Some things about climate change are simply facts, not subject to opinion, theory or debate. Before we start, read this article: American Petroleum Institute published misleading information on climate change as early as 1980.
- Carbon dioxide affects the atmosphere, in particular how much heat it retains. More CO2 in the atmosphere means more heat from the sun stays in the atmosphere, heat that otherwise would have dissipated into space. This is science that is as undeniable as gravity.
- The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is increasing, and has been for decades.
- Humans have (so far) extracted an estimated 500,000,000,000 barrels of oil, much of which has ended up in the atmosphere. Humans have also burnt absolutely massive amounts of wood and coal. The US burned over seven hundred million tons of coal in 2016 alone. All this burning obviously released huge, huge amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere.
- Ford has built enough F150s to circle the entire Earth, parked side by side.
- All scientific data shows the earth’s average temperatures are increasing.
- The amount of snow and ice on Greenland and Antarctica is fricking huge. Greenland has 660,000 square miles of ice, and Antarctica has almost ten times that amount.
- The amount of snow and ice in the Arctic, and on Greenland and Antarctic, is decreasing, melting. The melt rate is increasing.
- Glaciers around the world are in steep decline. Billions of people get their drinking water from glacial runoff.
- This one is not directly CC related, but FYI anyway: water tables which provide water for agriculture and drinking water are also in steep decline around the world, both in terms of quantity and quality of water.
- Rain around the world contains cancer-causing “forever” chemicals.
- The Earth has had periods of being warmer in the past than it is now. And sea levels were much higher during these periods than they are now.
The reason sea levels are not as high right now as back then is simple: the current warming has been so fast sea levels have not had a chance to catch up with temperatures (yet). - Around the world many major cities and towns are built near oceans, not much higher than sea level. A very large number of people live in these cities and towns.
- The melt from Greenland and Antarctic has the capacity to flood many coastal cities and towns. Not today or tomorrow, but within our children and grandchildren’s lifetimes.
- Every single climate scientist alive sees Climate Change as a major threat to humanity, except for those who are paid to say it isn’t a problem.
- Major oil companies have known about the possibility of Climate Change for decades and have been running disinformation campaigns to confuse the population.
- Coal companies have known about the possibility of Climate Change for decades, and they have fought environmental regulations every step of the way.
- Major car manufacturers, including GM, have known of the possibility of Climate Change for decades and choose to hide that information.
- Burning fuels is a major source of air pollution. Air pollution is a major cause of cancer and other health problems.
- For years the corporate media has given climate deniers a platform to spread their message almost unquestioned, often without disclosing that the so called “experts” were being paid to have a specific opinion. At the same time the media intentionally presented, and still presents, people who care about the environment in a negative light.
- Fighting climate change means doing things like switching to green energy, wasting less, polluting less, planting trees, etc. All awesome things that would benefit the planet and every living thing on it.
Those are the facts. Now let’s do a quick analysis, examining if CC is a threat or not, and if humans take action, or not, what would the results be:
Do we really want to run the risk of Climate Change being a big deal (it is) and not take action? Anyone with even the slightest understanding of risk management knows we must take action.
Venus, Earth and Mars
Earth is about 150 million miles from the sun, Venus 108 million and Mars 223 million. So Earth is roughly halfway in-between Venus and Mars, when measured from the Sun.
The average temperature on Venus is 464 degrees Celsius, on Mars minus 65. If the temperature of Earth was roughly halfway in-between Venus and Mars it would be 264 degrees Celsius!
So why is Earth’s average temperature only around 15C? It isn’t Earth that is out of whack: the hottest planet Venus (hotter than Mercury) has runaway global warming. If global warming takes off here it might eventually mean the end of life on Earth.
References
All of the above is common knowledge. Google for references.
Related:
Oceans warming faster than expected and here
New England Journal: 250,000 deaths annually due to rising temperatures, Greenland melt releasing methane
Antarctic ice melts to record low, Antarctic reaches record high of 64.9 Fahrenheit/18.3 Celsius, Melting Antarctic ice will raise sea level by 2.5 meters
Arctic thaw releasing massive amounts of methane
Arctic temperatures astonishingly warmer than they should be
Atmospheric heat-trapping gases reach new record high
Miami already has a $3 billion dollar climate change problem
Estimated half a billion animals die in Australian bush fires
Melt rate of North American glaciers accelerating
Ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica melting at worst-case scenario rates
12.5 billion tons of Greenland ice melts in one day (Aug. 1, 2019)
Earth lost 28 trillion tons of ice in the last 23 years
China’s remote glaciers (source of drinking water) melting at shocking pace
Top UK think tank spend decades undermining climate science
Fashion industry emits more carbon than international flights
11,000 scientist warn climate change will release “untold suffering”
Coal industry knew of the possibility of climate change decades ago
The switch to renewable energy would pay for itself in 6 years
Pacific Ocean becoming more acidic because of CO2, dissolving crab’s shells
Any hope of keeping Earth habitable now requires sucking CO2 out of the atmosphere
Don’t be an optimist. Optimism never accomplished anything and is just an excuse to be lazy.