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- #51
- Posted: 12/17/2012 17:56
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I didn't realise climate change deniers actually existed. I thought they were boogie men invented by the liberal mainstream media to stop people voting Republican.
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purple
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- #52
- Posted: 12/17/2012 18:23
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http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-repor...yr_spm.pdf
The above link is to the summary report from Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which won the Nobel Peace Prize for its work. It's relatively short and is in simple language.
It's important to recognize that climate change is at all times occurring. The fear of recent climate change is that humans are inducing the changes at a rate that will affect us significantly and negatively during the time humans are still on this planet. The key figure in the above report (figure 4) summarizes this powerfully.
A slightly unrelated but interesting piece of information is that geologists have begun to adopt the term "Anthropocene" for the most recent geologic age to reflect the influence humans have had on the earth's surface. This adoption is largely due to both our forcing on climate as well as our role as the most significant mass movers (we are practically building and destroying mountains) of the past couple millennia.
Also, "deniers of climate change" should not be too harshly frowned upon. Climate change is a news room buzzword that is poorly explained and has been adopted blindly by most people. For instance, in the '70s there was a global cooling scare (at least in the US). So, it is natural to be skeptical and I believe that all the misinformation among the public is due to an inability of scientists to convey their findings to the public. However, the above article does so very well.
For closing words, it is inappropriate to say you believe in climate change or don't believe in it because it is happening. If someone doesn't believe that apples exist, you look at them as a madman; the same analogy applies to climate change for the same reasons. Climate change is real, and the earth's atmosphere is warming. I doubt anyone alive today will experience the direst effects of climate change (i.e. negative impact on agriculture), but if we have any care for the species then we need to do something. Lastly, climate change has nothing to do with the core or mantle.
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RFNAPLES
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- #53
- Posted: 12/17/2012 18:49
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| purple wrote: | | The above link is to the summary report from Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which won the Nobel Peace Prize for its work. |
The Nobel Peace Prize 2007 was awarded jointly to Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and Albert Arnold (Al) Gore Jr. "for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change." Remember this is the same group that also awarded BO and the EU peace prizes!
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purple
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- #54
- Posted: 12/17/2012 19:12
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| RFNAPLES wrote: | | The Nobel Peace Prize 2007 was awarded jointly to Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and Albert Arnold (Al) Gore Jr. "for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change." Remember this is the same group that also awarded BO and the EU peace prizes! |
The controversies surrounding the prize have nothing to do with the science in the paper linked above. Classic evasion.
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RFNAPLES
Level 8
Gender: Male
Age: 75
Location: Durham, NC, USA
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purple
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- #56
- Posted: 12/17/2012 22:12
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| RFNAPLES wrote: | | Did you notice all of the couched language often in italics e.g. likely |
Did you notice how policymakers won't know what model validation statistics mean so they have to use words like likely. Language like that is actually considered a strong point of the paper. As I said before, the most important thing scientists do is communicate what they do effectively. If you're interested, you can find out all about their model calibration and validation through their other publications that have a technical target audience.
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RFNAPLES
Level 8
Gender: Male
Age: 75
Location: Durham, NC, USA
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RFNAPLES
Level 8
Gender: Male
Age: 75
Location: Durham, NC, USA
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purple
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- #59
- Posted: 12/17/2012 23:12
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It would be nice to get some references for these assertions. These are also almost too vague to even argue against.
| RFNAPLES wrote: | | Scientists question the accuracy of IPCC climate projections |
I am aware of the criticisms against the IPCC; I'm sure you're aware several people have condemned the reports as too conservative as well, and not all critics consider the reports as overestimating the causes and consequences of human-induced climate change. The accuracy of the projections also is not necessarily the point here; the point is that all projections show increasing temperatures. You'll also notice that not many scientists have come forward to criticize the assertion that humans are accelerating the change.
| RFNAPLES wrote: | | argue that global warming is primarily caused by natural processes |
Climate change is primarily caused by natural processes. No one is suggesting that it's not; they're suggesting that humans are measurably accelerating it. I will concede that even I slipped up in a previous post when I said "human-induced" climate change. That phrase is misleading, but I mean human-induced climate change added onto climate change due to natural processes, and not that all climate change is human-induced.
| RFNAPLES wrote: | | argue that the cause of global warming is unknown |
Here's one that's too vague for me to respond to. Post a reference to where you got this so I can see what they said.
| RFNAPLES wrote: | | argue that global warming will have few negative consequences. |
Climate change isn't some doomsday event. All anyone is suggesting is that crop production will likely decrease in some regions (maybe not even in our lifetime) and water budgets for some regions will become tighter; if those regions happen to contain major population centers, there will be problems. For example, the water budgets of almost all western US population centers are already incredibly tight; any shift towards less water will devastate them.
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purple
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- #60
- Posted: 12/17/2012 23:14
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| RFNAPLES wrote: | | So why did you mention the prize? Classic diversion? |
To emphasize the recognized importance of the work.
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