Climate change doesn’t mean that there isn’t cold weather or snow in any locations. Climate change says that carbon dioxide (as well as methane) are heat trapping gases, that carbon dioxide stays in the atmosphere for up to one thousand years and traps heat, that humans are causing huge amounts of carbon dioxide to be released into the atmosphere, the amount of carbon dioxide emissions humans are responsible for is 90 times the amount of carbon dioxide emitted by all the volcanoes on the planet and that there is a clear, consistent trend of the global mean temperature increasing over many decades which corresponds to the increase in carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide and methane surged in 2020; carbon dioxide rose to 412.5 parts per million despite the economic recession which likely reduced carbon dioxide emissions by seven percent.
The global surface average for carbon dioxide (CO2), calculated from measurements collected at NOAA’s remote sampling locations, was 412.5 parts per million (ppm) in 2020, rising by 2.6 ppm during the year.
Economic slowdown prevented a record increase in CO2
The economic recession was estimated to have reduced carbon emissions by about 7 percent during 2020. Without the economic slowdown, the 2020 increase would have been the highest on record, according to Pieter Tans, senior scientist at NOAA’s Global Monitoring Laboratory.
Ron Johnson shouldn’t speak about things that he doesn’t even understand the definition of.
Global warming is the long-term heating of Earth’s climate system observed since the pre-industrial period (between 1850 and 1900) due to human activities, primarily fossil fuel burning, which increases heat-trapping greenhouse gas levels in Earth’s atmosphere. The term is frequently used interchangeably with the term climate change, though the latter refers to both human- and naturally produced warming and the effects it has on our planet. It is most commonly measured as the average increase in Earth’s global surface temperature.
We’ve known that carbon dioxide is a heat trapping gas for 180 years. We can prove this in reproducible experiments. It is not debated that humans cause carbon dioxide to be emitted. The fact that global mean temperatures are increasing is not disputed. We don’t just have correlation. We understand the mechanism that causes the correlation. We can confirm it in the lab.
According to NOAA's 2020 Annual Climate Report the combined land and ocean temperature has increased at an average rate of 0.13 degrees Fahrenheit ( 0.08 degrees Celsius) per decade since 1880; however, the average rate of increase since 1981 (0.18°C / 0.32°F) has been more than twice that rate.
The 10 warmest years on record have all occurred since 2005, and 7 of the 10 have occurred just since 2014. Looking back to 1988, a pattern emerges: except for 2011, as each new year is added to the historical record, it becomes one of the top 10 warmest on record at that time, but it is ultimately replaced as the “top ten” window shifts forward in time.
By 2020, models project that global surface temperature will be more than 0.5°C (0.9°F) warmer than the 1986-2005 average, regardless of which carbon dioxide emissions pathway the world follows. This similarity in temperatures regardless of total emissions is a short-term phenomenon: it reflects the tremendous inertia of Earth's vast oceans. The high heat capacity of water means that ocean temperature doesn't react instantly to the increased heat being trapped by greenhouse gases. By 2030, however, the heating imbalance caused by greenhouse gases begins to overcome the oceans' thermal inertia, and projected temperature pathways begin to diverge, with unchecked carbon dioxide emissions likely leading to several additional degrees of warming by the end of the century.
Since even most climate change deniers admit that the global mean temperature is increasing, their problem is that now they have a problem whose cause they don’t know or understand which means that it is not something humans can do anything about. Consequently, they have no reason to hope that we can be stop it. Denying that humans causing carbon dioxide to be emitted which increases the global mean temperature because carbon dioxide traps heat can only lead to despair. Consider this position: you know that the global mean temperature is radically increasing as a trend and that this trend has been true for many decades. You see radical changes in the climate and drastic changes in the weather with calamities occurring more and more frequently. You see increases in the cost of insurance covering extreme weather events. You see the very first hurricane form ever in the South Atlantic Ocean, Hurricane Catarina, which hit Brazil. . You see a heat wave in the Europe kill over 70,000 people in 2003 (join for free- ) . You see a Hurricane which left 80 % of a major US city under water. You see extreme drought in Southwestern parts of the United States. You know that the oceans are warming which causes stronger storms. However, you don’t know the cause. Since you don’t know the cause, then you can have no hope of stopping it. You can only have despair. It’s like seeing a train coming down the track and you don’t know how to get off of the track.
There are popular magazines which have writings purportedly about science which aren’t peer reviewed by qualified ph.d. climate scientists. Big Oil and especially Exxon Mobil can pay for ads to lie and confuse the public and speak about carbon monoxide, but not carbon dioxide. However, in serious peer reviewed science journals, 97% of articles (or greater) either argue for climate change (ie. AGW) or begin with an understanding that it is true . Virtually all climate scientists agree that AGW is a fact. A weather forecaster is not necessarily a climate scientist. While there are many hard science fields which are related like physics, those who study the issue the most and the most in depth are overwhelmingly convinced it is a fact. The overwhelming majority of real professional Ph.D. scientists whose doctorate is in the hard sciences understand that AGW is a fact.
Science unlike religion has a self-correcting mechanism. Science encourages correction of hypotheses and theories. So, those saying that scientists won’t adjust their theories if there is evidence which supports doing so are wrong. However, you have to first show evidence from original experimentation and data from your experiments to support your theory and then you have to explain why previous conclusions and interpretations of data and experiments are wrong. The more data and experiments confirming the interpretation and theory, the greater the burden upon the scientist who disagrees. However, if you can do that, then that is a way to make a name for yourself and you will be rewarded. Science follows truth and evidence.
IPCC remains the best source of accurate information about climate change. Feedback loops often result in worse outcomes than previously predicted. An example of a feedback loop is the burning of forests. Because the planet is warming, there are more forest fires. Because there are more forest fires, more carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere. Because more carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere, the planet warms more. Dr. James Hansen called this in his congressional testimony in 1988 . His predictions ran through 2019 and they were correct.
Republicans should be ignored on virtually all science issues (like so many other issues). They have numerous false beliefs and have adopted many false conspiracy theories.
Creationism, especially Young Earth Creationism (YEC), is dangerous. It doesn’t just mislead students about origins and the theory that holds biology together, but the same people who push Young Earth Creationism also push denialism which is extremely dangerous. Conservative republicans represent the majority of the party and there are as many of them who think that fossil fuel production should be expanded as who think that there should be a priority on alternative energy.
But conservative Republicans, who represent the party majority, are evenly divided over whether to prioritize alternative energy (49%) or expand fossil fuel production (49%)
The majority of their (Republican Party/Trump) voters believe in special creation and reject even theistic evolution.
Significantly fewer Republicans believe in evolution than did so four years ago, setting them apart from Democrats and independents, according to a recent Pew Research Center study.
Religion also negatively affected even the number of democrats who understand that evolution is a fact.
Among Democrats who attend services at least weekly, roughly half say that humans have evolved over time (52% in 2013 vs. 48% in 2009, which is not a statistically significant change). Among Democrats who attend services less often, roughly three-quarters say humans have evolved (75% in 2013, 73% in 2009).
60% of Republicans say humans were created in their present form by God 10,000 years ago
PRINCETON, NJ -- There is a significant political divide in beliefs about the origin of human beings, with 60% of Republicans saying humans were created in their present form by God 10,000 years ago, a belief shared by only 40% of independents and 38% of Democrats.
A majority of republicans believe QAnon is either mostly or at least partly true.
In this CNN survey, a majority of republicans believe the 2020 election was stolen and only 25% embrace QAnon (however note the above link says at least partly true which could explain the difference).
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Statements by Scientific Organizations
American Association for the Advancement of Science
"Based on well-established evidence, about 97% of climate scientists have concluded that human-caused climate change is happening." (2014)3
American Chemical Society
"The Earth’s climate is changing in response to increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases (GHGs) and particulate matter in the atmosphere, largely as the result of human activities." (2016-2019)4
American Geophysical Union
"Based on extensive scientific evidence, it is extremely likely that human activities, especially emissions of greenhouse gases, are the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century. There is no alterative explanation supported by convincing evidence." (2019)5
American Medical Association
"Our AMA ... supports the findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s fourth assessment report and concurs with the scientific consensus that the Earth is undergoing adverse global climate change and that anthropogenic contributions are significant." (2019)6
American Meteorological Society
"Research has found a human influence on the climate of the past several decades ... The IPCC (2013), USGCRP (2017), and USGCRP (2018) indicate that it is extremely likely that human influence has been the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-twentieth century." (2019)7
American Physical Society
"Earth's changing climate is a critical issue and poses the risk of significant environmental, social and economic disruptions around the globe. While natural sources of climate variability are significant, multiple lines of evidence indicate that human influences have had an increasingly dominant effect on global climate warming observed since the mid-twentieth century." (2015)8
The Geological Society of America
"The Geological Society of America (GSA) concurs with assessments by the National Academies of Science (2005), the National Research Council (2011), the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC, 2013) and the U.S. Global Change Research Program (Melillo et al., 2014) that global climate has warmed in response to increasing concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases ... Human activities (mainly greenhouse-gas emissions) are the dominant cause of the rapid warming since the middle 1900s (IPCC, 2013)." (2015)9
International Academies: Joint Statement
"Climate change is real. There will always be uncertainty in understanding a system as complex as the world’s climate. However there is now strong evidence that significant global warming is occurring. The evidence comes from direct measurements of rising surface air temperatures and subsurface ocean temperatures and from phenomena such as increases in average global sea levels, retreating glaciers, and changes to many physical and biological systems. It is likely that most of the warming in recent decades can be attributed to human activities (IPCC 2001)." (2005, 11 international science academies)10
U.S. National Academy of Sciences
"Scientists have known for some time, from multiple lines of evidence, that humans are changing Earth’s climate, primarily through greenhouse gas emissions."11
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
“Warming of the climate system is unequivocal, and since the 1950s, many of the observed changes are unprecedented over decades to millennia. The atmosphere and ocean have warmed, the amounts of snow and ice have diminished, and sea level has risen.”13
“Human influence on the climate system is clear, and recent anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases are the highest in history. Recent climate changes have had widespread impacts on human and natural systems.”14