Quote:
Originally Posted by Ohio
I agree with what you posted in blue, but not in red. Yes the climate is changing, but I don't agree that man is causing climate change. That's about as true as the endless claim that all rich people are Republicans.
The industrial revolution did not start in the 1990's, and the earth was far dirtier back in the middle of the 20th century. Yet, certain segments of the "scientific" community tried to convince us then that "evil" man with all of his filthy pollution would plunge the planet into another ICE AGE. Maybe you are too young to remember those days. I remember them.
Did the industrial revolution cause the first ICE AGE, and cause the dinosaurs to become extinct? No, but everyone believed that it would happen. That became one of the driving forces to export heavy manufacturing, like steel mills, overseas. If you look at climate data from the 60's, you will see the trend to lower temperatures. Now the reverse has happened, and all the political fearmongers have spooked the world again.
It's a new age religion, and Trump is not a convert. So you hate him.
|
London was far dirtier. Not Africa, Asia, South America or even North America.
There were far fewer people using far less fossil fuel. Gasoline engine didn't even take off until around WW1. Cities didn't become electrified until around that time as well. Refer to this graph
https://www.treehugger.com/fossil-fu...rs-graphs.html
World Fossil fuel consumption took off after WWII.
Second, the effect is cumulative. So each year we are adding to the total ppm in the atmosphere.
Third, a slight increase in CO2 can promote plant growth. It is very likely that the CO2 added to the atmosphere in the 1880s was balanced by additional plant growth.
Fourth, increase in population doesn't just increase the amount of emissions, it also decreases the amount of plants as we chop them down for parking lots, roads, cities, houses, etc. So while emissions are increasing, the amount of plants pulling carbon out of the atmosphere is decreasing. This is exacerbated when they burn down tropical rainforest and replace it with grasslands and cows.
Fifth the recent industrialization of the third world has accelerated the process even further. (When I went to Taiwan in 1987 you rode bicycles and they were so crowded it was hard to squeeze a bicycle into a parking place. By 1995 no one rode bicycles and they were all replaced with scooters and cars.
Sixth, once you pass a certain point the ocean become acidified and kills off the creatures that have shells made of calcium carbonate. We are seeing this process now. As they die lots of life including plants die as well. 70% of our plants are in the ocean, decrease them and you decrease the amount of carbon being pulled out of the air.
Seventh, as the ice melts (36 cubic miles in Antarctica, 36 cubic miles in Greenland, virtually every glacier, and the Arctic sea ice) the ocean or ground that remains absorbs much more of the suns energy. Ice and snow reflects sunlight back out to space whereas the ocean and land absorb it and it becomes heat.
So then we know, for a fact that the CO2 levels in the Earth's atmosphere have increased dramatically since the 1950s and are now at a level we have not seen since the last major extinction. During this time the average temperature of the Earth has risen and directly correlates to the increase in CO2. During this time the ice has begun to melt rapidly and this in turn is causing more heat energy from the sun to become heat. And, every year we add to the totals.