Climate change is change in regional patterns of weather especially change due to the increase in atmospheric temperatures. Climate change would mean that cold areas become colder while warm areas become warmer over time. Various scientific studies show that human activities which lead to the production and release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere are among some of the leading causes of climate change. The released carbon dioxide forms a thermal layer that traps hit from the sun and prevents it from escaping from the atmosphere, through a mechanism known as the greenhouse effect. The trapped heat can have a broad range of implications on the ecosystem. Climate change will lead to long-term shifts in the world climatic condition and severity of associated impacts. However, there also are the anti-climate-change proponents who believe that climate change does not exist and is just some piece of propaganda. This paper discusses both the pro- and anti- climate change arguments and gives a conclusive stand about climate change.
Discussion
Groups with the opposing viewpoints towards climate change have advanced various anti-climate change arguments to prove that indeed climate change does not exist. In doing that, they have argued five reasons why global warming could be a hoax. First, they claim that since 1997, there have never been any significant and prolonged changes in temperatures (Whitehouse, 2016). Several years after 1997, there has never been any discernible temperature change to warrant a climate change. Technically, it means that the temperature rise has paused for a much longer period that the temperatures took to show a significant rise (1980 -1990). From 1997, the world stopped getting warmer, and the temperatures have experienced a plateau for a very long time. What is more, before 1997, the temperatures had been either steady or declining for about 40 years.
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Second, the there is no enough historical data available to proof that indeed climate change has been taking place. Among the scientist, there is no global consensus regarding the phenomenon. Over the past, scientists have gathered to debate the empirical evidence of global warming. However, there has never been a consensus concerning the global warming. In fact, according to the American Policy Roundtable, (n.d) more than 17,000 scientists appended their signatures on petition which circulated by the Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine. The petition claims that there is no substantial scientific proof that anthropogenic activities which cause both willfully and un-willfully the emission of carbon and methane lead to, or in the near future, will result in increased heating of the atmosphere - Global Warming.
Third, since 2012, the Arctic ice has increased by approximately 50% disapproving the pro-global warming claims that the ice in the Arctic would melt. Core measurements of the Arctic Circle show that there has been an increased volume of the ice in the Arctic cycle since 2012 (Gillis, 2013). The evidence contradicts the pro-climate change scientist’s version that there is global warming and thus the ice caps will continuously melt. Also, pictures taken from space show increase in volumes of ice caps covering the Arctic region. The evidence contradicts the pro-climates change argument that human activities such as emissions of both methane and carbon II oxide into the atmosphere cause the greenhouse effect trapping heat from escaping the atmosphere leading to global warming. According to proponents, global warming encourages the melting the ice in the Arctic.
The fourth anti-climate change argument is that the climate models used by the pro-climate change arguments are not accurate. For example, the climate models predicted that the ice caps in the Arctic would melt, however, the ice caps are increasing in volumes (Gillis, 2013). Also, the climate models predicted a rise in the temperatures of the atmosphere while the temperatures have stagnated close to over the past two decades. There has never been an increase in the atmospheric temperatures since 1997. The weak and false models for climate change prediction make the pro-climate change arguments weak. Consequently, it is becoming difficult for people to believe that there could be climate change.
The fifth anti-climate change argument is that the early predictions by the scientists about the climate change effects have been proven wrong over time. Climate change advocates made predictions on the adverse impacts that would result from the climate change. As such, they pointed towards dates that certain impacts would be witnessed. However, the years have come and gone while the predictions made have not become a reality. For instance, the Likes of Al Gore predicted that the ice caps in the Arctic Cycle would be depleted from the heat of global warming by 2013. To date, the ice caps are still increasing in volume which raises the question about the validity of claims about climate change. Moreover, the change in the ice caps has become positive, the exact opposite of the claims of the pro-climate arguments.
However, the pro-climate change advocates argue that indeed climate change is a reality and a lot can be pointed towards the same as evidence of climate change. The supporting viewpoints for climate change base their support on the interpretations the changing levels of gasses in the atmosphere as well as shifts in the ocean. However, their primary evidence of climate change can be drawn from what is seen to precede the rise in temperatures. It is because an increase in temperature is something that is easily documentable. As such, the changes, as well as the effects of the greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere to the environment, are key to providing a convincing evidence of climate change.
Firstly, due to the effect of climate change, there has been a rise in sea levels. In many areas of the world, people are witnessing the rise in sea levels. The rise is partly but not wholly credited to the melting ice caps. However, a lot of the increase in the sea levels can be attributed to the fluctuations in the gasses dissolved in the seas. Over the past decade, the world sea levels have witnessed an increment doubling the levels (Easterbrook, 2011). In the last century alone, the sea levels rose by 6.7 inches. This is a higher trend compared to the 1.6mm per year that the seas rose in the 20 th century.
The second primary evidence that can be attributed to climate change is the rise in the earth’s average temperatures. The global temperatures have been rising over the past century, and the rise continues to date. Tracking the global temperatures since the 1800s, scientists have pointed out at a steady increase in the 70s a lull over the 90s and a return in the rise of atmospheric temperatures in the 2000s. For those arguing that there has never been any discerning change since 1997, there is a sensible increase in the temperatures in the 2000s following the lull witnessed in the 1990s. It is therefore not certain to argue that the lull in the after 1997 period is enough to claim that there will be no more rise in the atmospheric temperatures (Easterbrook, 2011). That is just but one of those plateaus in the temperature curve.
Additionally, the greenhouse gasses emitted by human activities have been increasingly trapped in the atmosphere creating a thick layer that prevents heat from escaping. Also, the oceans and seas are absorbing the heat. The temperatures of the oceans have witnessed a sharp rise since 1969. The temperatures raise is also partly the reason why the sea levels are rising.
Also, the glaciers are shrinking. The glacier and ice caps on various mountains on the earth have been shrinking over the past (The Royal Society & National Academy of Sciences, 2014). Mountains like the Antarctica and Greenland glaciers have been decreasing in size thanks to the reduction of the gasses that are used to maintain the temperatures as well as the changes in the region's climatic conditions. Between 2000 and 2006, the studies conducted by NASA’s Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment have exhibited a loss of ice on the Greenland ranging from 36 -60 miles of ice caps every other year.
Moreover, there has been ocean acidification. All over the world, the acid levels of the oceans have been increasing as seen in the lowering of the PH of the oceans. The rise in the oceanic acidity can be attributed to the increased emission of gasses like sulfur and methane into the atmosphere which gets dissolved in the oceans. The net effect is increasing algae blooms, mass death of aquatic life like fishes and a resultant change in the oceanic chemical composition. Conclusion
The climate change debate has become a hot button issue pitting the anti and pro climate change advocates against one another. However, having keenly looked and analyzed both arguments, it is evident that the primary causes of climate change can be witnessed to date in real life. Indeed the sea levels are rising, the glaciers are melting, and the atmospheric temperatures are on the rise, and the ocean temperatures as well. The primary evidence also has a connectedness to human activities such as industrial pollution, vehicle emissions among others. The proof of climate change cannot be overstated. Following the above, I cannot agree more that indeed climate change is real and the pieces of evidence can point towards the same.
References
American Policy Roundtable, (n.d). 8 Arguments against global warming . Retrieved from http://www.aproundtable.org/tps30info/globalwarmup.html
Easterbrook, D. J. (2011). Evidence-based climate science: Data opposing CO2 emissions as the primary source of global warming . Amsterdam: Elsevier.
Gillis J. (2013, September 20). Arctic Ice Makes Comeback From Record Low, but Long-Term Decline May Continue. New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/21/science/earth/arctic-ice-makes-comeback-from-record-low-but-long-term-decline-may-continue.html?_r=0
The Royal Society & National Academy of Sciences. (2014). Climate Change: Evidence and Causes . National Academies Press
Whitehouse, D. (2016, February 26). A new paper in a prestigious journal proves a 15-year hiatus in global warming. Why is it being ignored? The Spectator. Retrieved from http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2016/02/the-global-warming-hiatus-is-real-so-why-dont-we-hear-about-it/
