Is Global Warming Real?

While there have been many skeptics in the past few years about the honesty of global warming, it has become a widely accepted fact that carbon emissions and fossil fuels have altered the natural weather and led us to what we now call ‘Global Warming’. However, every now and then, a politician or a lone scientist will stand up and oppose this theory with new claims that global warming is in fact, a figment of our imagination.
So what about the decline in temperatures during the winter, or the extremely noticeable increase in temperatures during the summer?
Data now shows record low temperatures appearing all over the globe. China has witnessed blizzards and Baghdad has felt the touch of snow.
Does this mean that global warming is not real? No. Many scientists say that this is just good old weather mixed with a cold current from the Pacific, the La Niña effect, which tends to lead to a decline in temperatures, as apposed to the El Niño effect which increases temperatures.
Regardless, this is still unusually cold weather. So, why did this particular current give us such unusual weather patterns across the globe? Could it be because the lowering or melting of the polar ice caps has caused water temperature to drop and sea levels to rise?
Maybe.
Similar cool winters have occurred previously, 1988, ’91, ’92 and ’98, but the trend of the past few years has been an increase in temperature, instead of a decline.
So if the winters are becoming colder, why are the summers becoming hotter? No proof has currently been found that the burning of fossil fuels is causing the planet to warm, although research is still underway.
The planet is definitely warming though, that we can be sure of. Globally, temperatures have risen, on average, 5 degrees celsius. No one can argue with that fact. But historians and geologists claim to know that ice sheets once covered large portions of each continent. These ice sheets have alternately retreated and risen again as the Earth has cooled then warmed in cycles that may span thousands or millions of years.
Historical data from ocean sediments and ice cores indicate that between each major Ice Age a warm period called an Interglacial Period occurs. These Interglacial Periods may span anywhere between 15,000 and 20,000 years. We are currently thriving in an Interglacial period and - although some may say overdue – are due for the 100,000 year long Ice Age that awaits us.
On average global temperatures have risen about 5 degrees celsius since the previous Ice Age. So, from a historical perspective, ‘Global Warming’ has temporarily saved us from an Ice Age. Scientists, and for that fact, most humans, would probably agree that it is the ‘greenhouse effect’ that is causing ‘Global Warming’.
The ‘greenhouse effect’ is the term used to describe atmospheric gases such as gaseous water vapour, carbon dioxide and methane which help to trap radiant heat in the Earth’s atmosphere from escaping into space. Without the ‘greenhouse effect’ the average global temperature would drop dramatically to -18 degrees celsius.
Humans did not cause the ‘greenhouse effect’ though; as we are lead to believe. 95% of the ‘greenhouse effect’ is due solely to natural water vapour. Of the remaining 5%, only 0.2% is due to carbon dioxide and other gases produced by human resources. This is an understood fact by all scientists, but rarely publicised.
So, if we are in fact in a ‘Global Warming’ crisis, even the most costly plans for limiting the production of carbon dioxide emissions would have an undetectable effect on the climate.
If ‘Global Warming’ is in fact a crisis in today’s society, it is a natural one. History and science both show that human intervention will have little effect in climate change, and that no matter how much we are lead to believe; ‘Global Warming’ is as natural as giving birth.
Global temperatures are not rising at rapid rates.
Carbon dioxide has not caused ‘Global Warming’.
‘Global Warming’ will not cause storms and other weather extremes.
The Earth is a variable. The Western Arctic may be getting warmer due to events in the Pacific Ocean, but the Eastern Arctic and Greenland are getting cooler. Temperatures will rise and fall, but there has always got to be someone or something to blame.
At the moment, we are pointing at one piece of the puzzle, without having looked at the display given of the finished product.