Is climate change real?

To date, the debate on the role of human activity in global warming remains a matter of contention. It catches the interest of multiple celebrities. The advocates of the narrative contend that global warming is one of the greatest threats in the world today and is happening at an unprecedented pace. The numerical proof is used to justify and deny the theory. Despite the fact that most of those who reject the narrative suggests that global warming is a swindle, there are those who accept that it is actually taking place. Both supporters and critics of the issue are using empirical evidence to contradict and affirm the hypothesis. Those backing the theory suggest that humans are responsible for it while those that refute it suggest that human activities do not have any influence on the variation of global temperatures.

For those that support the claim, if the world does not take necessary measures to curb it, the planet will lose its life-supporting aspect and turn out to be uninhabitable in the long-run. Adaptation entails embracing approaches that can protect the world’s flora and fauna. People must consider reducing global warming and adapt to the effects that have already come. For opponents, global warming is a swindle and it is essential for people to cease from paying attention and using incorrect scientific information that is biased towards suiting their needs. To them, nature cannot be manipulated by man. It is nature that decides on what to nurture and what to make extinct. Generally, to the opponents, the assertion that climate change is merely propaganda geared towards fulfilling political scores.

How the Narrative Influences my World View

The narrative has enabled me to understand that global warming is a controversial topic that attracts attention of people from different political divides. I have concluded that politicians can utilize scientific narratives to settle their scores. Nevertheless, I have understood that ideas that are presented by scientific research can face a significant opposition with the help of the same scientific models. I have also learned not to jump into conclusion presented by scientists because it is possible for other scientists to come up with a counterargument that justifies the contrary. Those opposed to global warming narrative are businesspeople that are driven by a desire to earn more money through industrial production.

What Research says about Global Warming

Proponents

The earth has increased its retention of the heat since the beginning of industrialization. The current climate change is attributed to human activities that began in the industrial age in the 20th century. There is evidence that the average temperature of that has increased by 0.80 Celsius over the 20th century (Somero, 2012). More so, the reduction in the ability to make conventional predictions of weather is a significant proof for disturbance of the atmosphere that has been caused by global warming. Scientists collect information about climate changes using satellites orbiting around the earth, as well as analysis of rocks and sediments in oceans to measure global warming. The rise in sea levels around the world is a significant proof that global warming is real. Ice caps and glaciers are melting, and gaseous contents in the sea are changing rapidly. One of the pieces of evidence for the same is the continuous melting of ice cores in Iceland and Greenland, as well as mountain glaciers. Other ancient evidence for global warming is obtained from analysis of tree rings, sedimentary rock layers, and coral reefs. The sediments of the particles reveal information about air contents at the time of their deposition (Archer, 2012). The data is collected over a significant period of time and analysed to reveal information about a change of climate over centuries.

It can be argued that human activities are responsible for the rise in temperatures. For example, the industrialization that has prevailed in the world is associated with the emission of carbon gases as a result of excessive use of fossil fuels. The accumulation of greenhouse gases triggers global warming. Scientific experiments have also revealed that indeed Carbon (IV) Oxide has the potential of trapping and retaining heat. The potential of Carbon (IV) oxide to trap solar and terrestrial heat was collected in the mid 19ht century. More specifically, the gas influences the transfer of infrared energy. The recent evidence reveals that the current global warming takes place ten times faster than the ancient one.

There are studies that indicate the last decade’s average rise in sea level is double than of the 20th century which 1.6 mm per year. In the last century, the global sea levels rose by 6.7 inches (Janin & Mandia, 2012). Glaciers of several mountains ranges, especially in the Antarctica and Greenland, are also declining at an alarming rate. What is more, the increase in the number of motor vehicles and industries that emit Carbon (IV) Oxide has been linked with the rise in the average level of sea temperature over a short duration. It is perceived by the proponents that the trapped heat in the atmosphere is eventually absorbed by oceans. The chemical composition of water is changing leading to algae blooms and mass death of fish. The level of ocean acidity is also on the rise, and it is attributed to increase in harmful gases in the atmosphere by human activities.

Opponents

To those that argue against the notion that global warming is caused by greenhouse gases, global warming indeed takes place, but it is not a continuous process and neither is it primarily caused by human activities as claimed by their counterparts. According to them, most of the climate changes are attributed to the revolution of the earth around the sun and its rotation on its orbit. They cite studies indicating that the amount of radiation that reaches the earth’s surface is responsible for global warming. More specifically, the variation solar rays reaching the surface of the earth as the earth rotates on its orbit changes the amount of energy reaching the atmosphere. When more energy reaches the atmosphere, the earth is likely to be warmer and vice versa. More so, they cite variations in the global cloud cover and cosmic radiation as the main determinants of the amount of heat that the Earth retains.

The anti-global warming individuals also refute their counterparts’ account of atmospheric CO2 contents and polar ice caps and glacier melting as the evidence to support the global warming narrative. According to them, for the last 5,000 years, the world has experienced glacial advances and retreats (Grove, 2013). According to them, CO2 was deficient in the past, but global warming took place. There is also evidence that some medieval periods were warmer than the present, hence, human activities cannot be solely blamed for causing global warming. They also argue that volcanoes are the leading emitters of CO2 and not human activities; hence, scientists must minimize blame on activities that take place in the world as the leading causes of global warming. However, most of the refutations have been proved to be faulty and misleading because of lack of correlation in the opponent’s sets of evidence against the global warming narrative

The opponents also claim that the climate change notion is blatantly hypocritical and laughable because of weather changes yearly which makes it hard to ascertain whether indeed the world is changing. For example, many parts of the world continue to suffer from cold and snowstorms, hurricanes and droughts. Some even claim that the temperature of the earth is dropping rather than rising. Temperature has not changed significantly since 1997. The rise began in 1975 and continued to 1997 before the level leveled off (Ollier, 2013). The flat temperature rate in the last 17 years is a significant indicator that temperature change is unreal. The opponents also argue that arctic ice rose by half in 2012 alone. The rise is sufficient evidence that global warming does not increase gradually as opposed to the proponent notion that ice and glaciers are melting. The younger generation is forced to buy into the scare tactic introduction of carbon taxes will translate to a slippery slope where aspects of life that involve energy consumption will be controlled by governments.

Others argue that the models employed in calculation and prediction of climate changes are flawed, for example, dates in which climate change events were predicted to happen passed with the events happening, a situation which implies that the allegations about climate change are false and meaningless. It is crucial to differentiate between climate and weather. Anti-global warming people also argue that historical data that is available is not sufficient to prove that temperature change is true. Some have cited the research that involved 31,000 environmental science specialists around the world that failed to reach a consensus about the reality of global warming narrative. The researchers ascertained that there is lack of long-term historical data about climate, hence, revealing inaccuracy about some of the data used to describe climate variations.

How the Research Has Enabled me to Change the Perspective about the Topic

With this research, I have learned that global warming is a topic that is significantly more complex than I thought before. Despite both proponents and opponents agree that it is indeed taking place, the opponents have proved that the warming varies with time. Apparently, the warming requires a multidimensional study to establish the real causes of global warming. More so, the idea that global warming is causing melting of ice caps and raising sea levels has changed. The opponents have enabled me to understand that the melting of ice caps and mountain glaciers that is used as the main evidence for global warming is not correlated with the increase in emission of greenhouse gases. The lack of correlation between the causes and effects of global warming raises questions about common blame for human activities as the only cause of the gradual rise in the average global temperatures.

References

Archer, D. (2012). Global warming: understanding the forecast. John Wiley & Sons.

Grove, J. M. (2013). Little Ice Ages Vol2 Ed2 (Vol. 2). Routledge

Janin, H., & Mandia, S. A. (2012). Rising sea levels: an introduction to cause and impact. McFarland.

Ollier, C. (2013). Global warming and climate change: science and politics. Quaestiones Geographicae, 32(1), 61-66.

Somero, G. N. (2012). The physiology of global change: linking patterns to mechanisms. Annual Review of Marine Science, 4, 39-61.