Week 6 Blog Post Eleni Pallotta

While considering what significant things I've learned about the world that took the form of statistics, I found myself often coming back to the same thought: I've learned that statistics can often be subjective, therefore, what you might think is true about the world can easily be false if those statistics were not put into a greater context.  Let me explain in greater detail.  Consider the debates that have happened (and are currently still happening) around issues of global warming and climate change.  In a geography class I took at Ryerson, we learned of a debate that happened between scientists on whether sea ice in the arctic was truly disappearing.  My professor, David Atkinson, presented the class with two pictures that both showed satellite views of sea ice.  One was taken in 2007 and one was taken in 2008.  He presented the argument made by some scientists that since more ice could be seen from the picture in 2008 than the picture in 2007, sea ice wasn't really melting because there was more sea ice the year following 2007.  Atkinson explained that what these stats didn't tell you was the difference in quality of sea ice.  Multi-year sea ice is thick ice that lasts all year round for many, many years.  This is the ice that many animals like polar bears rely on to hunt and survive in the arctic.  Although the 2008 picture showed more ice than the 2007 picture, the ice shown was NOT multi-layer sea ice, therefore, it was thin and would likely melt away within the same year it was made.  I believe that this is just one example of how statistics can seem to prove something, but really are made by subjective opinions that haven't been put into greater context (possibly to deceive others around them).  I personally think that stats like this have a human resonance because they affect every person on the planet.  Our earth's climate and all the species that inhabit it (including humans) are facing an uncertain future.  Stats need to prove the reality that climate change is happening and we need to prepare for it; not lessen the impact it is having on, for example, multi-layer sea ice.


"Hypothetical sea ice dynamics scenario showing some of the most common sea ice features" (Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_ice#/media/File:Sea_ice_Drawing_General_features.svg)