is always room for improvement, the article could have put more focus on certain key elements of the report. For example, as mentioned above, the section in the report dedicated at least 2 pages concerning information on how communities and individuals can become involved in making changes in the aspirations of reducing the affects of the global warming catastrophe, whereas the article only briefly mentioned a single idea on how to increase the chances of the Arctic’s survival. Also there could have more details given about the actual affect that greenhouse gasses, acidic oceans and the warming of the planet, is having on the various species and components of the Arctic, on this the article is much too brief. Also it would have been interesting to hear the viewpoint of the author, Mr. Knight, on the material that he covered in his article.
Therefore though the article is a satisfactory representation of the original primary source, it could have been more detailed and given more helpful information to the reader about how to get involved.
Works Cited
Knight, Matthew. "Arctic species under threat, report warns - CNN.com." CNN.com International - Breaking, World, Business, Sports, Entertainment and Video News. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Sept. 2010. http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/09/14/arctic.wildlife.extinction.threat/
"Extinction: It's Not Just for Polar Bears." Center for Biological Diversity. N.p., n.d 2010-09-23 http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/programs/climate_law_institute/the_arctic_meltdown/arctic
“Extinction: It’s Not Just for Polar Bears.” Centre for Biological Diversity. N.p., n.d. 2010-09-23
http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/programs/climate_law_institute/the_arctic_
meltdown/pdfs/ArcticExtinctionReport_Final.pdf
No comments:
Post a Comment