MouleneJ, recognizing that there are many complex driving factors of climate change, I’m going to assume that your question aims to figure out what the general causes that come to mind are for most people in the US. In the US, most people would also probably be quick to blame CO2 and other greenhouse gas emission increases for global climate change.
I think a large part of why pollution shows up on the Bowdoin list so frequently is that the US has had lots of major problems with pollution of drinking water, and natural water bodies such as rivers and lakes. This is especially something we hear a lot about in Maine, as the state’s major rivers are still currently recovering from an era of massive amounts of pollution in the early 1900s that has had long term effects on the state’s traditional fishing economy.

Ighatu, for me personally I try to take public transportation as much as possible in order to reduce my carbon footprint. For example, I usually take the train when I visit my home in Massachusetts from Bowdoin in Maine. One potential solution for slowing down climate change could focus on reducing the carbon emissions in rapidly developing countries such as India and China. Perhaps, we could sell them renewable sources of energy such as solar panels at a reduced price in an effort to encourage them to pollute the environment less. One thing that I noticed about the word associations was that two Bowdoin students mentioned specific animals (Polar Bears), while students from Toulouse tended to say “animaux” in general. Is there a specific animal in France that gets a lot of attention for the way that that it’s environment is changing from Climate Change? For Americans, and Bowdoin students in particular, we tend to see videos of Polar Bears.

JérémyT,
I’m honestly not entirely sure why Donald Trump did not show up as a word on the Bowdoin side. With his legacy of climate change skepticism, it might be because I at least do not associate him with any action on the subject whatsoever, despite his inaction being detrimental to the United States’ forward progress on the issue. He has made it clear that he does not intend to really do anything about this issue, so I personally look to other outlets for possible progressive change. As for my personal views on his inaction on climate change, I think that it is ignorant, and I am in strong disagreement with it.

MouleneJ, I think that the majority of people in America are very aware of the effects of climate change however there are definitely some who do not believe that our pollution of the environment is causing it. It always baffles me when I hear of someone who will not acknowledge the impact that we as humans have on the environment, and refuse to accept responsibility. As far as solutions that have been put in place to help the environment, I know that the city where I am from (Seattle) has composting laws, where you could be fined for not composting your discarded food and napkins.

De mon point de vue, il est évident que l’utilisation du mot “real” de la part des élèves américains est à mettre en relation avec le climato scepticisme de leur président actuel. En effet, pas une seule mention de la véracité du changement climatique n’est faite chez les étudiants français car c’est un sous entendu évident ici. Personne ne remet en question l’existence d’un tel rechauffement, et l’impact de la société humaine sur ce réchauffement est un fait avéré, pas une supposition. Les étudiants américains font 2 fois référence à l’ours polaire car c’est l’un des animaux directement touché par la fonte des glaces, et le fait qu’il soit considéré comme “mignon” aide à sa médiatisation. Mais beaucoup plus d’espèces vont êtres touchés par ce rechauffement de manière directe ou indirect, d’où l’utilisation du mot “animaux” dans un sens plus large. En effet, l’élévation du niveau des océans et l’augmentation de la température va forcément impacter la faune et la flore. Les conditions environnementales vont donc poussés certaines espèces à disparaitre, migrer ou s’adapter. Les espèces migratrices auront elles toujours un interêt à migrer sur le long terme? Selon vous, allons nous assister à un changement radicale de la cartographie des espèces?

ChristianSG, je trouve que c’est une bonne chose que les gens se soucient de la dégradation des écosystèmes aquatique et de la qualité de l’eau. En France certaines rivières telles que la Seine ou la Loire ont également subit de grande pollution et aujourd’hui nous voyons la qualité de l’eau revenir. Depuis quelques années nous travaillons à rétablir la continuité écologique des rivières françaises en limitant la construction de barrages et en créant des “passes à poissons” pour permettre aux poissons migrateur comme l’anguille et le saumon de remonter les cours d’eau. Quelles actions ont été menés dans le Maine pour rétablir les populations de poissons afin de permettre la reprise de l’économie liée a la pêche?

Observing this list, it seems that the French list deals with more detail and complete view of the environmental and societal impacts of climate change while the American list deals with more emotion and provides only the most basic account of the impacts. I wonder if this is because of a different population education level in France, or because of a more open mindset there, in large part because of their differently oriented government?

I believe that one thing that could help our environment against climate is to support organizations that works on trying to find ways of producing clean energy opportunities. By supporting those organizations with both emotionally and financially I believe we would go far. In terms of what I could do personally to seek that we become better educated in the affairs of climate change I think I would start by using the recycling bins for actual papers and not other things.