“We are causing global warming.”

When we hear about climate change, the immediate assumption is that it is being caused by people. We hear it from politicians, clubs here at Iowa State, even at home when our parents tell us that “our generation is killing the planet,” but are we really doing that much harm? Would there still be global warming if we were not here to cause it? Would there still be climate change? Blaming what could be the apocalypse on people is quite the weight to bear, especially if it isn’t fully our fault.

Humans only produce roughly 3 percent of carbon emissions in the environment. That means the rest of the carbon emissions released into the air are produced by natural sources. It is true, however, that most of these natural sources also absorb more carbon dioxide than people, but it goes to show we cannot be held completely responsible for causing global warming.

It is a natural occurrence. Climate change has been happening for years. The earth goes through natural series of heating and cooling and we must learn to adapt to these changes. Had we been around in the ice age, we would have had to adapt to our surroundings. Saying that we can all live underwater if the sea levels rise probably is not our best bet, but if the changing of the planet wasn’t quite that harsh people would have a better chance at adapting. If the climate changed in a way so that Iowa was in a region where it was warm year-round, the amount of crops that we could produce would nearly double in number.

“Everyone is trying to create lower emissions but America only accounts for one-tenth of the world,” said Kevin Knirr, a sophomore in engineering. Even if we are using eco-friendly products that can only account for so much when developing countries who have less options are using the most harmful products. “If we were to have a climate shift, we would need green-houses the size of states to be able to successfully feed everyone. There will not be enough clean water and not enough food,” said Knirr. When asked if there is anything we can do to fix it, Knirr said, “Mother nature is a ticking time bomb. It is like the movie “Day After Tomorrow;” people won’t want to fix it until it’s too late.”

There are many positive and negative elements to climate change; it is impossible to ignore. What is important now is that we do what we can to live sustainably. Recycling and using reduced energy sources are beneficial when trying to take care of our planet. It can be as simple as turning the light off when we are not in a room or returning those few pop cans. Recycling is a simple step that can lead us to create lower carbon emissions. The clean energy movement, in order to make a difference, would need to be worldwide. Will making all of these changes really make a difference?

Natural carbon emissions make up 97 percent of global carbon emissions. So will recycling even be that important on a large scale? We will have climate change no matter what we do. We have had climate change since before people were even on this planet. If we did not have climate change, we would still be in an ice age. The earth goes through a series of changes and they are most likely going to happen whether we choose to recycle or not. Recycling can make a difference when it comes to cleaning the environment and that is important where we live. It may not make a change on a large scale, but it can help make a change in a community.

If we all do our part in recycling then we can live in a cleaner community and a cleaner state. It may on some level change the severity of climate change, but if global warming is happening at least we are doing our small part to slow it down. The climate is continuing to increase, and if we start now it could be years before we ever see a change. We haven’t seen the worst of it and chances are that things will get worse before they get better. The question is not are we going to reverse climate change, but are we ready for it?