Climate change continues to be "hot" topic

Quoting Sir Winston Churchill during the presentation "The Climate Crises" at Cal State Fullerton Tuesday, former politician and now environmental activist Lance Simmens said the world is "entering a period of consequences."
Simmens is one of the first people trained by former Vice-President Al Gore and The Climate Project. Simmens has presented over 50 seminars that mirror Gore's movie "An Inconvenient Truth."
Toppling glaciers and brightly-colored diagrams painted a grim picture of the Earth's changing climate as Simmens encouraged a packed auditorium of students in Pavilion C to take steps toward reversing what scientists say are the effects of global warming.
The heavily attended event, sponsored by environmental groups on campus, included an introduction by Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez and ended with a question and answer forum by a panel of faculty.
"We need to get the message out and we need to participate," Sanchez said. "Teachers are telling me they have been seeing students grab on to something that's so important."
Sanchez said debates over global warming continue to heat up in Washington D.C. and a panel on climate change clearly states the need to reduce emissions immediately.
Most speakers said they were concerned the United States currently doesn’t have a national policy and states are lagging behind as the country contributes 25 percent to global warming.
"I don't care if you're a Democrat or Republican, this is bigger than that. It's a global issue," Simmens said. "If you think this is a warm and fuzzy, tree-hugging issue, think again."
Global warming, Simmens said, is caused by the increasing amount of carbon dioxide (C02) in terms of parts-per-million, or increasing levels of dense greenhouse gases that trap the rays of sun in the atmosphere, causing the earth to heat up. He said the planet is currently at 380 ppm and could rise to 600 ppm if nations "continue business as usual" and don't start using alternatives to pollution-causing infrastructure, such as burning fossil fuels.
"Global warming is happening and humans are causing it," Simmens said.
Recent events have proved this theory, he said.
In 2004 Brazil experienced a groundbreaking hurricane, in 2005 the world's largest oil platform was damaged during a storm off the Gulf of Mexico and an unprecedented 37 inches of rain fell in India in just a 24-hour period during that same year, according to Simmens' statistics.
Simmens said the world will see wetter and more intense storms to come.
However, out of all the places to heat up, Simmens said the North and South Poles are leading.
Scientists are examining cracks in the ice shelf of Antarctica that did not exist five years ago, and he said polar bears are drowning and dieing off because they end up swimming long distances of 40 to 50 miles between cracks in the ice. He said glacial earthquakes are also doubling.
Normally, he said the ice glaciers have reflected the sun's rays, but due to rising temperatures, the ice has melted and has turned into an "absorber" instead.
Simmens said there have also been shifts in wind currents that have contributed to rising ocean temperatures and species loss in coral reefs.
He pointed out that if glaciers were to completely melt down, sea levels would rise and displace tens of millions of people worldwide.
Along with such information, Simmens described a few misconceptions people might have about global warming, such as whether there are disagreements among scientists, divisions over economy and the environment or whether individual participation can make a difference.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is debating whether they're 90 or 99 percent certain human beings are causing global warming, Simmens said. But he said the consensus is that we are.
"We will never be at 100 percent certainty," Simmens said. "... But I don't think it's really a question anymore."
Erin Saverio-Seibert, a member of the CSUF Environmental Studies Student Association, said some professors on campus are not entirely convinced, but have also admitted to not being well educated about it.
Vienne Vu, a geography studies CSUF grad student, said such events help to educate those who might not otherwise be exposed to the sciences.
"I think it depends on who's listening. If you're a Spanish major, you might not know as much, but if you're a geography major, it gets pounded into you every day," Vu said. "The more you know, the more you can do something."