1) The climate is always changing.
2) CO2 is a greenhouse gas without which life on earth is not possible, but adding it to the atmosphere should lead to some warming.
3) Atmospheric levels of CO2 have been increasing since the end of the Little Ice Age in the 19th century.
4) Over this period (the past two centuries), the global mean temperature has increased slightly and erratically by about 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit or one degree Celsius; but only since the 1960’s have man’s greenhouse emissions been sufficient to play a role.
5) Given the complexity of climate, no confident prediction about future global mean temperature or its impact can be made. The IPCC acknowledged in its own 2007 report that “The long-term prediction of future climate states is not possible.”
*gnashes teeth* IT BURNS, THE STUPIDITY, IT BUUUURNS
1. And since I'm always jumping around, dropping me from the top of a skyscraper should be fine, right? Yes, it's always changing, that doesn't mean that long-term trend cannot be observed!
2. True.
3. True.
4. True but misleading. The CO2 levels
correlate with the warming, and "slight and erratic" is not the kind of stuff I'd expect to hear from an expert. Of
fucking course it's erratic! It's the
fucking temperature!5. It's complex, therefore IT'S IMPOSSIBLE TO KNOW -
what the hell, no! And I'm guessing that was quote-mined.
Look. Climate is chaotic, but it's not completely unpredictable. There are trends.
Additionally, we have a decent understanding of how different factors affect the climate, allowing us to say things like "if we continue to add CO2, the Earth will warm more than it otherwise would."
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Topic: Doc Helgoland's Asylum for the Politically American: T+0 (Read 1427386 times)