Introduction

Abstract

Climate change is a topic most often broached by environmental scientists and its effects discussed in terms of animal populations and atmospheric events. The quintessential image accompanying this discussion is the sad-looking polar bear on a lonely iceberg. However, its direct effect on human life is yet to garner such attention. Many do not yet associate the consequences for wildlife with similar consequences for humanity. A changing climate will affect how people are able to use their environment as the locations of arable land and water supplies will shift. In some places, sea level rise and desertification will forcibly displace current human populations. How the world seeks to deal with this shift is yet to be seen. Climate change is also publically discussed in terms of sterile statistics. What tends to be missing is how climate change relates to humanity as a whole. What does a 2 degree Celsius rise in temperature mean in the life of the average person? Can that person conceive of what X tons of carbon in the atmosphere looks like? Without a direct relationship to its effect on humans, these estimates cannot be fully understood. They are vague descriptors at best and useless at worst. Gigatons of invisible gasses cannot be adequately internalized by the minds of most people; it is too abstract.