Running head: LITERATURE REVIEW 1

Literature Review

Climate Change Effects at UTEP

William Johnson

University of Texas at El Paso

RWS 1302

Dr. Vierra

July 29, 2018

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Abstract

This study explores the belief of man-made climate change and the possibility of UTEP

students’ belief in it or not. Bridgman and Oliver (2006) observed climate change’s impact was

proven to affect every aspect of life covering everything from water to health (p.10). The

literature review includes a survey of a few students that believe and do not believe in climate

change, but the overwhelming majority of participants do believe in man-made climate change.

All of the students have been affected by climate change and almost half of the students surveyed

have had their grades affected due to weather. The weather and climate are similar and different

at the same time. Climate is like a broad subject and weather the subcategory. While climate

change is a ten-year period of an area constantly getting hotter, weather is the forecast for the

week. The biggest difference being what happens in a certain timetable. The advances in science

as well as observation have led to great discoveries. It is still in the early stages, but scientists

have discovered how to actively manipulate the weather. Some important topics dealing with

climate change are discussed such as the economy, agriculture, and the role big business plays on

the environment. Harvey (2017) released a poll taken to determine the belief of climate change

between the voters of Republicans and Democrats. The results being the vast majority of

Republicans were not believers and the Democrats mainly believing in climate change (p. 1).
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Literature Review:

Climate Change Effects at UTEP

Climate change has been proved in numerous studies that it is a human made irregularity

and it affects every aspect of life, including student life. It is peculiar that Americans would

accept weather forecasts from a groundhog but not evidence of climate change from scientists. It

is due to this type of mentality that scientists and analysts alike must continuously reprove the

same thing. The scientifically proven climate change has different effects on different areas of

the world including education. This interpretation challenges the work of those critics who have

long assumed that climate change was not caused by human activity nor affected the students at

UTEP.

This topic will be explored by the following research questions:

• What is climate change?

• Who does not believe in climate change?

• Can climate change affect the economy?

• How does the idea of climate change affect UTEP and its students?

Discussion of Research

What is Climate Change?

Climate change is a substantial circumstance that occurs when the environment’s natural

balance is out of place. According to Bridgman and Oliver (2006), climate change is a function

in all of the spheres, not only the atmosphere. It includes the geosphere, hydrosphere, and the

biosphere. The change occurs in global or regional patterns. These changes are largely due to the

increase in carbon dioxide produced by fossil fuels. At different times of the year irreversible

impacts of the environment are happening that ultimately affect humans. The droughts
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happening in a season when the crops should be growing as well as other climate related

tragedies. These horrible instances are happening in the Southern and Northern Hemispheres. It

is a big concern to the global public, government officials and researchers alike. The issue

threatens a way of life including water, energy, food, security, and health (p. 10). These issues

can have dire consequences everywhere including El Paso which contains The University of

Texas at El Paso. Climate change is also a phenomenon that affects agriculture. With the climate

making it harder to produce food, the immediate area surrounding UTEP will strain trying to

sustain itself.

Climate change is a modification of weather through multiple means. Cotton and Pielke

(2007) demonstrated that man has modified the weather through attempts both failed and

successful. They noted that the General Electric Research Laboratory was able to purposely

modify the weather. This discovery of using dry ice in a freezer evolved into modifying weather,

the current age of science (p. 3). This discovery proved that man can physically have an impact

on the climate at a controlled level and to a global scale. The project took place in New Mexico

which is not far from UTEP. The triggers to the climate reaction were specific but also effective.

The results of this project might be a future solution to cooling off the students at UTEP. The

cooled down affect will enable students to stay outside longer without becoming a victim of heat

stroke or another similar heat related injury.

Climate change is a deviation in normalcy that affects the entire ecosystem in one way or

another. Dettinger, Udall, and Georgakakos (2015) noted that climate change threatens the

Western water source unlike any other part in the United States. The index for water supply that

they were able to create indicates the Southwestern water supply stress is unparalleled with the

rest of the country (p. 3). These authors observed that El Paso relies on the Rio Grande for a
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fraction of their supplies as well as heavy ground water pumping (p. 17). The Rio Grande is a

huge part of El Paso’s water supply being the majority of any one source. A drought of that

magnitude would definitely cripple the city of El Paso inevitably trickling down to UTEP. Water

is a source of life and without it the students’ focus will no longer be focusing on school work.

This could be considered a real issue that may affect the students and people outside of the

campus.

Climate change is an issue that affects every living being on the planet. Cameron and

Scheel (2001) believed granivores and herbivores utilized less new habitats that entered Texas

after the climate change compared to other species. The authors noted that historically the

allocation of animals and plants repositioned after certain changes in temperature at different

areas around the world. As well as the impact of climate change on rodents in Texas was the

most severe during hotter and less humid weather (p. 2). The animals that live near have an

impact on UTEP’s food. If the animals migrate further away, then a higher premium will be

placed on those meats for those students who are not vegetarians. And needless to say, money for

a college student is already scarce. An extra premium on their food will undoubtedly affect their

grades. The students who do not believe in climate change nor believe that it can affect their food

might see this as a fantasy. Cameron and Scheel tell us that climate change has a heavy impact

on the animals ultimately modifying the natives’ food. The climate changing will modify the

animals’ natural environment. It will cause their food not to grow properly or at all. And this will

force the animals to move wherever they can get their preferred sustenance. By referring to these

authors’ findings, the students and residents of El Paso not being able to get the food they grew

up on will surely have a significant impact on their lives.

Who does not believe in climate change?

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Many people do not believe in climate change for various reasons. These people also do

not understand a law of physics that states for every action, there is an equal and opposite

reaction. Simply put, harm done to the environment will have an equal and opposite reaction.

Harvey (2017) observed that seventy five percent of the people who voted for Trump did not

acknowledge that climate change is happening all around us. Additionally, they did not believe

that human activity would cause it. Although Clinton’s voters did believe in climate change and

the fact that it was caused by human activity. Only ten percent of her voters did not agree nor

believe that this was the case. This survey was done by analysts from the University of New

Hampshire. The study was widespread from each of the 50 states and included seven hundred

and seven adults. It also included a variety of different science questions which occurred during

the months of November and December of 2016 (p. 1).

It appears that the policy makers and government officials are not doing their jobs by

taking care of the people. They are being reactive to national disasters instead of proactive. Lane

(2014) observed that the policies about climate are not up to par. The author also stated that it

has been an expensive process that has resulted in failure. Alternatively, conservatives in

America rather ignore or muddy the climate change issues in lieu of creating a positive response

(p. 19). This group being extremely trivial, researched and presented the most expensive

solutions to climate change to a group that is concerned about budget. Also showing findings

from research with little bearing that said climate change is not a near problem but it is a real

occurrence (p. 21). The important statement taken from that was it is not a threat worth worrying

about now. He reminded us that the conservatives and business groups have gotten rid of

noteworthy voters that could have made a big impact in favor of lessening the effects of climate

change. These powerful groups have aggressively declared that there is no serious threat on its
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way. China not being a believer in climate change does not even participate in the supposed

global effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (p. 21). Many people do not believe that

climate change is human caused.

The major businesses choose to ignore the signs and triggers of climate change. Those

big businesses have enough disposable income to control the muckrakers. The government

officials who do not believe are those who have probably been convinced and paid by the big

companies whose products create a toxic byproduct. Such businesses move their factories to

Mexico and exploit their lack of an Environmental Protection Agency. The pollution made by

these factories damage the environment leading to UTEP’s dirty air and tainted environment.

Billings and Rappaport (2017) observed at the American Lung Association that El Paso’s air

pollution is high. But multiple times the city has gone above the passing line into the failing

threshold (p. 1). The data shows that if not detrimental to the environment then at the very least

the students at UTEP and the city of El Paso are at a much higher risk for lung cancer. The

majority of the government as well as policy makers do not think it is a big enough issue and are

the back bone of the big companies that do not care as long as their business is profitable. Figure

1 is an image of a smokestack in El Paso with no regard for the environment. It is unanimous

with the American Smelting and Refining Company better known as ASARCO created in 1899.

The smokestack displays that it is not concerned with air quality by releasing an enormous and

continuous amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The entire company was the head of

numerous complaints at one time. The complaints included many people in the city and students

having an unusual amount of lead in their blood. Although all of this was apparent, the company

aided the university in its growth. A group of people finally got together and destroyed the

structure in the spring of 2013.

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Can climate change affect the economy?

Climate change affects the economy and everything that deals with it. Lane (2014) states

as the economy evolves it becomes more independent and does not rely on the climate (p. 21). In

America, the Republicans disagreed with President Obama’s plan to better deal with climate

change (p. 22). The major reasons being cost and no evidence to say that these measures would

be effective. The propaganda of climate change not being real from big business spread like wild

fire encouraging more people not to believe in it. This was all to serve their purpose of

continuing to do what they want in order to stay profitable.

Climate change has the potential to affect an entire coast or more. Blackburn (2017)

organized his argument around the Texas coastal region is up against long-term issues that

endanger its entire economy (p. 1). He noted that this society’s infrastructure as well as their

thinking is strongly planted in expansion while current resources are barely enough to sustain the

ecosystem (p. 3). Although Blackburn (2017) may have seemed of concern to only a small group

of Texans, it should in fact have concerned anyone who cared about the Gulf coast like

Louisiana and Mississippi. These two states are near Texas and also reside on the Gulf coast. The

countries in South America that border on the Gulf will probably share similar feelings as well.

Climate change affects the economy’s agriculture. Ackerman (2013) claimed that the

prediction of future economic influence through climate change is possible, but it begins with

knowing the “business-as-usual” statistics. The global economic greenhouse gas emissions

released also needs to be known in order to move forward (p. 9). The most optimistic scenario

being that in the next few decades the greenhouse gases double and the pessimistic outcome

being it more than triples what the current output is today. A good portion of the climate system
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is already understood by scientists. With that being said it is established that the surplus of

greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is magnifying the sun’s potential to heat up the earth (p. 13).

Those unfamiliar with this school of thought might be interested to know that it basically boiled

down to the bad gases destroying our protection against the sun which is the atmosphere. The

atmosphere is our protection from the sun and it is failing which allows the sun’s rays to further

come in and throw the planet’s equilibrium off. Ackerman and Stanton (2013) observed there has

been a steady increase of two degrees Celsius in global temperature since 1990. If the bad

emissions continue to rise then it will put an end to the Greenland Ice Sheet and the Artic sea ice.

With two of the largest bodies of ice in the world melted, it will undoubtedly lead to massive

flooding.

The climate change can cause drought that severely affects the economy. Esquinca

(2015) evaluated that the frequent droughts are diminishing El Paso’s water supply. She noted

this is a result of the climate change (p. 5). Esquinca was not the only one to take notice because

an anthropologist and an Environmental Resource Manager pulled their resources together to

obtain a 4.9 million dollar grant. This grant is to help find solutions for the diminishing water

supply. It was so bad at one-point Vinton County did not have water due to the shortage (p. 6).

Primary Research:

UTEP’s Climate Community Survey

The survey was designed to discover the number of students who believe in climate

change in their community of high pollutions and the affects it might have on their individual

lives at UTEP. It was the team’s belief that the majority of students asked would not believe in

man-made climate change. The team conducted a survey at the UTEP library in the afternoon,

during a summer term. The survey was done on Monday starting with four basic questions about
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the person. The following five questions were climate based in relation to school and dealt with

their personal feelings on the subject matter. The majority of people asked to participate in the

survey were cooperative, while a few did not have time or simply did not want to participate. It

was given to random students based on fifteen men and fifteen women (N=30). Figure 5 shows

the participants mainly being from El Paso or Ciudad Juarez. But two of the students were not

from either area.

The overall observation of the survey was that half of the students were affected by

climate to the point where it affected their grades. All fifteen women believed in man-made

climate change, while twelve of the men also believed in man-made climate change with three

not accepting it for various reasons. One male respondent explained were rooted in older and

religious beliefs from his culture. The other two men did not believe because they did not know

anything about climate change being proved that it was not a myth. You can refer to Figure 2 to

see the students who did not believe in climate change. The age range of the participants were

from eighteen to thirty-four. It was also interesting discovering that the men not from the area

did not believe in climate change. The oldest participant was a male as well as the youngest. One

of the questions is if weather was ever a reason for not completing or turning in an assignment.

Almost half of the students asked, being fourteen, said at some point weather was a reason for

not completing or turning in an assignment. And most of them learned about climate change

from school or the news. Another interesting fact is the majority of the students that participated

in this survey said they had a grade point average in the range of 3.0 to 4.0. It can safely be said

that these students take school seriously, even though almost half of these students have had an

incident when they could not complete an assignment due to the weather. Figure 3 shows the

number of students who reported a sickness due to the climate. Figure 4 depicts the astonishing
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figure of good standing students who were unable to turn in or complete an assignment due to

the climate change.

Based on the results of the survey compared to some of the sources collected, UTEP’s

students were not affected as much as a few of the sources suggested they might be. These

unscientific results were compiled in only a few days during a partial term. The results may

differ during a full term. This exploratory research implies that the students of UTEP are affected

by climate change but adapt and persevere to achieve their desired goals. In the future,

researchers should first start the survey on a larger scale. The expanded area will render better

results and possibly a different base. The different base could give the researchers vastly greater

results. These results could sprout from students commuting daily from a different city, living on

campus, or staying within El Paso.

Climate Change and UTEP

Although the results of the UTEP Climate Community Survey are limited, they do

convey a message that residents of the area are not affected by the heat. It also says that the

majority of students here are aware of the climate change brought on my human activities. The

activities include driving motor vehicles and lack of recycling waste.

The majority of the UTEP’s students that are from here believe in climate change. As a

result, they have adapted, and it does not affect them as much as someone who is not from the El

Paso or Ciudad Juarez area. Drewes (2018) believes that climate change is one of the leading and

most significant issues overlooking humanity (p. 2). Right now, science is the top discipline

heading research for climate change. Now climate is not heavy in most instructors’ background,

so it is difficult to catch up. There was a Climate Academy built that is now a famous part of the

research effort to create climate change education. A middle school teacher named Emma
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attended a professional development workshop at this academy. Her middle school was very

diverse but being mainly Hispanic. She was able to teach her students the difference between

weather and climate. The difference between climate and weather was not known by the majority

of her students (p. 14). Students showed significant improvements and interest after the climate

material was covered. The topic was not able to go further than causes but the middle school

students proved to have an actual interest once the topic was broken down and explained (p. 16).

Drewes noted that utilizing a thorough approach, the teachers are able to merge climate change

into their curriculum and make noticeable changes. There is also another approach that is more

flexible. This flexible approach allows the teacher to better fit climate change into the

requirements of the curriculum while making it easy for the students to understand. Even with

the advances Drewes also observed through the findings that the Academy’s priority was only

handing out the information and not teaching how to adapt or alleviate. In El Paso, a drought can

leave the students of UTEP without running water.

Conclusion

This interpretation challenges the work of those critics who have long assumed that

climate change was not caused by human activity nor affected the students at UTEP. Climate

change is a function that happens in all the spheres and affects the entire globe. The change in

climate affecting the students of UTEP are mainly heat and air pollution. These two big factors

can lead to horrible long term affects. The economy is driven mainly off of products that produce

greenhouse gases. The economy and UTEP’s students are surviving off of the thing that is killing

them. If these gases can be stopped completely or reduced, it will give the students of UTEP a

fighting chance. Some of its students have already taken notice of the frequent droughts due to

climate change. The survey included resulted in a shock to the team surveying. The team noted
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that the majority of students surveyed believed in climate change. The students believing is the

first step in the right direction.

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References

Ackerman, F., & Stanton, E. A. (2013). Climate economics: The state of the art (1st ed.). USA

and Canada: Routledge. Retrieved from http://0-

search.ebscohost.com.lib.utep.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=cat04704a&AN=nug.b264

4162&site=eds-live&scope=site

Billings, P., & Rappaport, S. M. P. H. (2017). Statistical methodology: The air quality data.

Retrieved from http://www.lung.org/our-initiatives/healthy-air/sota/key-

findings/methodology-and-acknowledgements.html

Bridgman, H. A., Oliver, J. E., & Glantz, M. H. (2006). In Glantz M. (Ed.), The global climate

system: Patterns, processes, and teleconnections (First ed.). USA, New York: Cambridge

University Press. Retrieved from http://0-

search.ebscohost.com.lib.utep.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=cat04704a&AN=nug.b210

8975&site=eds-live&scope=site

Cameron, G. N., & Scheel, D. (2001). Getting warmer: Effect of global climate change on

distribution of rodents in Texas. Journal of Mammalogy, 82(3), 652-680. Retrieved from

http://0-www.jstor.org.lib.utep.edu/stable/1383604

Cotton, W. R., & Pielke, R. A., Jr. (2007). Human impacts on weather and climate (Second ed.).

New York: Cambridge University Press.

Dettinger, M., Udall, B., & Georgakakos, A. (2015). Western water and climate change.

Ecological Applications, 25(8), 2069-2093. Retrieved from http://0-

www.jstor.org.lib.utep.edu/stable/24700679

Drewes, A., Henderson, J., & Mouza, C. (2018). Professional development design considerations

in climate change education: Teacher enactment and student learning. International

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Journal of Science Education, 40(1), 67-89. Retrieved from http://0-

search.ebscohost.com.lib.utep.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edswss&AN=0004282985

00004&site=eds-live&scope=site

Esquinca, M. (2015, April 21). Regional water shortages prompt researchers for change. The

Prospector, 100(25), 5-6. Retrieved from

https://digitalcommons.utep.edu/prospector/209/

Harvey, C. (2017, February 2). Survey: Only a quarter of Trump voters believe in human-caused

climate change. Washington Post. Retrieved from

http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A540233780/SCIC?u=txshracd2603&sid=SCIC&xid

=a99dbf74

Lane, L. (2014). Toward a conservative policy on climate change. The New Atlantis, (41), 19-37.

Retrieved from http://0-www.jstor.org.lib.utep.edu/stable/43152778

Prado-Lorenzo, J., & Garcia-Sanchez, I. (2010). The role of the board of directors in

disseminating relevant information on greenhouse gases. Journal of Business Ethics,

97(3), 391-424. Retrieved from http://0-www.jstor.org.lib.utep.edu/stable/40929462

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Appendix A: Images

Figure 1. The former ASARCO plant, a major source of air pollution in El Paso

Source: utep.edu
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Appendix B: Survey Questions

1. What is your age?

2. What is your gender?

3. Are you from the El Paso/ Ciudad Juarez area? If so, what area?

4. Do you believe in man-made climate change?

5. Why or why not?

6. How did you learn about climate change?

7. Has anything weather related stopped you from turning in or completing an assignment?

8. What is your GPA range?

9. How many times have you gotten a weather-related sickness in the past year?