Developing a Research Question

Below I have given more thought to some of the current debates and controversies in my field and have developed some potential research questions.

With significant figures like Pope Francis addressing what the future of the world holds, individuals are becoming more interested in climate change. Red flags are being raised as some believe that the government is only interested in climate change because they can make a profit off of it. 

There is also a large debate over whether or not some of the proposed methods for climate change will actually be beneficial. This is the debate that I am primarily interested in, but after the activity we did in class this past Thursday I am also kind of curious as to what the issues are behind the first debate.

Debnath, Jayanta. "~Serenity~". December 13, 2009 via flickr.
 Attribution 2.0 Generic License

Here are some potential research questions for debates on climate change:

What effects have social media had on the goal to combat climate change?

• After learning more about the effect media can have on social issues I am very interested to find out more about the statistics. Just having Pope Francis briefly mention climate change in his speech has sparked a large response on numerous media outlets. It has made me wonder what the potential effect could be of a wide scale focus on climate change in the media for a long period of time.

Where does the government play into climate change? Is it just for profit or for bettering the Earth?

• Originally I had no significant interest in the government's role. However, after seeing some of the articles my classmates found in our activity, I do wonder how involved the government is in climate change. The articles found are suggesting that they're only involved for a profit, but is that the truth?

What does the future hold for us if we implement geoengineering methods in their current states?

• From the research completed for my first project, it would appear that implementing them now could be dangerous. However, there is another issue to be addressed. If these methods aren't tested now and we wait until a global disaster happens to implement them, what would happen? Looking at it from this perspective, it would seem like it would be better to test them out before we reach dire straights.

Should scientists have the freedom to test out whatever methods they want on the environment without more research?

• This question could also encompass other areas that don't just pertain to climate change. It is pretty similar to the previous question, but there could be other methods being tested out. I would like to know more about them, if there are any, and what people think about scientists being able to experiment freely.