IU studying global warming

Global warming used to seem like an issue of the distant future, but recently, it's been gaining more attention in the media. Scientists are divided on whether or not global warming is really a problem, and how to address the issue if it is. Recently, the Bush administration and Congress have been pressed for more research funding and some IU faculty and students say they think it's about time.\n"People are noticing changes in the environment," said James C. Randolph, a professor in the School of Public and Environmental Affairs and director of the Ph.D. in Environmental Science program. "This is no longer a matter of opinion."\nRandolph, also the director of the Midwestern Regional Center of the National Institute for Global Environmental Change, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, has done extensive environmental studies throughout North and South America. With all the research and studies done on global warming, he said he believes there's no excuse anyone -- \nespecially the Bush administration and Congress -- can ignore the evidence that it exists.\n"I don't deny skeptics' right to share their skepticism," Randolph said. "But there are many well-known, scholarly science journals that support global warming as a problem."\nRandolph said global warming can be summed up as rising temperatures that can eventually cause severe climate changes.\nSeveral students at IU also share Randolph's concerns.\nThe Indiana Public Interest Research Group is promoting the 'Clean Energy Campaign' at IU in order to encourage students to adopt cleaner energy policies.\n"The U.S. is the leading producer of carbon emissions," said junior and INPIRG member Lucy Frick, referring to environmentally harmful discharge in car exhaust. "We have a lot of unnecessary waste."\nFrick suggests that people be aware of how much they drive their cars, while proposing that walking, riding a bike or carpooling could be better options. She also said that INPIRG is encouraging students to remember to turn off lights and pay attention to their water consumption. \nINPIRG campaigners are \ncurrently working on ways to bring more environmentally friendly options to IU.\nFrick said they are working to reduce waste on campus and that the group is involved in steps to build a 'Green Building' on campus. The building would implement several methods to cut down consumption of energy, including design structures that would heat it through solar power. \nFrick also said that one of INPIRG's main goals is simply to raise student awareness of the issues it pursues, something that Randolph agreed is of extreme \nimportance. \nRandolph said if the trend of high pollution and carbon emissions continue, global temperatures will increase, potentially melting glaciers and raising sea levels.\nSPEA associate professor Ken Richards, who focuses primarily on the economic, legal and sociological issues surrounding the environment, agreed that rising sea levels could be disastrous.\n"If water levels keep rising above land, that'll pretty much be the end of it," Richards said.\nMany people, including Richards and Randolph, said they feel the next step is more research on the causes of -- and potential \nsolutions to -- global warming.\nEnergy emissions, particularly of carbon dioxide, are a familiar aspect of global warming, and one that many find to be the most problematic. There are many complex scientific ideas on how to reduce carbon emissions, including one nuanced idea: carbon sequestration. \nRichards said the new and emerging theory is basically "planting trees to catch carbon." Randolph added that the process could also be implemented using pipes to store the carbon so that it doesn't reach the upper levels of the atmosphere, where it could eat away at the ozone. \nRichards reviewed a committee in Pittsburgh last fall dealing with carbon sequestration. He said he went into the meeting feeling very skeptical of the theory, but left with more faith in the idea.\n"I was very impressed," Richards said. "Their research made sense, although (it was) very complex."\nIn addition to new, broad innovations aimed at stopping global warming, Frick said there are always things that can be accomplished on the individual level.\n"If there is even the slightest chance that global warming is a problem," she said, "wouldn't it make sense to take a proactive stance"