Misconceptions of Global Climate Change

A misconception is defined as a view or opinion that is found to be not true because of flawed thinking or understanding of a certain subject. With any subject information gets distorted and misconceptions form around that said subject and global warming is not excluded from this. For example there is a widely held misconception that global warming causes every place on our world to rise in temperature each year. This while seems like it would be the case is just factually false. While global warming does cause global temperatures to rise on average this does not mean that in every location temperatures are rising some stay the same others may even fall. Another misconception is that the earth’s climate varies over time so what we are just seeing now is just a part of a natural cycle. While it is true that earth does have a natural cycle were temperatures have fluctuated it is not true that the dramatic warming we are seeing now is just a part of a natural system. In the past global temperatures have fluctuated slowly and where only caused by natural events such as high volcanic activity. Since the industrial revolution we have been the main source of green house gas emissions. Recent ice core data has proven that today we have the highest carbon dioxide levels in recent geologic history (the last 650,000 years). Yet another misconception is that global warming is caused by the hole in the ozone layer. People think that the hole in the ozone layer lets in radiation, which warms the earth. The truth of the matter is the depletion of ozone in our atmosphere does let in more UV light but this is not an important factor leading to increased temperatures. Finally the misconception that the atmosphere is so large and CO2 in such a small overall percentage that humans aren’t producing enough CO2 to induce global warming. It is true that our atmosphere is large and that the majority of gases found in it are not green house gases. But at the same time it is also true that the majority of those same gases do not hold the potential to trap heat like green house gases do. This means that even a relatively small percentage of green house gases can lead to the earth warming.

For more global warming misconceptions/ where I found this information check out: 

Common Misconceptions about Climate and Climate Change
10 Common Misconceptions About Global Warming

Effects of Boiling

So what will happen if global warming is true and continues to persist; global unrest, extreme temperature changes, other terrible things, the end of all mankind or just a slight temperature rise that will make the Earth more balmy? Well for starters we would see a lot if not all of the factors that I mentioned about in my last post exacerbated: temperature rise, melting of snow & ice reserves, extreme weather events etc. The predicted temperature on Earth is predicted to rise 2 to 11.5 degrees Fahrenheit by 2100 depending on our level of greenhouse gas emissions according to National Research Council. In addition to this by the same date the global average temperature is expected to double the previous century’s temperature rise. With this increased temperature comes a massive increase in the melt of snow and sea ice. The NRC published in it’s 2011 paper Climate Stabilization Targets: Emissions, Concentrations, and Impacts over Decades to Millennia that every time the Earth warms 2 degrees Fahrenheit about 15 percent decrease of the existing sea ice and a 25 percent decrease in the summer Arctic sea ice. Which has given way for reliable models to put 2040 as the earliest possible date for the Arctic to be ice-free during the summer. The melting of all these snow and ice reserves will cause the worlds oceans to rise considerably. The USGCRP 2009 report Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States estimates a 2-foot rise in the global sea level by the end of the century.  This will displace millions upon millions of people around the world especially those in developing nations. All of these changes would lead to mass die offs of plant and animal life across the globe not to mention making it harder and more uncomfortable for humans to live. Ultimately if we do not curb global warming in a moderate to large fashion our children and our children’s, children will be growing up in a much harsher world with a lot more problems that we could have ever foreseen a couple of decades ago.

The Evidence

In 2007 the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which was run by the United Nations, stated in a report “Scientific evidence for warming of the climate system is unequivocal.” So how did the vast majority of scientists and scientific bodies come to this conclusion? For one temperature has been rising globally since the late 1800’s, the NOAA, CRU, and NASA have backed up this assertion when they reconstructed the Earths global surface temperature. Secondly the major ice reserves all across the globe are decreasing year to year. The Arctic sea ices area in which it inhabits and its overall depth has decreased abruptly in the past several decades (L. Polyak, et. a 2009). Furthermore the World Glacier Monitoring Service has recorded glacial retreat from both coastal and mountain glaciers all across the globe. Another reason is the sea level is rising 17 centimeters in the last 100 years of which the rate is steadily increasing says John Church and Neil White in the 2006 book Geophysical Research Letters. Lastly scientists cite extreme weather events as evidence for global warming. NASA has tracked the number of record high temperature events and number of record low temperature events across the United States and has seen that the prior has been increasing over the last couple of decades while the later has been decreasing. They have also documented the number of severe rainfall events and have shown those to be increasing as well. To sum this all up when they compared all this information with a graph showing the global Co2 concentrations since the 1800’s they found a clear relationship showing that as CO2 concentrations increased so did all these facets (temp, global ice melt, severe weather events, ext.)

Is Global Warming Even A Issue?

Global Warming has been argued about over on radio, in schools, on capital hill, as well as a plethora of television shows but it seems a good portion of the population as well as some of the people talking about global warming don’t even really know what it is. To start off with global warming is exactly what it sounds like the earths overall atmospheric temperature increasing. Some say that this even isn’t occurring that the Earth is staying the same temperature some even go as far to say it is cooling. Now for those who believe there is warming they are generally two main schools of thought. One that global warming is caused by natural processes and has nothing to do with humans. Two that the Earth’s warming is caused anthropogenically through the creation and dispersal of green house gases and other pollutants into the atmosphere. But what is the truth of the matter are we as humans going to boil our little blue dot. Well according to just about every scientist and scientific body global warming is caused undoubtedly by man and it is going to be a very big problem for us and all the life inhabiting the Earth in the near or somewhat near future. A study done in 2013 by Cook states that 97% of climate scientists say this is true. While NASA and NATO as well as most developed countries have come out saying global warming is true and our fault. So now it seems that global warming is most likely at least given the amount of information we have today true. This blog will dive into why scientists think global warming is true, what problems global warming will cause if true, and alternative explanations to why global warming isn’t caused by man or isn’t happening at all.