An Analytic Review of “Climate Change, Coming Home”
By: Cory Walker
Sociology 111
Ivy Tech Community College
November 24, 2013

We have been hearing about climate change for several decades now. How climate change will effect populations is addressed thoroughly in this article. The four main effects we will experience are food supply shortages, wide spreading diseases, weather extremes, and rising sea levels. Food supply will be affected because droughts and heat waves will harm the crops. Diseases will come through insects such a mosquitos that carry Malaria. An example given in the article is that of a small, dry area in Africa. They don’t have much rain so there water supply was not very reliable. They built a dam to trap the water in, but the water and moisture drew disease carrying mosquitos to the area. Extreme weather will result from increased rain and moisture in the air from the heat. The ice caps will also continue to melt causing the ocean levels to rise substantially. We will likely see more occurrences of natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina. These are the four main ways that climate change will affect us based on the article. Furthering this analysis, I am now going to relate the issue of climate change with human ecology, environmental justice, globalization, and global stratification. Human Ecology is the study of the relationship between humans and their natural, social, and built environments. In regards to climate change, a human and their environment can be negatively affected. As we well know, disasters can happen in the environment in which we live. This was clearly demonstrated in the recent typhoon that hit the Philippines, and numerous hurricanes that have hit the United States in past and recent years. More locally here in Indiana, we have experienced extreme droughts to where the crops were destroyed creating a shortage in resources. We as humans use our land to grow food and to obtain water. We build our shelter on the land, and when natural disasters hit, it puts us at risk for losing our houses, food, and clean water. Environmental Justice is the fair treatment and enforcement of environmental laws and policies to all races, religions, color, and sex. Policies in the United States enforcing laws that benefit the environment are taken seriously by all offenders. The biggest and most common law enforced is the littering of trash. Littering of our trash not only makes for an unclean looking town, but it also has an impact of our water ways. The trash gets swept up by our water ways and eventually ends up in our oceans. This trash contaminates the water and our fish that we eat. This creates an unhealthy seafood supply for our population. Other environmental policies are also in place to sustain our earth, and environmental justice is widely practiced in our country. Globalization is the integration of technology and ideas throughout the world. In relation to climate change, globalization will be beneficial in promoting awareness of the predicted changes in climate and how that might impact people in their environments. Globalization and the enhancement of technology allow us to communicate beyond our borders. Governments can come together to decide what policies and laws are needed to protect the environment and attempt to reverse climate change. Climate change is said to be great caused by the increasing world population. China is one of the most populated countries in the world. They currently have a one child rule where families can only have one child. This is an attempt to control the population for climate change purposes. Global stratification is how the world is divided into countries, states, and cities based on trade and industry. Each strata is connected and used their connection to trade resources, whether it be renewable or non-renewable. Natural disasters will prevent those resources from being able to be transferred. Climate change will harm tradable goods and decrease the flow of trade. Global warming affects all populations, some more extremely. It is important for everyone to be aware and to be proactive in how they treat the earth, because climate change will alter our environment majorly.