Common Arguments Against Global Warming pt.1

#1 "Of course the climate is changing. The climate has changed several times over the course of the existence of the world. This time is no different."

Yes, this time is different. Of all of the temperature changes we know about this is unique in scale and speed.

#2 "Global warming is caused by increases in solar radiation."

Solar radiation contributes, but the increases are not large enough to account for the amount of climate change that has occurred.

#3 "More CO2 is emitted from Volcanoes and other natural sources than by humans."

CO2 samples taken from ice cores show that the carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere are greater than they have ever been. There have always been volcanoes and other natural sources of CO2, yet there has never been as much CO2 as there is now.

#4 "Global warming is caused by water vapor."

Yes, and there is more water vapor in the atmosphere due to increased temperatures. Water vapor is a green house gas that accelerates global warming, but since water vapor didn't increase in the atmosphere until the temperature increased in the first place, it is not the ultimate cause.

#5 "A few decades ago, all the scientists were saying that the Earth was heading toward a new ice age. They were wrong then, why should we believe them now?"

Scientists were actually right. Global temperatures were declining. What global warming critics don't mention is that scientists knew that man-made sulfate aerosols were what caused the decrease in temperatures and that eliminating the aerosols would ameliorate the effects on the climate. They were right. Sulfate aerosols in the atmosphere have deacreased significantly over the past thirty years and so have their effects. I expect that if we ever do reduce green house gases and stop global warming, the critics will refuse to acknowledge it as a result of those reductions. Instead, they'll continue to deny that there was ever a problem in the first place like they have regarding the effects of sulfate.

Even former critics of global warming are starting to realize their position was bullshit. Ronald Bailey, author of Global Warming and other Eco Myths now says, "Details like sea level rise will continue to be debated by researchers, but if the debate over whether or not humanity is contributing to global warming wasn't over before, it is now.... as the new IPCC Summary makes clear, climate change Pollyannaism is no longer looking very tenable." (Quote lifted from Wikipedia)