Haley Chapman
TOK 11
Trevor Mrak
August 27, 2019
Connecting News to Natural Sciences Knowledge Framework
The category from the Natural Sciences Knowledge framework that I looked into was
called “Scope/applications” under the branch “prediction is often an important feature of
scientific knowledge, but understanding is also a prime purpose.”
The news article that I read and connected back to this statement is called, “Human
Civilization will Crumble by 2050 if we don’t Stop Climate Change Now.” Obviously, this
statement on its own is
a prediction. However, this isn’t some guess based off of little evidence;
it is a statement supported by scientific paper, “Existential climate-related security risk” written
by David Spratt (research director for Breakthrough National center for climate restoration) and
Ian Dunlop (former oil/gas/coal industry executive, chairman of Australian Coal Association,
chief executive of the Australian institute of company directors and chair of Australian
Greenhouse Office Experts group on emissions trading.
Even though this prediction has been blasted across many different social media
platforms, people may not truly understand why this statement is true and how it has come to be
true. (along with the actual implications of the statement) In this paper, it outlines a 2050 (year)
scenario where increasing impacts of climate change risk detrimental consequences to the human
race which could be irreversible for centuries. It also analyzes security threats related to climate
