Most Guilford students are familiar with global warming and the environmental crisis – the concerns, questions, and basic everyday activities we can do to help. In Vivian Fulk’s presentation on Sept. 14, she focused on a part of the problem that does not get addressed as often: how we think about our planet’s resources and the decisions we make based on that knowledge.Fulk is a part of The Climate Project, a worldwide organization of volunteers trained by former U.S. Vice President and Nobel laureate Al Gore, whose goal is to educate and raise awareness about climate change.

At the center of her presentation, Fulk asked how people can talk about climate change without making anyone upset.

She helped to answer that question by showing a video presentation by an organization called TED, a small nonprofit devoted to the spread and sharing of ideas.

Fulk also showed a music video she had compiled based on the Gore movie “An Inconvenient Truth,” with some hard facts about the climate crisis.

For example, the CO2 in our atmosphere has a correlation with the earth’s temperature. Around 200 years ago, the CO2 was at 350 parts per million (ppm), but it is now at 392 ppm; 700 ppm is the limit for human habitation.

Fulk also outlined Gore’s seven-point pledge. This includes actions like reducing your carbon footprint, voting for laws and policies that use renewable energy, and living in ways that lessen our dependence on oil and coal.

“Just think, every time we choose to turn on our TV instead of playing outside we are using energy that is irreplaceable. We are desensitizing ourselves to the experience of our environment,” said senior psychology major and environmental studies minor Mary Simpson.

There was some skepticism among students about our effect on global warming, and to what extent humans have really contributed to the climate crisis.

To this Fulk responded that she compares this argument to playing Russian roulette. You have a 15 percent chance that you will pull the trigger and get a bullet, but the difference is that we have the capability to simply put the gun down and help curb global warming now.

“It can really make you sad when you think about this (the climate crisis), but there is a lot of hope out there and a lot of people working on this,” said Fulk.

First-year Daniel Raeder noted that most of the basic information and facts in the presentation he had heard before, but added that he gained something more from the presentation.

“Since coming here as a freshman my mind has been kind of scattered, and this was a nice way to refocus on what’s important,” said Raeder.