Global warming

There are some of us out there, that still doubt that man has any effect whatsoever on the Earth's climate. I know these people exist because my roommate is an example of one.

I will start off by saying this:

• Climate change happens (Fact).
• Climate change has always happened and will continue to happen (Fact).
• The Earth has been much cooler in the past and much warmer in the past (Fact).

Graph of climate changes since Pleistocene time based on Vostok ice cores; source: UNEP


A cursory glance at the original graphs of Vostok ice cores and you will note that they only go to 1950. Afterwards they are supplemented by observations. Looking up to the end of the graphs on the left, one could easily say that we are in a warm period, nothing special is happening. If you observe the previous 4 high temperature peaks, they are just that: peaks. Around 1950 it's a plateau. Temperatures are not decreasing as they should.

Observations of the graphs on the right, show that arouond 1850 CO2 and Global mean temperature variations shoot upwards at a rate which is astoundingly high.

But wait, the Confederate Yankee claims that "The highest temperatures, as recorded via the chemical record of deep-core Greenland glaciers, were during the height of the Roman Empire. Obviously, this was due to Nero's fiddling while Rome burned fossil fuels."


We then go on to extoll the virtues of the actual stability of the climate over the last 90,000 years.

This is somewhat silly to say based on the fact that over the last 90,000 years we have had countless glacial and interglacial periods, which have been quite pronounced. Another thing to note is that this graph doesn't actually make it to 2000. This is a condensed portion of the ice core graph above that only goes to 1950. It does not include the data gathered over the past 60 years showing a rapid upswing in global temperatures. The temperature shown, based on UNEP data, should be 3/4 to 1 degree higher, that would put current temperatures at the top of or off of the chart there. Exceeding Nero's fiddle playing fossil fuel extravaganza.

Also when you compare to oxygen isotope ratios (see below), that temperatures now are higher than they have been. Also, there is a marked downward trend until roughly the 1850s, followed by a steep increase.

Also, the presumptions made in the preparation of the document that the Confederate Yankee are based on a one page document by Richard S. Courtney DipPhil in which he states:

• There is no correlation between (greenhouse gases) and global temperature.

Are you kidding me? CO2, Methane, and other greenhouse gases ALL show a direct correlation with global temperatures. The corellation in some cases is delayed as the cause needs to pre-date the effect.

• Change to global carbon dioxide concentration is observed to follow change to global temperature at all scales.

Duh. So perhaps cranking billions of tons of it into the atmosphere is a bad idea.

• Recent rise in global temperature has not been induced by rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide

Yes it has. See above UNEP plot.

• Same as previous

Same as previous

• The pattern of atmospheric warming predicted by the (anthropogenic global warming) theory is absent.

It is? Could have fooled me.

At any rate, the earth is warmer than it has been. We're currently in a pretty warm period of the Earth's history already. However, I don't believe you can refute the evidence that pumping greenhouse gases like CO2 into the atmosphere is exacerbating an already existing system. Not only are we increasing the amount of CO2 into the atmosphere, but by deforestation for agriculture, lumber harvesting and other practices, we are actually decreasing the planet's ability to remove the excess CO2.

The following chart is a ratio of O18/O16 plotted versus time. An increasing ratio (More O18), indicates cooler tempeatures and a decreasing ratio (Less O18) indicates warmer. This shows a similar pattern to all the others. Look at T=0 though. It shoots off the chart, and indicates far warmer temperatures than in past peaks over the past 1000 years.

O18 ratios are slightly better indicators of global temperature because they rely on the temperature of ocean water. Since the majority of the planet is covered by water.

But as my friend so aptly put it: "(Global warming) misses the point of the whole eco movement." If everyone lived the way we do in North America, there would be no debate on whether the "Global Warming" phenomenon is anthropogenic. It would be obvious that it is. We would all also likely asphyxiate from the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere. Short of that we would run out of food and natural resources very quickly. Not to mention the mounds of garbage with nowhere to go.

Whatever you believe on the issue, we do need to develop sustainable alterantives to our current lifestyles. This includes using less fossil fuel, designing more eco-friendly materials, chemicals, and solvents. More efficient infrastructure and means of travel. Because in the end we do have to live here, and so do our children and their children. It is not fair to them to give them a world of asthma, emphysema, lung and other cancers, CPD, and other breathing disorders, rivers and oceans too polluted to swim or fish in, and land and groundwater too contaminated to grow food or to get drinking water from.

I'm not saying we should all go live in trees. But we do need to do our part at reducing our impact on the world around us. Because we have to live here, as do future generations.