Victoria Liu Members of the Local Leaders club were provided a poll that consisted of current climate change issues, in which they were given a task to rank each issue based on its importance and relevance in their lives. Here is a demonstration of how the Peardeck poll was conducted: Members were given three sets of issues with five topics, in which they had to rank from one (least important) to five (most important). Here is an example of how the poll was organized. The above picture is an overlaid view of the responses, however each participant only saw his or her own ranking when taking the poll. Okay, so we took the poll, and the answer is...? Now, there is no correct answer for what set of rankings is accurate, as these are only predictions. After all, there are simply too many factors to consider (such as where you live, what are your values, etc). To address this, we should look to the future and observe how everything plays out - perhaps you were accurate in your forecasts! Regardless of which aspect of climate change will actually impact us the most significantly, all participants unanimously agreed that the effects are discernable. In fact, many took the time to input their thoughts - here are some: “Global warming is happening right now. The drastic changes in the heat are affecting all ecosystems. The ice caps [that are] melting are increasing the water level, taking down the coastal cities due to rising heat which humans caused.” “Climate change affects us everyday and is slowly degrading the earth little by little. Entire ecosystems are falling apart and they go hidden under public eye. Everyday we contribute to the greenhouse gas emissions in the air [by] polluting and clogging up the atmosphere adding to the lasting effects of climate change.” “You can argue that it is just a heatwave but the truth is that every year the Earth's temperature rises more and more, creating impractical living conditions for tons of wildlife.” Panic? Okay, so now you’re probably thinking about the dire state of our planet, and you may be concluding that the effects have been too extensive to be irreversible. After all, the New York City’s Climate Change Clock approximates that humans have barely over seven years to clean up the mess that was created (Source: Climate Clock), which subjectively speaking, is hardly any time. However, being informed is essential in order to develop an environmental awareness not only for our communities, but for the non-human organisms that inhabit them as well. The clock indicates that we have seven years left, and action certainly has to be done at the federal level, but it can be carried out at the local level as well. Did you know that Pleasanton has its own plan for allocating resources to combat climate change? You can check it out here: Climate Action Plan Changes to Look Forward to in the Future Note: some of this data may be skewed because original wording may have been misleading for some participants (not going to lie, I didn’t notice it until the poll was sent out), thereby misrepresenting the entire range of data. For example, the wildfire air quality topic, in which forest fires in California have burned more than 4.2 million acres of land (source: California Reaches Its First Million-Acre Fire) was ranked 1 (least important) overwhelmingly compared to the rest of the numbers, but other than that, most of the responses were generally evenly distributed, meaning that there was no significant correlation. Therefore, no conclusions will be drawn regarding this poll, since they may be ambiguous and possibly inaccurate. However, what we did learn was that the participants’ opinions on climate change encompass a diverse range of topics. Also, in the future, we may ask people to elaborate on why they chose a certain topic. Rather than making inferences, we can then instead analyze what factors cause participants to choose a particular option.
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The journalism small group is so productive, and it actually feels like you are doing something. You have so many opportunities to collaborate with people you probably would not have met otherwise. I have made so many friends in this small group, and club meetings are always entertaining.
- Bavana Pydipati, Journalism Writers Head '24 Author:Local Leaders of the 21st Century Club Categories
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