Speech - Sam Flomenhoft

Sam Flomenhoft

This past summer I visited Costa Rica. The first thought you have after getting off of a four-hour plane ride is “wow, boy is it hot.” And it is, it’s very stuffy and humid and uncomfortable as you wade through the thick air into an air-conditioned tourist van. After that, your next analysis of the tropical country comes to you as you peer out of the windows of that air conditioned tourist van: Costa Rica is green. And finally, after you’ve spent a couple of days there, you’re last observation: it rains a lot.

This is an observation I had about halfway into my two-week trip. It rained at least once a day, at the same time everyday, with some “unscheduled” rains mixed in. Any person coming from a normal climate in the United States would come to the same conclusion, that yes, Costa Rica rains a lot. Yet, even as much as I had thought it rained while I was there, it wasn’t enough.  Around 2008, concerns were voiced that the amount of rainfall in Costa Rica was diminishing, and those numbers have only gone down in recent years. If in fact, rainfall continues to decrease, this would have major negative effects on the country environmentally and economically.

Certain species of the country depend on having an excess of water for mating season; an example: the golden toad. Male golden toads gather in puddles of water left over from heavy rainfalls, and wait for female mates to come, where they mate, lay their eggs, and the lifecycle continues. But over the past three decades Costa Rica has started seeing a decrease in rainfall, and as a result, we have seen a direct correlation in the decrease in the golden toad population. The golden toad is one small example and its disappearance has little impact on the rest of the ecology but if Costa Rica continues to have insufficient rains more species will follow and further disrupt the rainforest’s balance.

The reduction of rainfall in Costa Rica not only has environmental implications but it also affects the economy, which relies on tourism and agriculture. As the rainforest dies, Costa Rica will become a less popular destination, decreasing the tourism industry, which according to Princeton University’s website, accounts for almost $2 billion a year. The loss of this major input of money into the already small economy would devastate Costa Rica. Moreover, many farmers are dependent on the annual flooding of their fields to grow rice. Less rain means less floods which leads to failing rice crops and eventually to further destruction of the economy.

If this isn’t enough it gets worse. Costa Rica is one of the greenest countries in the world, producing an estimated 80+ percent of its energy from hydroelectric power. Rivers and lakes producing this power are shrinking due to the decrease in rainfall. Less water will lead to lack of energy in the future, which inherently creates its own problems. The point is, diminishing rainfalls in Costa Rica have large and lasting impacts and not just on the environment. But the question is what can we point to that causes this climate change? I’m sure most of you already know where I’m going with this: Global Warming.

The alarming deterioration of the Costa Rican environment is part of larger climate change impacts worldwide: the shrinking of the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, the recession of the glaciers in Canada, the melting of the polar ice caps, to name a few. To most of us, these seem like problems far away from home that we don’t need to worry about, but we have problems here in the United States too; for example the California drought this summer. In fact, multiple studies indicate it was the worst drought California had seen in 1,200 years. Adding on top of that, problems elsewhere can still affect us. The melting of the ice caps will lead to an estimated 20 feet rise in sea levels worldwide, which would submerge many coastal areas including most of Manhattan, proving this isn’t a problem we can’t ignore.

Further consequences of Global Warming include, well, Global Warming. All ten of the hottest years recorded in history, have occurred in the last two and a half decades, as Al Gore points out in his documentary, “An Inconvenient Truth”.  With temperatures increasing, our polar ice caps are melting, further increasing the Earth’s temperature because ice reflects light and heat, while water absorbs it. In addition, the disappearance of large ice sheets is creating problems for many species, such as polar bears, which use them to rest in between long stretches of swimming. With nowhere to rest, we are starting to see the first cases ever of Polar bears drowning.

Not only are polar bears going extinct, so are all types of species. We are currently in the second greatest period of extinction since the dinosaurs, and last time I checked, that didn’t go too well for them.  The World Wildlife Foundation says that between .01 and .1% of all species go extinct a year, which, depending on how many species there are (scientists have different estimates), is anywhere between 200 and 100,000 species a year. Now maybe we shouldn’t be alarmed, there have, of course, been five other periods of mass extinction in geological history, but none could be solely attributed to one species like this one can be attributed to humans.

In 2006, when Al Gore released his movie “An Inconvenient Truth” there were a lot of people who “didn’t believe” in global warming, or denied it, but today most people have accepted it, so I’m guessing my speech so far has only defined the magnitude of the effects it has had. Still, it is clear that climate change is a problem and it will only get worse. Yet, there are still those who believe Global Warming is not a problem worth fixing, or that global warming is no longer fixable.

For starters, Global Warming is a problem worth fixing. My first appeal to everyone would be just out of sentimental value. I’m not sure how many of you have been to a rainforest, or seen glaciers, or explored a national park (or any other exotic place), but I and others who have done these things can assure you that it is one of the most amazing things you will ever do. And as Global Warming and its worldly impacts increase, the opportunities and availability of these experiences decrease. So to everyone who truly loves this world and wants to continue to be able to experience the diversity and wonderfulness of nature, I implore you to fight to save earth, and helping end Global Warming.

Now there are some to whom the sentimental argument doesn’t matter, who don’t care about nature, but only about the well being of the economy and their financial state. And to them I would point out that what is good for nature is good for the economy. According to Al Gore in his documentary, the car companies that started making more energy efficient and environmentally friendly cars (Toyota and Honda) did exceedingly better than those who didn’t (Ford and GM). Likewise, if we can find a way to harness solar power more efficiently, it would be a much cheaper energy than the fossil fuels, which are our most common energy today.

Furthermore, using the finite amount of fossil fuels in existence is leading the economy towards turmoil. We, as a people, are not looking for other sources of energy hard enough, and as a consequence, when the fossil fuels run out, which scientists estimate will happen this century, we will be left with no alternative forms of energy. We’re pushing our economic woes down the road, and piling them up in a landfill (such as we do with our trash), that years later will come back to hurt us more than we could ever imagine. Whether you decide global warming is an issue worth spending time and money to solve because it helps the economy or because you love nature, it is an endeavor worthwhile for everyone.

 And for those of you who think Global Warming is an unsolvable problem, its not, and there are many steps you and I can take to help reduce it. The obvious solution is to try to help thin out the ozone layer (which is trapping heat on Earth) by reducing our “carbon footprint”.  Anyone can do this personally by having a more efficient car, buying less stuff, recycling more, using LED light bulbs as well as many other solutions that can be found on the Union of Concerned Scientists website (uscusa.org). If every United States citizens made these efforts, our carbon emissions could be reduced by up to 20%.

The best solution to global Warming would be to find alternative energy sources such as wind power or hydrogen fusing and you can help this cause. There are ways to donate money for research to be done, or you can lobby for this research to be important. If we can show our national leaders that finding sustainable energy is important to us, they will listen. It will change their agendas and we can have the funding and intelligence and full support of the United States in curing the Earth. I know it seems impossible to solve this enormous problem but in the words of Margaret Meade, “never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world; in fact it is the only thing that ever has.”  So I leave you with this final thought, this final plea:  don’t ignore this speech and don’t ignore global warming. Go home today and make the changes in your life. Tell others to make the change; just get the word out there so that ten or twenty or thirty years down the road, we’ll be well on our way to overcoming Global Warming, and so when one of you goes to Costa Rica, you too will think “wow, it sure does rain a lot.”

Works Cited

"Economy of Costa Rica." Princeton University. Princeton University, n.d. Web. 14 Dec. 2014.

Sunstein, Cass. "Solution Aversion: When the Answer Hurts, We Just Don't See the                        Problem." Lexington Herald-Leader 14 Dec. 2014: F2. Print

"Global Warming." Union of Concerned Scientists. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Dec. 2014.

An Inconvenient Truth. Dir. Davis Guggenheim. Perf. Al Gore. Participant Media, 2006. DVD.

United States. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Working Group I. Fifth Assessment             Report (AR5). Vol. V. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Www.ipcc.ch. Web. 12 Dec. 2014.