A year ago when I had to write a college essay about a global issue that concerned me, I first chose global warming. Halfway through my first draft I abandoned the topic because I thought to myself, well, it’s sort of a clichéd topic. At that time it didn’t occur to me how desensitized I had become to this issue.

But, upon reading Elizabeth Rosenthal’s article,“Where did Global Warming Go?,” I felt that my choice to switch topics because global warming had been “overdone,” exemplified her point. Ms. Rosenthal points out how just a few short years ago, politicians and celebrities were discussing the issue everywhere. But in recent times, due to the recession, the public’s priorities have shifted and consequently, the politicians have moved on. The public perception on global warming is perhaps a bit jaded as it is not a pressing issue now like the economy is.

This is not to say that the recession is not a problem or that everyone has lost interest and become careless. Many organizations are taking initiatives to cut back their carbon footprint and there are still environmental activists who are fighting for this cause. But, it is true that the majority of people don’t give this any thought in their everyday lives. When the issue comes up during political debates, it is discussed in a perfunctory manner and quickly set aside.

This could be very dangerous as global warming hasn’t slowed down the way our interest has. Thus, the “problem” with global warming these days is not that it is happening – we have already discovered that – the problem now is the apathetic attitude that most people have adopted. Ms. Rosenthal brings to light a very important concern.