quietlife.net

global warming is real

01 Jan 2006

Dear bloggers (Mark is my token example, but the rest of you know who you are) that make annoying sarcastic posts about global warming not existing because of one point of data in one place that was colder,

Global warming is real. The globe really is warming. Making snide posts about England’s cold winter, or record cold temperatures in Boise or whatever doesn’t refute this fact – it only makes you look silly. Certainly it’s debatable whether or not this recent warming is outside the realm of normal global cycles at all, and if so, whether or not human CO2/sulphate aerosols/etc are affecting it. What’s not debatable is that the planet is warming up.

Claiming that global warming is not real because England had a cold winter makes no more sense than claiming it does because it’s currently 65F on January 1st in Nashville. We have this thing called Science that can be employed to help us figure this sort of thing out.

The partisan idiocy in the global warming debate could really use a makeover because it’s getting quite silly. Here is some advice for talking point modifications for both sides:

  • Republicans/conservatives/capitalists: Global warming really is happening. You can be opposed to the idea that human intervention is causing global warming without ignoring the solid empirical evidence of global warming itself.
  • Democrats/liberals/environmentalists: Global warming really is happening, but not every record high in the weather forecast is validation of the human destruction of the planet at the hands of evil oil-hungry capitalist polluters.

The debate is complicated, but it’s nonetheless still pretty interesting without dumbing it down and ignoring science. Further reading:

Go forth and educate.