global warning part 4 or climate change discussion enters the ludicrous stage

 

enlightened conflict think

“Never argue with stupid people, they will drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience.”

Mark Twain

==

 

So.

 

 

If you had asked me in 2010 when I wrote about climate change if we would still be debating climate change 5 years later I would have said “are you crazy? .. no way.”

 

 

<links to my 2010 ‘global warning parts 1, 2 & 3 are below>

Good thing I didn’t bet any money.

 

 

There is still crazy debate over <a> whether there is truly any climate change occurring and <b> the role of people with regard to any change.

 

climate change writing

In whatever articulate brilliance I could sum up in 2010 I was able to express my overall point of view on climate change in USAToday:

 

 

—-

<in 2010>

I just wrote something for USA Today because I finally got fed up with all the ignorant people writing in every time there is a big snowstorm about “so, where are all the global warming people now!”

I have kept my mouth shut for a very long time reading all the global warming “quips” every time it snows … but I have had it.

What I said (approximately):

First.

I am a skeptic.

The data is confusing, the experts are confusing, and the issues are confusing.

Second.

It’s too bad the entire issue got stuck with global warming. It’s climate change. Or maybe just water warming. (see glaciers melting as proof – ignore climate data)

Third.

(and most important to what I keep reading about the snow)

Global warming is not about every place becoming warmer it is about changing weather patterns. Larger swings in weather activity (colder and warmer). It is foolish to link the phrase ‘warming’ to “more snow today.” it is quite possible your weather pattern translates into a stronger drought somewhere in Africa or torrential downpours in South America or whatever.

————————

Anyway.

All the ongoing debate seems to suggest we don’t understand that avoiding the problem doesn’t solve it.

 

 

Regardless.

 

 

 

Why is this ongoing ‘debate’ now verging on ludicrous?

 

 

Well.

 

 

Suffice it to say a survey of thousands of peer-reviewed papers in scientific journals has found 97.1% <now I believe it is over 98%> agreed that climate change is caused <in some degree or another> by human activity.

Climate Consensus AndResistance2

 

At minimum they agree humans contribute to climate change.

 

 

Suffice it to say the survey findings reflect a near unanimity.

 

 

And you would tend to believe this provides a powerful rebuttal to climate contrarians <often called “deniers”> who continue to insist the science of climate change remains unsettled <or they simply focus on ‘not all people agree’ as their argument>.

 

 

 

Look.

 

 

The survey considered the work of some 29,000 scientists published in 11,994 academic papers and only 0.7%, or 83, of those articles disputed the scientific consensus that human activity contributes to climate change.

 

 

All one can truly conclude if you have even one iota of common sense is … well …. this:

 

 

==

“Our findings prove that there is a strong scientific agreement about the cause of climate change, despite public perceptions to the contrary.”

John Cook of the University of Queensland

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hope versus positive thinking

Look.

 

 

At some point it would seem fairly rational to concede that some pretty smart people who truly have a reputation to maintain <so they cannot all be ‘bought’ by some liberal agenda or corporate money> have reached a close enough total agreement that it is ‘truth’ and maybe we should move on to the next phase.

 

 

Uhm.

 

The next phase? That would actually be doing something.

 

 

In the end.

 

 

Be cynical if you want.

 

Be skeptical if you want.

 

But, please, be reasonable.

===

(Quote from AndrewofBrooklyn, 2009)

It is true, as the skeptics like to point out, that long-term climate modeling remains an inexact science. Some environmentalists hurt their cause by leaping to blame every extreme weather event on global warming.

And a changing climate produces winners as well as losers.

But climate scientists are 95% to 100% sure that human activity — emission of greenhouse gases — is the dominant cause of dramatic warming. That warming is already raising sea levels, acidifying oceans, melting glaciers and intensifying heat waves, downpours, droughts and wildfires.

==

 

 

That’s it.

 

 

I am slightly disgusted, certainly disappointed, that we continue to debate & discuss the wrong things.

 

 

It is time that we begin to use our best weapon, knowledge, and look for a solution that is practical and safe.

 

It will take a lot of work and it will not be easy … but I am confident we will find it <once we actually get aligned and get going>.

thinker thumbtack

 

 

———— Addendum ————

 

 

I added this because the newest ‘climate change denier’ attack is on Antarctic sea ice. I added it to show that while many may try the “it goes against common sense” argument … scientifically multiple data points tell a story and not just one factoid.

smart kid point
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2014 is set to be one of the hottest years on record.

This comes at a time when Arctic summer sea ice melted to its sixth-lowest extent this year: 1.9m square miles. 2012 still holds the record, with just 1.32m square miles of sea ice by the summer’s end.

At roughly the same time, Antarctic winter sea ice hit a record high of 7.76m square miles. This seeming contradiction in polar ice conditions has armed the arguments of global warming deniers: while the climate might be changing, the results at a global scale seem to be “evening out”, right? If the total amount of ice on the planet’s surface remains the same, does it really matter where it is?

The short answer is yes.

More sea ice around Antarctica does not make up for less in the Arctic Ocean.

christmas ice

==

How is Arctic sea ice different from Antarctic sea ice?

The Arctic consists of an ocean surrounded relatively closely by land, while Antarctica is the inverse: a polar continent ringed by a massive sea, the Southern Ocean.

Around Antarctica, however, sea ice conditions have historically been more changeable because there is no land blocking the ice from spreading out across the Southern Ocean and encountering warmer winds and waters around its edges.

“It’s like the difference between a room and a wall,” says Ted Scambos, a lead scientist with the US National Snow and Ice Data Center.

“In the Antarctic there’s one wall, but in the Arctic there’s four walls” surrounding the Arctic Ocean.

Before human-propelled climate change began to warm the Arctic, the summer and winter extents of Arctic sea ice were fairly consistent from year to year, and a good deal of Arctic sea ice would endure over multiple years to form a resilient, year-round layer of ice over the ocean, helping to keep temperatures cool.

That has changed in the past decade.

While more than half the Arctic ice pack used to be multi-year ice, says Julienne Stroeve, a research scientist at the US National Snow and Ice Data Center, “after 2007 and 2012, big ice loss years, about 70% of the ice pack was first-year, and the rest multi-year.

“In 2013, less than 5% of Arctic sea ice was five years or older,” Stroeve says. “In 1980s-90s, 20% or more was five years or older.”

What’s causing the unusual decrease in Arctic sea ice?

Climate change is increasing temperatures in the world’s far north at a faster rate than in lower latitudes (an effect sometimes called “Arctic amplification”). Over the past half-century, average temperatures in the contiguous 48 US states have increased by an average of 1.7F (1C) above historic norms, while those across Alaska have gone up an average of 3.4F(2C) year-round, and 6.3F(4C) in winter.

<source: The Vital Signs platform>

SmartBaby answer

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some semi-smart things I have said about climate change:

https://brucemctague.com/global-warning-part-1

https://brucemctague.com/global-warning-part-2

https://brucemctague.com/global-warning-the-proof-part-3

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