“Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.'”

Last edited Fri Jul 3, 2015, 08:45 PM - Edit history (1)

The greenhouse effect refers to the fact that certain gases in the atmosphere (such as methane, carbon dioxide, other hydrocarbons, and water vapor) absorb some of the radiant heat that would otherwise dissipate into space, basically acting like a blanket. The greenhouse effect in itself is a good thing, because otherwise the Earth would largely be frozen over. The problem, as I'm sure you know, is that we're pumping more greenhouse gases into the air, intensifying the greenhouse effect and leading to global warming, which causes not just to warmer weather but many types of climate change.

The Earth as been both warmer and cooler over its existence, but the rate of warming over the past several decades is anomalously rapid, averaging 10 or 20 times as fast as during during the ending of the last ice age, for example. This makes it harder for life to adapt.

Humans are causing the change by burning fossil fuels, and we know this because we have a good idea how much CO2 fossil fuels are releasing into the air, and it's enough to account for all the observed change. The observed ratio of carbon isotopes in the air provides additional, independent confirmation.

I learned about global warming from the use of fossil fuels as an undergraduate physics major in the early 1970s, but it's been talked about since the 1800s, and scientists have been trying to educate the public for long time. Here's for instance is a clip from a Bell Telephone science special (produced by Frank Capra) in 1958:

(previously posted on DU but worth seeing again).

Despite the evidence, a few scientists have remained skeptical. Physicist Richard Muller, for example, thought he had identified problems with the historical temperature records used by climate scientists, so together with his daughter Elizabeth (a consultant to the fossil fuel industry) and with funding partly from a Koch-affiliated foundation he organized a team of other climate change skeptics to develop an independent temperature record from scratch. The data led him to reverse his position, taking an even stronger position than the IPCC that humans are far and away the dominant cause. Here's a clip of him describing how he changed his mind:

what the deniers claim to be, but are not: questioning everything and seeking the truth.

This is a discussion that keep actaual. Thanks for sharing.