Fri, 12-27

7 SIMPLE PROOFS OF CLIMATE CHANGE (Part 1) 7 ways to shut down a climate change denier; Comprehensive rebuttals to contrarians' pseudo-scientific explanations why global warming is just a myth (continued below)

John Rennie, December 18, 2013 (Scientific American)

[Challenge 1:] "...Anthropogenic CO2 can’t be changing climate, because CO2 is only a trace gas in the atmosphere and the amount produced by humans is dwarfed by the amount from volcanoes and other natural sources. Water vapor is by far the most important greenhouse gas, so changes in CO2 are irrelevant..." -- "...[Even at] 0.04 percent of the atmosphere], CO2 absorbs infrared radiation and acts as a greenhouse gas…[H]uman activity is by far the largest contributor…more than 130 times as much as volcanoes produce…95 percent of the releases of CO2 to the atmosphere are natural…[but they] pull the gas back out of the atmosphere and almost precisely offset them…[H]uman additions [are] a net surplus…As the temperature rises, more water vapor enters the atmosphere and multiplies CO2′s greenhouse effect…"

[Challenge 2:] "...The alleged “hockey stick” graph of temperatures over the past 1,600 years has been disproved. It doesn’t even acknowledge the existence of a “medieval warm period” around 1000 A.D. that was hotter than today is. Therefore, global warming is a myth..." -- "...[A] new research paper by Mann and his colleagues seems to confirm that the Medieval Warm Period and the ‘Little Ice Age’ between 1400 and 1700 were both caused by shifts in solar radiance and other natural factors that do not seem to be happening today…[and] the recent rapid rise in CO2 explains the current episode of warming more credibly than any natural factor does…[and] no natural factor seems poised to offset further warming in the years ahead…” click here for more

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7 SIMPLE PROOFS OF CLIMATE CHANGE (Part 2) 7 ways to shut down a climate change denier; Comprehensive rebuttals to contrarians' pseudo-scientific explanations why global warming is just a myth (continued below)

John Rennie, December 18, 2013 (Scientific American)

Challenge 3: "...Global warming stopped a decade ago; Earth has been cooling since then..." -- "...Given the extended duration of the warming trend…a decade’s worth of mild interruption is too small a deviation to prove a break in the pattern…[E]xperts found no true temperature declines over time…"

[Challenge 4:] "...The sun or cosmic rays are much more likely to be the real causes of global warming..." -- "...Astronomical phenomena are obvious natural factors to consider…because those seem to have been major drivers of the ice ages and other climate changes before the rise of industrial civilization…[But] there is insufficient evidence that enough extra solar energy is reaching our planet to account for the observed rise in global temperatures…[And] the effect of CO2 and the other greenhouse gases…amplify the sun’s warming…[T]here do not seem to be clear long-term trends in the cosmic ray influxes or in the clouds that they are suppose to form…[and they do] not explain (as greenhouse explanations do) some of the observed patterns in how the world is getting warmer…” click here for more

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7 SIMPLE PROOFS OF CLIMATE CHANGE (Part 3) 7 ways to shut down a climate change denier; Comprehensive rebuttals to contrarians' pseudo-scientific explanations why global warming is just a myth (continued below)

John Rennie, December 18, 2013 (Scientific American)

[Challenge 5:] "...Climatologists conspire to hide the truth about global warming by locking away their data. Their so-called “consensus” on global warming is scientifically irrelevant because science isn’t settled by popularity..." -- "...It is virtually impossible to disprove accusations of giant global conspiracies to those already convinced of them…[but] the magnitude of this hypothetical conspiracy would need to encompass many thousands of uncontroversial publications and respected scientists from around the world…If there were a massive conspiracy to defraud the world on climate (and to what end?), surely the thousands of e-mails and other files stolen from the University of East Anglia’s Climatic Research Unit and distributed by hackers on November 20 would bear proof of it. So far, however, none has emerged…What is missing is any clear indication of a widespread attempt to falsify and coordinate findings on a scale that could hold together a global cabal or significantly distort the record on climate change..."

[Challenge 6:] "...Climatologists have a vested interest in raising the alarm because it brings them money and prestige…" -- "...If climate scientists are angling for more money by hyping fears of climate change, they are not doing so very effectively…Climatologists’ funding therefore stayed almost flat while others, including those in industry, benefited handsomely…” click here for more

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7 SIMPLE PROOFS OF CLIMATE CHANGE (Part 4) 7 ways to shut down a climate change denier; Comprehensive rebuttals to contrarians' pseudo-scientific explanations why global warming is just a myth (concluded)

John Rennie, December 18, 2013 (Scientific American)

Challenge 7: "...Technological fixes, such as inventing energy sources that don’t produce CO2 or geoengineering the climate, would be more affordable, prudent ways to address climate change than reducing our carbon footprint…" -- "...[T]echnological innovations in energy efficiency, conservation and production are exactly what caps or levies on CO2 are meant to encourage…The longer that we wait for technology alone to reduce CO2, the faster we will need for those solutions to pull CO2 out of the air to minimize the warming problems. Minimizing the scope of the challenge by restricting the accumulation of CO2 only makes sense…[And] climate change is not the only environmental crisis posed by elevated CO2: it also makes the oceans acidic, which could have irreversibly harmful effects on coral reefs and other marine life. Only the immediate mitigation of CO2 release can contain those losses…[C]ounting on future technological developments to solve climate change rather than engaging…by all available means, including regulatory ones, seems like the height of irresponsibility. But then again, responsible action on climate change is what the contrarians seem most interested in denying.” click here for more

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