The Environmental Science Controversy by Brandon

The Environmental Science Controversy by Brandon - August 2013 Scholarship Essay

Throughout all of High School, I never had a single class that I enjoyed as much as Environmental Science. My teacher, Mr.Hartmann, was both funny and interesting, everyone in the class was eager to engage in discussion, and the topic itself was more relevant to today's world than most others are. Our lessons expanded over many important and mundane topics, such as methods to cure oceanic dead zones and learning the names of dozens of local birds. There was one lesson, however, that I found to be more intriguing than any other, particularly because of how relevant it was and still is.  It's no secret that a controversy exists around global warming. One side believes in preserving our world's environment for the future by changing things today, and the other is skeptical of the problem's existence. Many months of the course were spent talking about the different sides of this issue, and the examples and excuses used by both sides. I found this topic interesting because, unlike many things that you learn in High School, it pertains to an issue that is very present in today's society. Everyone knows about global warming, and everyone has their own opinions, and we get to learn the truth about what is actually happening compared to what each side believes.
The most interesting part of this rather large topic was found in a video that we watched. The video was paid for by global warming skeptics, and was covering the topic of how Viking settlements in Greenland could possibly disprove all known theories of man-made global warming. Turns out, that the science and reasoning weren't very reliable, so it didn't help sway the argument in either direction. The most intriguing part, however, came after the video.
As a class, we did more research on the video itself: who had made it, who the host was, what qualifications the specialists in the video had, and other random specifics. It turns out, during the course of making the video, one of the specialists who was talking about the Viking settlements was never informed of the true topic of the video. She was under the impression that the mini-documentary was all about Vikings, and was never told that the videos of her were used to try and disprove global warming!
The reason this lessons interested me in particular was because it wasn't an exact science or rule like the rest of what you learn in school is. It was a ruse, a scheme that was being pulled by people to pull the odds in their favor. The kind of things you would read about, or see in a TV show or movies, except it was happening to you! Moreover, it's something that affects our lives in today's society! I love getting to see the details of lessons that bring it into our own lives, and this on was easily the most impactful.