Most people would acknowledge that the global warming phenomenon is no longer just a myth.

However, the debate rages on over how much it will affect our daily lives, what is causing the increased temperatures, and what to do about the problem.

Over the course of this fall semester, the Humanities Department has shown three films concerning different social, political, and environmental issues.

In October they screened a film about Hamas, the self-described Islamic Resistance Movement. Near the beginning of November, they showed a documentary on the Taliban.

On the last two days of November, the final film in the fall series was shown.

The film, “Hot Times in Alaska,” is a three-part Scientific American Frontiers series on global warming effects in the polar region. Scientific American Frontiers is a PBS series, which is a companion to Scientific American magazine.

The host of the series, Alan Alda, is best known for his role as Hawkeye Pierce, the doctor on the television show “MASH.” Since his work on the hit show, he has become a political and environmental activist.

The film began with an example of one species of bird that is being affected by the warmer temperatures.

The guillemots are arctic birds that live on a remote island off the north coast of Alaska. They depend on arctic cod for their survival. The cod live underneath sea ice that floats in the ocean. In recent years, the ice has been melting earlier and earlier, which takes away the guillemots’ food source.

However, the receding sea ice is not just a problem for the local inhabitants.

“The white arctic ice acts as a global cooling system,” says Alda in the film. “It reflects the sun’s heat back into space. But dark open water absorbs heat. This is self-reinforcing, ice melts and it gets warmer so more ice melts.”

According to the film, computer models generated by five different research groups around the world estimate that all the summer sea ice at the north pole may be gone by the end of the century.

It is not just the sea ice that is in danger of disappearing. It’s also huge glaciers and permafrost throughout the entire northern hemisphere. Glacier melt is accelerating rapidly.

Since the early 1950s glaciers have been losing an average of half a meter of surface ice each year. Data from the 1990s through today shows an average loss of 1.8 meters of ice disappears each year from the entire surface of the glaciers.

This translates into staggering amounts of runoff water. During the past 50 years, more than 9 trillion gallons of fresh water have been added to the oceans from Alaska and western Canada alone. As a result, the average sea level has risen by 1/4 inch.

The greatest disparity among peoples’ opinions comes concerning the cause of this increase in global temperature. However, the most commonly held viewpoint is that greenhouse gases like CO2 are the major cause of rising temperatures.

The boreal forests in the northern hemisphere make up nearly 1/3 of the planets forests. Underneath these forests lies a layer of permafrost about 150-250 feet deep, depending on the terrain.

Much of the permafrost is made up of plant life and soil that has been frozen in place since the last ice age. If this material is exposed to warmer temperatures and the organic matter were allowed to decompose, the result could be disastrous for the entire globe.

The majority of the permafrost consists of plants and other organic materials, which are almost entirely made from carbon. The amount of carbon contained in these permafrost regions is about equal to the amount found in our atmosphere. This permafrost is in danger of melting, and has already begun in some places.

If the majority of this permafrost were to melt, the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere would double. This would greatly compound the greenhouse effect and rapidly increase temperatures worldwide.

Nearly 85% of Alaska is sitting on a layer of permafrost. Roads, buildings, and anything that depends on solid ground would become unstable if this were to melt.

“Many scientists said to us that the North is the canary in the coalmine, the harbinger of things to come in the rest of the globe.” Alda says nearing the conclusion of the film. “Whether we can do anything about that, or care to, is another story entirely.”

Communities around the country are beginning to treat the threat of global temperature change with more validity, and doing their part to help. San Diego is no exception.

The San Diego Foundation, San Diego Natural History Museum, Birch Aquarium at Scripps Institute of Oceanography, and the San Diego Regional Energy Office have sponsored a new initiative, called Climate Smart. The purpose of this effort is to educate community members about how global climate changes will have local effects.

“Without a drastic reduction in carbon dioxide emissions, in 40 years, downtown San Diego will have average temperatures on par with La Mesa today, and La Mesa will feel like Campo,” says Dr. Daniel Cayan of the Climate Research Division at Scripps Institute of Oceanography.

To find out what you can do to help, visit the San Diego Foundation’s website at www.sdfoundation.org.