The Complicated History of Climate Change
We all know that climate change and rising sea levels are bag; but I also find it super difficult to hold educated and well thought out discussions with climate change deniers. The reason being I usually find myself to regurgitating whatever I hear on the news or from environmental activists on Instagram and Facebook without fact checking the information for myself. I started to ask myself, how can I call myself an environmental activists, without fully understanding both sides of the climate change debate. The answer is, you can’t. You can’t possibly educate, inspire, or motivate someone to care about our planet, if you don’t fully understand how our planet is actually dying.
Since I do not have a degree in biology, environmental science, or anything surrounding these topics, I have started to instill the help of friends who do. This has forced me to ask more questions, explore both sides of the debate, and be able to find more well-researched scientific papers that have concrete evidence to back up my statements.
Did you know that, climate change deniers believe because of the extreme temperature patterns that our planet has endured in the past from events like the the Ice Age, that the global warming of our planet is natural and there is nothing we could do to help stabilize the global and regional climate patterns? Most environmental bloggers and social media influencers usually explain climate change deniers as ignorant people who don’t give a shit about our planet and think that landfills aren’t a problem. According to many researchers and scientists, our planet needs to go through periods of warming and cooling for it to continue creating new animals, plants, and ecosystems. The problem is that a million years ago when our planet encountered extreme temperatures like these, that the planet wasn’t filled with millions of people. Many would even go as far to say that the human population isn’t meant to live on this planet forever. When we finally become extinct, another type of animal will take our place. (Check out more information on both sides at ProandCon.com.) No matter how bullshit you might think this information is, it is important to educate yourself and understand that there is scientific research to back up both theories.
Many of you might still be asking me, so why is it important to educate yourself on both sides of the debate. No matter how much we like to believe that we can and should only surround ourselves with likeminded individuals. You will probably encounter people who don’t believe that climate change is an issue. No matter how many times you want to yell and scream at them, it’s important to understand that change doesn't come from anger. Exploring the other side of the argument forces you to ask more questions and encourages you to explore the topic more than you haven’t before. So, when you do speak with climate change deniers you are also able to offer them various articles and resources that have been well researched and they are able to respect your opinons more than the might have if you just yelled and screamed at them about what the news says. The more well researched and though out discussions we have with climate change deniers, the more likely they are to educate themselves and hopefully begin to understand that humans do play a significant role in the outcome of our planet. This is especially important if you have a friend, family member, or someone else in your life that you have to be around on a daily basis.
Most people believe in climate change, think that the term originated in the mid to late 20th century when scientists and researchers started to see a change in global and regional climate patterns that were attributed largely to the increased levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide produced by the use of fossil fuels. Along with the fossil fuels, we are also cutting down more trees, dumping more oil and plastic into our oceans, and using up more of our natural resources without thinking about the negative side effects. As a result, many scientists and environmental activists have begun to spam the media with talks about how we are causing for our climate to warm as such high levels that when we we endure an increase in the melting of polar ice caps, extreme weather patterns, wildfires, hurricanes, snow storms, and so much more.
However, did you know that the term Climate Change goes all the way back to the 1800’s. In 1896 to be specific, Swedish scientist Svante Arrhenius was the first to suggest that fossil fuel combustion may eventually result in enhanced global warming. Before plastic, factory farms, and oil spills had become daily news, Arrhenius had already known that the use of fossil fuels would cause severe issues for our planet. He and Thomas Chamberlin calculated that human activities could warm the earth by adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. This research was a by-product of research that was being conducted on whether carbon dioxide would explain the causes of the great Ice Ages. However, it has been said that this wasn't verified until 1987.
Unfortunately, after these discoveries, the topic of climate change wasn’t talked about for a long time. It was during this time that many thought that human influences were insignificant compared to natural forces, something that many still believe today. It was also believed that the oceans were great carbon sinks that they would automatically cancel out our pollution. I don’t believe that many feel like this is true anymore, however as I have explained before, there are many people do deny climate change as it is seen as a natural force that we can’t do anything to prevent from occurring. Despite all of our fossil fuels limitation, our planet will continue to get warmer and warmer because that’s what mother nature has planned for us.
In the 1940’s, there were developments in infrared spectroscopy that measured long-wave radiation. At the time, it was proven that increasing the amount of atmospheric carbon dioxide resulted in more absorption and warm up the planet. It was also discovered that water vapor adsorbed totally different types of radiation than carbon dioxide. In 1955, Gilbert Plass concluded that adding more carbon dioxide to the atmosphere would actually trap the infrared radiation that was getting reflected off the earth’s surface and back out into space. In the 1950’s and early 60’s, Charles Keeling used the most modern technologies to produce concentration curves for atmospheric CO2 in Antarctica and Mauna Loa in Hawaii. These curves have become one of the major icons of global warming. They showed a downward trend of global annual temperature from the 1940’s to the 70’s. At the same time ocean sediment research revealed that there has been no less than 32 cold-warm cycles in the last 2.5 million years. As a result, many began to fear that the development of a new ice age might be near. Many believed that the media and scientists ignored the date of the 50’s and 60’s in favor of global cooling.
In the 1980’s, it was acknowledged that the climate was warmer than any period since 1880. The greenhouse effect theory was named and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was founded by the United Nations Environmental Programme and the World Meteorological Organization. People began to question the theory of an upcoming ice age, especially in the late 80’s when the curves began to increase so steeply that the global warming theory became headline news. Environmental NGO’s started to advocate global environmental protection to prevent further warming. The press gained an interest in the topic of global warming. However, it seems like nothing has really changed.
In the 90’s, many scientists started to question the greenhouse effect theory, because of some uncertainties in the data and model outcomes. Cooling trends were not explained by the global warming data and satellites showed completely different temperatures recorded from the initial ones. The idea began to grow that global warming models had overestimated the warming trend of the past 100 years. Currently, this idea is being widely debated by scientists, politicians, and people all around the world. It seems that as long as we have evidence to show that the warming of our climate is normal, there will continue to be debate around this subject. Despite wanting everyone to believe that our planet is dying and we need to save it.
However, you don’t have to believe in climate change in order to make a difference for our planet and actually combat the negative effects of climate change. The majority of people (even climate change deniers), believe that trash in the oceans are terrible because it is killing thousands of animals each year. By limiting yours and others’ trash, you are not buying into the production of more plastic and fossil fuels. Thus decreasing the amount of fossil fuels that are warming up our planet. I have found that best way to get people to care more about the planet, is to find common ground with them. By talking about an area of environmentalism that the person does believe in, you are actually able to get them to do more than for our planet than you might think. This allows you to feel better about your impact that you have on others and the future of our planet!
Here are a list of websites that will be more helpful in your research on Climate Change and the ever evolving debate.
http://www.climatedebatedaily.com/
https://www.livescience.com/16388-climate-change-debate-man-nature.html