This is Our Earth

Today is Blog Action Day, and as a result, I thought I'd educate myself on global warming. I'm a little ashamed that I haven't gotten around to doing this earlier. Of course the wiki article on global warming was interesting, as were a few of the other sites, but the most helpful site was fightglobalwarming.com, which puts everything in a simple language for anyone just learning about global warming (or rather, human-caused climate change).

Look, I'm not asking you to just out-and-out believe whatever I say, here. Look into this stuff yourself if you want. That's your choice. But don't throw me some crap like, "Well I heard [this or that myth], and so we don't have to worry about global warming." That's crap. If you're not going to just take my word for it, that doesn't mean just take the opposing word for it, either. Look into this stuff. Scientists around the world aren't involved in some global conspiracy to "trick" us all into thinking that humans are creating a problem in warming the global climate. Oh my God! Scientists are evil! They want us to put less pollution into the air! How dare they!

Let me tell you a little about the scientific method. You could write a full essay on the scientific method, and maybe I'll write a blog on it one day, but now I'm only giving you a quick lesson. The way science works isn't by an appeal to authority; "so-and-so said it so it's true." No, not at all. It's by reviewing evidence and coming to a general consensus that such-and-such explanation is likely. It's objective and every explanation is questioned. Nothing is certain and scientists don't unanimously agree on something unless there are mountains of evidence to back it up. So when every major scientific society and academy of science-- as well as almost every single individual scientist-- agrees that human-caused CO₂ emissions are creating a devastating problem for the earth's climate, well, maybe we should take a listen.

Some of you don't want to listen so easily. You've heard some "fact" (read: myth) about global warming and so you decide that it's not worth bothering to look into. Thanks to fightglobalwarming.com, I'm going to address a few of those myths, but feel free to check out this page in case I haven't listed a "fact" (read: myth) that you've heard yourself (I'm only covering a few, here).

MYTH

The science of global warming is too uncertain to act on.

FACT

There is no debate among scientists about the basic facts of global warming.

The most respected scientific bodies have stated unequivocally that global warming is occurring, and people are causing it by burning fossil fuels (like coal, oil and natural gas) and cutting down forests. The U.S. National Academy of Sciences, which in 2005 the White House called "the gold standard of objective scientific assessment," issued a joint statement with 10 other National Academies of Science saying "the scientific understanding of climate change is now sufficiently clear to justify nations taking prompt action. It is vital that all nations identify cost-effective steps that they can take now, to contribute to substantial and long-term reduction in net global greenhouse gas emissions." (Joint Statement of Science Academies: Global Response to Climate Change [PDF], 2005)

The only debate in the science community about global warming is about how much and how fast warming will continue as a result of heat-trapping emissions. Scientists have given a clear warning about global warming, and we have more than enough facts — about causes and fixes — to implement solutions right now.

MYTH

Global warming is just part of a natural cycle. The Arctic has warmed up in the past.

FACT

The global warming we are experiencing is not natural. People are causing it.

People are causing global warming by burning fossil fuels (like oil, coal and natural gas) and cutting down forests. Scientists have shown that these activities are pumping far more CO₂ into the atmosphere than was ever released in hundreds of thousands of years. This buildup of CO₂ is the biggest cause of global warming. Since 1895, scientists have known that CO₂ and other greenhouse gases trap heat and warm the earth. As the warming has intensified over the past three decades, scientific scrutiny has increased along with it. Scientists have considered and ruled out other, natural explanations such as sunlight, volcanic eruptions and cosmic rays. (IPCC 2001)

Though natural amounts of CO₂ have varied from 180 to 300 parts per million (ppm), today's CO₂ levels are around 380 ppm. That's 25% more than the highest natural levels over the past 650,000 years. Increased CO₂ levels have contributed to periods of higher average temperatures throughout that long record. (Boden, Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center)

As for previous Arctic warming, it is true that there were stretches of warm periods over the Arctic earlier in the 20th century. The limited records available for that time period indicate that the warmth did not affect as many areas or persist from year to year as much as the current warmth. But that episode, however warm it was, is not relevant to the issue at hand. Why? For one, a brief regional trend does not discount a longer global phenomenon.

We know that the planet has been warming over the past several decades and Arctic ice has been melting persistently. And unlike the earlier periods of Arctic warmth, there is no expectation that the current upward trend in Arctic temperatures will reverse; the rising concentrations of greenhouse gases will prevent that from happening.

MYTH

Recent cold winters and cool summers don’t feel like global warming to me.

FACT

While different pockets of the country have experienced some cold winters here and there, the overall trend is warmer winters.

Measurements show that over the last century the Earth’s climate has warmed overall, in all seasons, and in most regions. Climate skeptics mislead the public when they claim that the winter of 2003–2004 was the coldest ever in the northeastern United States. That winter was only the 33rd coldest in the region since records began in 1896. Furthermore, a single year of cold weather in one region of the globe is not an indication of a trend in the global climate, which refers to a long-term average over the entire planet.

MYTH

Accurate
weather predictions a few days in advance are hard to come by. Why on
earth should we have confidence in climate projections decades from now?

FACT

Climate prediction is fundamentally different from weather prediction, just as climate is different from weather.

It
is often more difficult to make an accurate weather forecast than a
climate prediction. The accuracy of weather forecasting is critically
dependent upon being able to exactly and comprehensively characterize
the present state of the global atmosphere. Climate prediction relies
on other, longer ranging factors. For instance, we might not know if it
will be below freezing on a specific December day in New England, but
we know from our understanding of the region's climate that the
temperatures during the month will generally be low. Similarly, climate
tells us that Seattle and London tend to be rainy, Florida and southern
California are usually warm, and the Southwest is often dry and hot.

Today’s
climate models can now reproduce the observed global average climates
over the past century and beyond. Such findings have reinforced
scientist’s confidence in the capacity of models to produce reliable
projections of future climate. Current climate assessments typically
consider the results from a range of models and scenarios for future
heat-trapping emissions in order to identify the most likely range for
future climatic change.

Again, remember that all of this is according to scientists. Not some crackpot on the street. These people aren't alarmists, and they aren't trying to swindle you out of your money, or your life. You can plug your ears and go, "No, no, NO!" but that isn't going to make this problem magically disappear. Human-caused climate change is not in debate among scientists. When it comes to global warming, the only thing in debate among the scientific community are details concerning the exact effects of global warming in the future and other minor details including its cause. Scientists agree that human pollution, including CO₂ emissions, is causing a huge problem for us.

Want to help? Click here to find out what you can do.

As a final note, here is wiki's article about the Kyoto Protocol, and here is an article about the United States' hesitation to ratify it. Enjoy, and be nice to the Earth-- or it won't be nice to you (and trust me, the Earth will kick our behinds without a second thought).


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