We may be ants on an anthill but the fact is we burn fossil fuels at a stupendous rate, equalling about 1/3 of what naturally transitions between the atmosphere and ocean. Not insignificant by any means.
I'm from a different upbringing - my late dad was a well-respected astrophysicist, wrote a ground-breaking paper on cosmic rays in the 1950s, was a contributor to the NASA Voyager missions of the '70s and happen to have presented a few lectures on climate change during retirement. He explained the basics to me and having been exposed to the techniques of science during my seven years at university chasing an engineering degree, I'm entirely confident our scientists are telling it exactly like it is.
In an understated style, scientists describe their findings in words suited for the critical eye of other scientists. It's not neatly marketed and packaged for the general public like a new underarm deodorant. When they say they are 95% sure, you know darn well they are 100% sure but can only reveal the actual statistical confidence level.
As for the Earth's climate changing throughout it's history - sure it did, but that doesn't mean it was good for life forms. Only over many tens of thousands of years has it stabilized sufficiently for life forms to evolve and succeed to what we know today.
It's the greenhouse effect of CO2 and numerous other "greenhouse" gases that are wreaking havoc with the heat balance of the atmosphere. That in turn warms and increases the equilibrium levels of CO2 in the ocean, allowing more CO2 in the atmosphere and continuing the cycle. Stuff in the ground that slowly absorbed CO2 over a hundred-million years has been mined and turned back into CO2 gas in a relative instant. And it's not just the fault of fossil fuels either, it's methane from cows and other rotting vegetation and lack of CO2 absorption due to deforestation. Unfortunately, all mostly due to stuff humans have done to survive and progress.
You might suggest this has happened before due to natural events such as hugh comets hitting the Earth - sure it has, and 10 thousand years later the climate settled down again. Are you willing to wait it out?
For myself, the amazing thing is that the predictions are appearing to becoming true in my lifetime, something I didn't expect. The polar vortex and floods in the UK are all part of the same weather disturbance due to arctic warming, to say nothing of dozens of other unusual weather events. But, it's not statistically significant to scientists until we have seen 30 years of similar data. Are you good with waiting for the final answer, even though anyone with a common sense of self-preservation would run for cover?
You can say "climate change is good for us." It might be ... where I live we will get Mediterranean-like grape-growing weather with occasional droughts. Sounds great! Are you happy with the predictions pertaining to the part of the world where you and your offspring live? One thing for sure, we will all get far more variable weather than we have ever seen before.
After relying on science to bring us the computer to our desks to easily express our views, I have to wonder if people now don't want to believe the science because they think their "toys" will be taken away. Yeah, I don't want to give up my car either but really the true power behind denial comes entirely from oil money, not from any actual "truth." If you are part of that, good luck to you but I'll bet most of you are not.
We all know that like the frog in the slowly-warming water that doesn't realized he's being boiled, nothing will even get done about this. Politicians are only interested in their own careers and yet we blindly vote them in for the short term, then rely on them to guide us for the long term. All we can really do is adapt and that means more conflict and war as we battle over the one resource that is the most difficult to transport, that is - water.
I'm from a different upbringing - my late dad was a well-respected astrophysicist, wrote a ground-breaking paper on cosmic rays in the 1950s, was a contributor to the NASA Voyager missions of the '70s and happen to have presented a few lectures on climate change during retirement. He explained the basics to me and having been exposed to the techniques of science during my seven years at university chasing an engineering degree, I'm entirely confident our scientists are telling it exactly like it is.
In an understated style, scientists describe their findings in words suited for the critical eye of other scientists. It's not neatly marketed and packaged for the general public like a new underarm deodorant. When they say they are 95% sure, you know darn well they are 100% sure but can only reveal the actual statistical confidence level.
As for the Earth's climate changing throughout it's history - sure it did, but that doesn't mean it was good for life forms. Only over many tens of thousands of years has it stabilized sufficiently for life forms to evolve and succeed to what we know today.
It's the greenhouse effect of CO2 and numerous other "greenhouse" gases that are wreaking havoc with the heat balance of the atmosphere. That in turn warms and increases the equilibrium levels of CO2 in the ocean, allowing more CO2 in the atmosphere and continuing the cycle. Stuff in the ground that slowly absorbed CO2 over a hundred-million years has been mined and turned back into CO2 gas in a relative instant. And it's not just the fault of fossil fuels either, it's methane from cows and other rotting vegetation and lack of CO2 absorption due to deforestation. Unfortunately, all mostly due to stuff humans have done to survive and progress.
You might suggest this has happened before due to natural events such as hugh comets hitting the Earth - sure it has, and 10 thousand years later the climate settled down again. Are you willing to wait it out?
For myself, the amazing thing is that the predictions are appearing to becoming true in my lifetime, something I didn't expect. The polar vortex and floods in the UK are all part of the same weather disturbance due to arctic warming, to say nothing of dozens of other unusual weather events. But, it's not statistically significant to scientists until we have seen 30 years of similar data. Are you good with waiting for the final answer, even though anyone with a common sense of self-preservation would run for cover?
You can say "climate change is good for us." It might be ... where I live we will get Mediterranean-like grape-growing weather with occasional droughts. Sounds great! Are you happy with the predictions pertaining to the part of the world where you and your offspring live? One thing for sure, we will all get far more variable weather than we have ever seen before.
After relying on science to bring us the computer to our desks to easily express our views, I have to wonder if people now don't want to believe the science because they think their "toys" will be taken away. Yeah, I don't want to give up my car either but really the true power behind denial comes entirely from oil money, not from any actual "truth." If you are part of that, good luck to you but I'll bet most of you are not.
We all know that like the frog in the slowly-warming water that doesn't realized he's being boiled, nothing will even get done about this. Politicians are only interested in their own careers and yet we blindly vote them in for the short term, then rely on them to guide us for the long term. All we can really do is adapt and that means more conflict and war as we battle over the one resource that is the most difficult to transport, that is - water.