This is Global Warming

Global Warming. According to Dictionary.com it is “a gradual increase in the overall temperature of the earth's atmosphere generally attributed to the greenhouse effect caused by increased levels of carbon dioxide, chlorofluorocarbons, and other pollutants.” It’s talked about in the news, but it seems like no one is really listening. Compared to a cat compilation fail video with millions of views and comments, videos on global warming accumulate at most only a few thousand views and a mere number of comments. In China, where I used to live, instead of having snow days like we do in Michigan, we had “pollution days.” The days where the air quality was so bad it was dangerous to your health to step foot outside. Honestly I think that’s insane. Just like in Wallace’s “This is Water,” I feel like people are having trouble seeing what’s figuratively and physically surrounding them. Some people, including even the current President of the United States, deny the existence of something that’s becoming increasingly prevalent in our day to day lives. According to ucsusa.com, only 70% of people believe global warming is happening. The ice caps melting, the sea levels rising and the weather getting hotter, to me is enough proof that something is happening in our world. The major reason most people aren’t that concerned about this is because they don’t have to be. Some call the mess we are making today the future generation’s problem because it doesn’t directly affect them in any way. "Thinking that way is [their] natural, default setting... it's the belief that [they] are the center of the world and that [their] immediate needs are what should determine the world's priorities (Wallace 236). So really, according to them, why should we care?