Why Care about Global Warming?
Why do people deny global warming in the face of scientific evidence? What does the scientific evidence say about global warming? Curious, I did some research to find out.
The first thing I found is that the global climate is constantly changing in cycles of warming and cooling.
Due to the tilt of the earth during our annual trip around the sun, we have seasonal changes. That’s how we can have a snow storm on the east coast while people can fry an egg on the sidewalk in South America.
Climate change also cycles about every 11 years. The cycle matches up somewhat to sun spot activity according to temperature and tree ring data collected over the last 60 years. The amount of change is small, only about 2 ½ degrees.
Ice core and geologic samples show cycles of warming and cooling about every 21,000 years due to a wobble in the earth’s spin on its axis. The last cycle was called the “medieval warming period” followed by the “little ice age.” We have a major ice age about every 100,000.
So, there is no global warming right? It’s all a climate change cycle that will eventually get cooler again, right? Wrong.
Since 1900, average global temperatures have risen steadily to such a point that it is warmer today than any temperature in earth’s history. We are now living in a climate like none ever seen on earth.
From this scientific data, scientists must draw conclusions. What is the cause of this unprecedented global warming? Two trends match up with this historic rise in temperature. One increase is in the levels of “greenhouse gasses” like carbon and methane. This correlation between temperature and greenhouse gasses also matches rises and falls throughout earth’s history. So, scientists conclude that greenhouse gas levels affect climate change.
Another trend that matches global temperatures and greenhouse gas levels rising is the amount of industrial activity by humans in the last 100 years and the pollution that accompanied it. The Industrial Revolution started around 1900, about the time these increases started. These levels of temperature and greenhouse gasses have risen even faster in the last 25 years. The old climate change pattern will no longer apply unless we change our behavior.
What do these facts and conclusions mean for the future? If this trend continues, scientists predict global temperatures could rise 2 to 11 degrees by the end of the century. Big deal. Our air conditioners will help us adapt to that little change, right? Wrong again. Nature is very complex, and subtle changes can have catastrophic effects. The ice caps would melt away, global sea levels would rise up to 20 feet, beaches would be underwater, and Florida would disappear.
Scientists do not agree unanimously on the conclusions about global warming, and they shouldn’t. Scientists never completely agree because it is part of their job to be skeptical in order to find flaws in each other’s data and conclusions. In doing so, they make the scientific research stronger. That skepticism should not be seen as evidence against global warming. A great number of scientists, especially climatologists, and a great amount of scientific data do agree that the earth is warming because of human-caused pollution.
The global warming deniers do not offer scientific evidence that has withstood the scrutiny of scientists. Instead, they use hot, accusatory words like “hoax,” “conspiracy,” and “alarmism.” Instead of rebutting the scientific facts with their own facts, they instead deny there is any truth about global warming. In debate, you use this technique of accusing and namecalling when you don’t have the facts to back up your argument.
In trying to solve the problem, the debate of global warming has been pulled from the scientific arena to the political one. Unfortunately, political truth is simply whatever someone claims is truth, despite the facts. To find a solution to the problem of global warming, we must first accept that there is a problem. Polluting is NOT OK. 
Some businesses make their money from cheap fossil fuels. The hidden cost that they don’t see on their balance sheets is the price the environment is paying for their profits. It is a price that all of us will pay sooner or later. A solution will have to come. It will not be easy, and it will not be cheap.
There are things you and I can do to help. We can act locally. We can drive more fuel efficient cars. We can make our homes more fuel efficient. We can recycle what waste we can. We can stop pollution and tell others to do so, too. It’s time we took responsibility for the environmental mess we have caused.
; ?>/widget_images/flickr.png)
Flickr/jsigler; ?>/widget_images/twitter.png)
Twitter/jsigler; ?>/widget_images/youtube.png)
YouTube/jsigler; ?>/widget_images/delicious.png)
Diigo/jsigler; ?>/widget_images/gmail.png)
GMail/James Sigler; ?>/widget_images/blog.png)
Blog/James Sigler
Lunarpages web hosting