Stedman 1 ! Jack Stedman February 15, 2015 Ms. Rindler Exploratory Essay Should we be worried about abrupt climate change and the resulting effects? Climate change is an issue that has been the talk of the last decade. It is an issue of great concern, and in my opinion there should be more news coverage and awareness of what is happening on our planet. In a study done by the China Center for Climate Change Communication (jointly established by the Research Center for Journalism and Social Development of Renmin University and Oxfam Hong Kong) where they called and surveyed 4,000 Chinese adults they reported that "93 percent of respondents say they know at least a little about climate change. 11 percent say they know a lot, 54 percent know something, and 28 percent know just a little about it. 7 percent have never heard of climate change"(Kim 319). Personally, I find this to be abysmal. I feel it should be educated in every school. In this essay, however, we will explore whether we have to be worried as to what is going to happen to our home planet, Earth. In the article, Storm Warnings: Extreme Weather Is a Product of Climate Change, from Scientific American, the author, John Carey, explores the effects that climate change has had on our weather. John Carey is a freelance science writer and editor. He was the senior correspondent for Business Week magazine for 20 years. This article is the first part of a three-part series, and Carey goes on to explain that in the past few years extreme weather conditions have been striking across the world. Carey says, "massive blizzards have struck the U.S. Northeast,

Stedman 2 ! tornadoes have ripped through the nation, mighty rivers like the Mississippi and Missouri have flowed over their banks, and floodwaters have covered huge swaths of Australia as well as displaced more than five million people in China and devastated