Yes, climate change is real. End of mistery. But here’s the deal: We know that there is a lot of confusion and lies on the topic, so let’s prove why it’s really happening and what the next events should be about it.
After reading this text prepared by the Hourglass team, you will have knowledge about the scientific basis that proves the climate crisis, in addition to understanding which facts refute the main arguments against global warming.
Is there global warming proofs?
Yes, there is evidence about climate change. To make a long story short, there are two indisputable proofs that global warming exists.
The first is the secular monitoring of the planet’s average temperature, carried out by independent meteorological institutes and, since 1873, by the World Meteorological Organization.
There is no political bias or ideology. It’s just temperature data. And they are increasing above average.
You can check on this graph the average temperature of the planet through the centuries in this graph.
It is important to understand that these measurements have been going on since science was able to read these data centuries ago.
Therefore, the theory that climate change is a new conspiracy to elect certain politicians or sell sustainable products is a fragile and baseless argument.
How humans were capable of causing climate change?
It was in 1859 that scientist John Tyndall discovered something very interesting: there were gases such as water vapor or carbon dioxide that had the ability to absorb heat.
In the United States, scientist Eunice Foote did an experiment and came to the same conclusion.
At the time, there was no sign of a climate crisis or fear of a meltdown.
It was not until 1938 that engineer Guy Callendar did a survey and saw the correlation between carbon dioxide emissions and the average global temperature.
At that moment, through statistical analysis, it was possible to conclude that one caused the other.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) closely monitors carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere, and in 2019 it had the highest record since 1958, at 414.7 parts per million.
In addition to this evidence that, by itself, proves global warming, we have other studies that are attached to the IPCC report and evidence of climate change related to symptoms.
For example, sea levels have risen, rainfall patterns have changed (some places with droughts, others with unprecedented floods), an increase in forest fires and so many other symptoms that we can already see.
Arguments against climate change
From 1938, when global warming was first discovered, to the present day, many other theories about climate change have emerged.
Some of these theories try to prove that the temperature is not rising, others say that the rise in temperature is natural.
Let’s see some of the main arguments against climate change explained.
- 1. We are having very cold winters, with annual records for the “coldest day of the year”. How could planet Earth be heating up when we have such cold days?
There is an important conceptual difference here that is ignored by many people. After all, we are not meteorological experts.
The weather is something that varies a lot. We have days of intense heat and colder days. It is being considered in the theory of global warming.
Climate is the long-term trend of average temperatures. It is through the climate, not the weather, that we can make more accurate projections about global temperature.
Once this difference is clear, it is necessary to understand that air masses make exchanges all over the world.
You may have heard about extreme events such as droughts and floods caused by climate change.
This is because the climate depends on a very sensitive balance between solar radiation, the position of the Earth and the amount of gases present on the planet.
If we look at the example of tropical countries, such as Brazil, where the temperature is normally warmer, we can understand this relationship.
If there is systematic deforestation in the Amazon Forest, there are fewer trees absorbing CO2 from the atmosphere, making the climate warmer.
Without the trees breathing, releasing oxygen, there is a decrease in rainfall, which helps to regulate the temperature.
Therefore, over time, the average Brazilian temperature gets hotter and this excess hot air reaches Antarctica. The warm air expels the cold air, which will circulate around the rest of the world, causing more intense cold days where there were none before.
The view of warmer or colder weather depends on the region. Canada is another example of these hot and cold air exchanges.
The country, known for its low temperatures, reached 50°C in July 2021, a heat wave that killed more than 134 people.
Deaths happen because temperature regulation directly interferes with people who have cardiorespiratory and metabolic conditions (which are the main factors of chronic diseases across the planet).
- 2- Climate change is natural, it has already happened in the history of the planet and has nothing to do with humans
This is, in part, true. Understand the explanation:
Throughout the planet’s history, there have been periods of warming and cooling. Oscillations that generated the ice ages, for example.
These natural changes in climate are related to two factors. The main factor is solar activity, which varies by itself by the reactions that take place in the star.
Thus, the amount of radiation the sun emits to the rest of the universe is not the same all the time.
Another natural example is volcanoes. You should know that they are geological faults that, when they erupt, make room for magma from the Earth’s interior to reach the surface.
The eruption of volcanoes releases a gigantic amount of CO2 and was even responsible for mass instinct millions of years ago.
However, we don’t have strong volcanic activity in the last few hundred years, nor a gigantic variation in solar activity to justify this increase in temperature.
The only logical factor that can explain it is the increase in CO2 in the atmosphere — and this was caused by humanity by burning fossil fuels.
Are cow farts causing global warming and human extinction?
- 3-Only a small part of scientists believe in climate change
This story is so 2008. At that time, the IPCC (International Pannel on Climate Change) had already produced reports indicating that the problem was real and that the main cause was human actions.
At that time, actually, there were many scientists who were in doubt. As the Earth has always had moments of heating and cooling, many have hypothesized that it was actually a natural process.
Currently, there is no longer any doubt, as climate change has been proven, human intervention as well. There is no scientific disagreement in this regard, only denialists.
- 4-Climate change is good for humans?
It’s not good, especially when it’s high-speed changes like the ones that are happening.
No living organism has the ability to adapt so quickly to such structural change.
You can prove this fact by the hundreds of lives lost in the last heat waves that happened in Canada and several countries in Europe.
In addition, the change in the rainfall cycle has contributed to forest fires, due to dry and extremely hot weather.
The melting of the Arctic has caused the sea level to rise and this increases the chances of tsunamis, but this is not even the biggest related problem.
With sea levels rising, many cities tend to simply disappear by 2100 (78 years at the most). This factor must displace millions of people.
The change in climate also directly interferes with plantations, which depend 100% on the environment to function. Therefore, we should encounter a food shortage in the near future as well.
- 5-Even if it’s real, it’s too late. There’s nothing we can do other than deal with the consequences
This simply is not true. The more people believe that there is nothing to be done, the more danger we are in.
In case you haven’t seen the latest IPCC report, let’s summarize the forecast for the coming years.
There are 5 different scenarios and only one of them has a chance of surviving and continuing to have an acceptable quality of life.
According to the emissions made by humans, we can have a temperature increase that goes from 1.5° to 5°.
The 5th increase happens if we do nothing and still increase our emissions index. In this case, there will be no human life on Earth for the next 100 years.
In the intermediate scenarios, we have consequences that get worse as the temperature increases.
Our best chance is to keep the heat to 1.5° which, make no mistake, is not ideal. The ideal would be zero, but this is no longer possible because of the emissions that have already taken place.
There is still so much to do and so little time, so we need to make a global and systematic change now.
The more people involved in this process, the better our chances.
Where to find good information about climate change and global warming?
The top organization you must follow: the IPCC. Read the reports because they are the main source about the climate crisis.
Why to trust in IPCC? Because it’s a random group of thousands of scientists, that change every 3 years, so we can have different points of view in every research.
If climage change is real, how can we stop it?
If you understood how serious this problem is, maybe right now you’re thinking if there’s something we can still do – and, what is it. Well, first, this is not a fight that you can win on your own.
After leaving the Hourglass webiste, maybe you’ll find tips like stop eating meat, using less your car, taking shorter baths. Nothing of it will make huge difference. This is literally a global problem. You can do this things, they are nice, but don’t solve the issue.
You gotta find allies, join groups, and, if you don’t have time for it, support the ones that are actually doing the hard work for you, your family and the next generations.
We support monthly a group of institutions with reliable people and NGOs that work to help reforestation, prevent animals extinction, cleaning the ocean, spreading clean energy and more. Know more about our program here.
