Arguing with those who deny global warming can be frustrating… (they tend to be older and conservative) So how do you convince them?
Well you start with the facts.
“Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of the facts and evidence” -John Adams
If you are going to objectively look at the evidence, start with the scientists (97% of climate experts agree human activity is a significant contributing factor in changing mean global temperatures)
The climate experts also agree:
- It is “very likely” — a 90 percent chance or better — that burning fossil fuels caused unnatural temperature increases over the last half-century.
- Temperatures are likely to rise from 2 to 11.5 degrees by 2100. (The world has warmed about 9 to 12 degrees since the depths of the last ice age 20,000 years ago.)
- Sea levels are likely to rise 7 to 23 inches by the end of the century, although an additional rise of 3.9 to 7.8 inches is possible.
- Oceans will keep growing more acidic.
- Arctic Sea ice will disappear by 2100.
- Desertlike conditions will expand in the Sahara, South Africa, and Mexico. In general, poor countries will take the worst direct hits.
- The number of hurricanes will decrease, but stronger storms are likely.
Sources: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change; University of Washington Climate Impacts Group; The Associated Press.
By the way if it snows randomly in Miami, that does not mean global warming is therefore debunked.
Seeing the effects of climate change via extreme sea ice loss (using time lapse photography) may help make the evidence that much more apparent. Extreme ice loss is the canary in the coal mine, folks.
See TED talks video below featuring some jaw-dropping images -Scientific Measurable Proof of global warming, (click ahead to the 9 minute mark, or the 7 minute mark if you want a quick overview of global warming science as well)
It is happening. We have a duty as Americans to acknowledge that fact and press our government to make the necessary changes.
Bottom line-pretending that global warming is a hoax drawn up by creator of the internet Al Gore is just plain silly- I mean the science isn’t new:
Here’s the NY Times’ Andrew Revkin on the video, and what it signifies:
The basic idea [of greenhouse gas-driven warming], of course, goes back more than a century, but the real number crunching started in the 1950s, and even drew the attention of the filmmaker Frank Capra, who produced a series of television programs on science (in the post-Sputnik days when science was a high priority), that included “The Unchained Goddess,” a remarkable 1958 film on weather and climate.
