Okay
Where do I start
, first I'm going to give my opinion - all in good humour and with the arrogance of youth (emphasis that it is arrogance not ignorance because when it comes to Climate change the oldies ARE NOT informed at all
) and then explain why I think so.
I believe that Climate change is real and that we are not in a weather cycle. Ice ages etc require a triggering event to occur; sometimes something as dramatic as an asteroid or smaller but relatively large in scale. The same goes for warming up cycles which really are known to occur after ice ages and i am not talking about heating up to return to normal temperatures before the iceage but to mean temperatures that are slightly higher than that period. We have seen no natural occurence on a large scale to cause the heating of the earth curently.
All this and more is taught at school now, atleast in Australia, and I am pretty sure it wasn't 30 or more years ago, so others are informed in newspapers and TV docos where a light graze over the info is given, a small number buy a book about climate change or take the time to research in depth Climate change. Although I would say most reading this thread would be more informed than normal. I'm 21 by the way
I would be curious to know the age of all those who do not believe in climate change if you feel comfortable saying, my bet is that all the previous Australian posters of this opinion are over 30.
Do you agree that the waste smoke let off by energy producing factories; fossil fuels coal-the most widely used energy producing fuel eg Australia, China - is predominantly made up of carbon?
Do you agree that there is more carbon in the air/atmosphere than there was 200yrs ago? If yes then you are halfway there
Do you agree that there are less trees on earth then 200 yrs ago or at the least less tree density in now urbanized areas?
Do you believe in photosynthesis; which involves the absorbtion of carbon WITH light to create oxygen
Do you believe in the sunstances that reflect UV rays which exist in the atmosphere called Ozone and that CFC's can destroy this substance and create a hole in the atmosphere that lets in UV rays?
All of the above questions concern information that is scientifically proven.
As carbon atoms in the air/atmosphere are hit by sunlight, the light causes the atoms to heat up. It is not only carbon atoms but many foreign substances that also make up the polution pumped out of energy producing factories and vehicles also absorb light and heat up, eg Carbon Monoxide from cars.
If there is more carbon in the atmosphere today than what was naturally occuring 200 yrs ago, and there are less trees to absorb carbon, then there is more heat in the atmosphere today thus air temperatures are hotter, thus cold climate areas (aswell as other areas) are going to become warmer than they were, so north and south poles will become warmer - what happens to ice when you add heat?
So, more liquid water on the earth, oceans rise and.....more importantly COOL, because the water coming from the caps is melted but its not warm. Cooler sea temps with warmer air = cyclones/Hurricanes therefore the more frequent occurance of them or with greater strength. Pacific islands on low sea level islands disappear. Tropical reefs survive in specific water temperatures that are warmer than most oceans around 20 celcius, so cooling temps will affect them. Then its a chain reaction, no reef no coral, no coral no fish etc.