In case I haven’t made it clear before — I believe in global warming. I believe it is partly a warming cycle in earth’s history and partly a result of man’s presence on earth. (Yes, even those committed to treading lightly have footprints.) However you assign the cause/blame, though, I don’t see how anyone can doubt that it is happening. Our glaciers and ice caps are melting, and sea levels are rising around the world. The melting ice is changing the salinity of the oceans (and hence the currents), the reflectivity of the planet, and the temperature of our atmosphere. Our climate is changing.
I’m not going to argue that Hurricane Sandy was a direct result of global warming because I don’t know. I don’t think a single incident proves much of anything. But it does does add another bit of evidence to the emerging picture of a warming atmosphere. Skeptics can deride the science all they want. They can talk about numbers being fudged, contrary research being suppressed, and misdeeds and intrigue in the scientific community. After all, figures can lie and liars can figure, right?
So rather than try to defend all the science, I’m suggesting people just use their eyes. There’s a mountain of photographic evidence showing that over many, many years, the planet’s ice is disappearing. Ignore it as “just” a natural warming cycle if you want, but keep in mind that cycles in earth’s history can last for tens of thousands of years. You’d best not assume you and your descendants can just ride this one out.
If you don’t want to look up all the photos and videos available online, maybe you should go see Chasing Ice. I understand it’s a visually stunningly film. And it was made by a man who was a climate change skeptic until a National Geographic assignment sent him to the Arctic and he saw for himself what was happening.
For more about the film, visit the Chasing Ice website.
Related articles:
- Sea Level Rise Caused Predominantly By Melting Glaciers (greenerideal.com)
- Chasing Ice: Compelling, Powerful–and I Hope, Influential (switchboard.nrdc.org)
- Warming temperatures will change Greenland’s face, experts predict (sciencedaily.com)
- Climate change requires leadership (dailyfreeman.com)
- 5 Ways Rapid Warming Is Changing the Arctic (livescience.com)
- New study shows Sandy a climate game-changer (mnn.com)
- Global warming: Sea level going up, up up … (summitcountyvoice.com)
- Global warming: Sea level rising faster than expected (summitcountyvoice.com)
- Chasing Ice: Following the Scientist Who Follows Global Warming (seattleweekly.com)
A picture is worth a thousand words. Stunning: visually and in message
Hope it stuns some of the skeptics …
Incredible trailer PT. I became a climate change convert years ago and I’m amazed at how many people still refuse to acknowledge ever mounting evidence. They’ll go all out over some lunatic’s superstitious end-of-the-world “prophecy,” but they turn a blind eye to a real-world pending disaster they can actually do something about…
Well, it is kind of hard to see all those convincing images when you have your head in the sand (or in some other place where the sun don’t shine) …
PT, after reading Jim’s comment below, I have to wonder: what is the radius of the world view from where the sun don’t shine? 😉
😆 Very, very small, I imagine. In keeping with the size of the accompanying brain.
How can people think that we’re NOT doing anything to the earth. How???
Beats me. From the moment a human being exhales his first lungful of air, complete with its added carbon dioxide, he begins affecting the earth.
Depends on a person’s world view. Some people’s world view has a radius of about 8 feet, and others, the poets among us, feel viscerally about the implications the intellect delivers. Has nothing to do with religion, which is dogma, it’s more about the size of one’s tribe. Some people’s tribes are exceedingly small, and others? The human race.
Jim, that was incredibly well said! 😀
I think the size of my tribe varies with my mood and the issue at hand.
The discussion is about excessive amounts of carbon dioxide accumulating in the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide mixed with sunlight results in “smog.” Those who think global warming is nonexistent perhaps will choke to death on a street corner as they debate the mounting scientific evidence that they are wrong.
The sad thing is I seem to recall as far back as the ’60s scientists were talking about this and how we’d reach a tipping point after which we wouldn’t be able reduce our emissions fast enough to make a difference.
I’ve always imagined the deniers drowning in their fancy beach front homes as sea level rises and engulfs them. But that was before Sandy. Maybe Sandy will be the turning point.