Willful deniability

Walking On Thin Ice With Our Eyes Closed And Mind Shut; Doomsday Is Here!

Yasmin Tandon, AIS Pushp Vihar, X A

Reports suggest that climate change might be the most serious yet ignored issue of our time. For those who still don’t know, climate change refers to the change in global or regional climate patterns. It is scientifically proven (clearly doesn’t mean much these days), as are its effects which will only worsen unless we take immediate action to prevent this. There are several people who deny its existence (because who knows this might go away), these people are known as the ‘climate change deniers’.
Contrary to popular belief, these people do not have a strong argument for denying something even scientists agree on. In their defense, “climate has changed before,” and of course we are inclined to agree, the Ice Age was indeed a great time for humans, wasn’t it? Their second justification (excuse really) is “carbon dioxide is necessary for plants,” which, if you think about, is right; only, we have already cut down most of them now so there are not enough trees or forests left to balance out the high carbon dioxide content in the environment.
Of course, there are some legit studies too. For instance, this one study by Stanford scientists, which states that the Equilibrium Climate Sensitivity (ECS) or the increase in Earth’s surface temperature, when the amount of CO2 is doubled is quite low. Meaning, the planet will warm relatively slowly in response to carbon pollution. This argument was easily countered, when they were reminded that earth’s response to this ‘slight’ warm up is even more melted ice and increased water vapours aka greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. It is like a sad cycle of burning up our mother nature. Gradually and brutally looks like instead of Greta, these climate change deniers need to go back to school.
Some deniers also suggested that clouds will successfully prevent climate change, as they have a cooling effect on earth; they have the ability to block light and heat from the sun. Too bad they missed that these very clouds, also warm up the temperature. It is funny how these people pick up one scientific fact to prove their belief right, only to ignore the other. Scientists have also said that over the time, due to earth heating up, there will be less and less clouds left to cool down the earth. So, you see no matter what genius theory any of us come up with, the bottom line is that due to our own activities over decades, earth’s defenses have become so weak that they cannot help us.
So, why even after all these scientific proofs, some people refuse to believe that climate change is real? Psychologically speaking, climate change deniers are generally those who have system justifying tendencies or conservatives because climate change having negative effects means something’s wrong with the system and that is not possible. Also, the environment-friendly alternatives to the causes of this phenomenon (like fossil fuels to name one) are expensive and also inconvenient. And why choose to save your planet when you can simply go into denial, save your money and live a comfortable and luscious life?

Organic’lly working

The Anatomy Of A GT Editorial Team

Shyla Basu, AIS PV, X F

As the editors gathered for the edit meet once again, the striking parallelism between the GT team and the anatomy of a body led to a moment of epiphany. A body cannot work without the systematic functioning of all organs. Similarly, in the backdrop of an exemplary edition, are the members of the edit team working in perfect harmony, each one as important as the other.

Anatomical organ: The brain
GT equivalent: Mentors
The indisputable ‘control centre’ of a body is the brain and of GT is its mentors. They provide logic to every function and moderate the working of each part. Their presence is integral to our newspaper.

Anatomical organ: The heart
GT equivalent: Writers
Pumping blood into our body, heart is what keeps the body alive. The same can be said for words, as thousands and thousands of them are stringed together by the writers to infuse life into those 12 pages.

Anatomical organ: The eyes
GT equivalent: Photographers
These wanderers work just like a camera, the light entering through the cornea giving us the ability to see. The lens behind on autofocus, zooming in on the approaching objects. Just like our photographers who skilfully capture stories with one picture.

Anatomical organ: The hands
GT equivalent: Illustrators
Just like in life, hands are often used to make gestures that words can’t express. The fingers of the artists dance gracefully on the canvas or on the screen as they tap them lightly to create a masterpiece for the viewers.

Anatomical organ: The skin
GT equivalent: Editor-in-chief
Just like the way our skin covers the body and protects us from outworldly damages, the editor-in-chief is the glue keeping the members close and shouldering the responsibility of their mistakes.

Anatomical organ: The blood
GT equivalent: Readers
Blood provides oxygen to the cells just like our readers who keep the GT newspaper going  by showering it with all their love and appreciation.

Raining cats &dogs

Animal Testing, Animal Testing, 1,2,3...

Tanya Talwar, AIS PV, XI G

Disclaimer: The following conversation is taking place in the lab of a renowned scientist, Erwin Schrödinger. Even though these two experiments happened decades ago, let’s assume for the sake of this article, that Ivan Pavlov and Erwin Schrödinger were scientific buddies who let their dog and cat hangout together once in a while!
The flask lay open, toppling with its curved edges twirling around until it dripped its poison onto the crooked counter. The radioactive material was laying asunder, the only clue leading to the culprit being a paw print on the Geiger–Müller counter. The paw prints created a trail leading to a room where a cat dramatically lay dead
“Stop being so catty, I know you’re not dead,” barked a voice.
“Oh, what would you know? The prolonged exposure to unstable radiation has made me mentally unstable,” the cat said, flicking a paw. “Also, just because you are better swimmers than us, doesn’t mean that you start wearing a snorkelling tube on land to rub it in our faces,” it said pointing at the tubes attached to the dog’s mouth.
“The radiation has affected your brain cells. This tube is to collect my saliva so that Pavlov can prove the existence of classical conditioning. See, you’re not the only victim here,” the dog smirked.
“Huh! at least you get free food. Mine locks me up with a lethal substance. They call me Schrödinger’s cat now. Talk about objectification!” meowed the cat.
The dog simply glared at the cat  and the cat scoffed. “I know I’ve been insulting you a lot, but I have to give credit where it’s due. Your sufferings are for the cause of humanity. Pavlov is simply trying to teach people that their behaviours are not just a result of their core nature, rather a consequence of the things they’ve learned in life! Schrödinger is torturing me to prove that no theory in science is right or wrong until proven. A lawyer could have told him that!” the cat scoffed.
“Oh, and you think I’m having a fun time. He keeps me tied up half of the day, not wanting to miss any of my responses to food. My mouth is starting to hurt from salivating and eating so much,” whined the dog.
Suddenly, the cat’s bell around its neck jiggled, and the dog’s ears perked up, “Food! Where is my food?” it barked.
A snort escaped the cat’s mouth, as it said, “This is my personal bell you idiot, not the one Pavlov uses when bringing you food. Go ask your human about this sensory association, I think Dr Schrödinger is coming back soon.”