Quote:
Originally Posted by ember1205
"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics."
Here's the factual truth: No one actually knows. Earth has been around for what we believe to be billions of years. We have actual, factual temperature data going back MAYBE a couple of hundred years. And the further back we go, the fewer samples of data points we have to work with.
In January of 2020, it was cold. In February of 2020, it was even colder. WOW! We're going to be in a full-on ice age by September 2020.
Come the end of March, it was "hold the phone - temps are going UP!" April - warmer. May - warmer still! July- hot. August - REALLY hot. Holy crap, we're all going to burn to death by December!
Obviously, the smaller the sample size compared to the overall duration and magnitude of cyclical changes means that we are drawing terrible conclusions.
Does the average temperature fluctuate over large periods of time? I believe that it does and there is little we can do to stop the changes. Do we have an impact on overall climate (which impacts temperatures)? Again, I believe that we do.
We have been told for decades that greenhouse gases are trapping heat in the atmosphere. Over the last year, these gases have HEAVILY dissipated and the planet's temps seem to have actually gone UP because - wait for it - more sunlight is reaching the ground!
Do I believe that climate change is real? Yes. Do I believe that the things we do on this planet can affect it? I do. Is getting rid of the ICE and going all electric the answer? Hells no.
Generating electricity causes CO2 emissions. All we're doing is moving the emissions to a more central location!
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This is from nasa.gov
The current warming trend is of particular significance because most of it is extremely likely (greater than 95% probability) to be the result of human activity since the mid-20th century and proceeding at a rate that is unprecedented over decades to millennia.1
Earth-orbiting satellites and other technological advances have enabled scientists to see the big picture, collecting many different types of information about our planet and its climate on a global scale. This body of data, collected over many years, reveals the signals of a changing climate.
The heat-trapping nature of carbon dioxide and other gases was demonstrated in the mid-19th century.2 Their ability to affect the transfer of infrared energy through the atmosphere is the scientific basis of many instruments flown by NASA. There is no question that increased levels of greenhouse gases must cause Earth to warm in response.
Ice cores drawn from Greenland, Antarctica, and tropical mountain glaciers show that Earth’s climate responds to changes in greenhouse gas levels. Ancient evidence can also be found in tree rings, ocean sediments, coral reefs, and layers of sedimentary rocks. This ancient, or paleoclimate, evidence reveals that current warming is occurring roughly ten times faster than the average rate of ice-age-recovery warming. Carbon dioxide from human activity is increasing more than 250 times faster than it did from natural sources after the last Ice Age.3