Climate change is an emotive and hotly debated topic, with scientists and climate change deniers never wasting an opportunity to put forward their case. There is a strong scientific consensus which states that climate change is real, and that it is too dangerous a force to ignore. Many climate change deniers, including Koch brothers-funded Richard Muller, are now changing their stance in the face of powerful evidence for climate change.
No matter how much we want to believe that our current lifestyle is sustainable, current scientific evidence says otherwise. We need to clean up our acts before we run out of time.
Myth 1: It’s not Our fault.
Fact: As tempting as it is to blame high density populations such as China for climate change, the truth is that all countries share the blame. China may be lagging when it comes to cleaning up their current emissions, but if you total up emissions produced since 1850, the USA has produced 28.8% of that carbon dioxide, Germany is responsible for 6.9%, the UK produced 5.8%, and France produced 3.87%. As of 2010, the world average for CO2 emissions if 4.5 tonnes per capita. The UK, Germany, Australia and Russia all produce significantly more emissions than that average.
Myth 2: Cutting emissions is going to kill the economy.
Fact: Investing in green energy will cost some money in the short term, but in the long run it will encourage technological investment and innovation, which can only be good for the economy.
Myth 3: If climate change is happening, why is it so cold right now?
Fact: Global warming has not stopped, and it is not slowing down. This myth is often repeated because Republican Rep. David McKinley from West Virginia, USA quoted surface temperature figures and stated that in the last 40 years the world had seen almost no increase in temperature. McKinley cherry picked some figures to support his case, but the fact is that global warming is still happening. Figures gathered by the World Meteorological Organization show that the global average surface temperature is increasing over time. The difference between their figures and McKinley’s figures is that McKinley tracked land temperatures only. Around 30 percent of the new heat is being absorbed deep into the oceans. Arctic sea ice is shrinking steadily, and the world is getting warmer.
Myth 4: Climate change is going to happen no matter what we do.
Fact: It’s true that the earth goes through its own cycles of warming and cooling, but that doesn’t mean that we cannot influence what is happening. Man made climate change is not unstoppable. A paper published by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in 2009 highlighted how any climate change that takes place in our lifetime will be “largely irreversible for a thousand years”, and this paper is often cited as proof that trying to change our climate is futile. Any damage we do is damage that we will be stuck with for several lifetimes. Isn’t that sufficient reason for us to act now and stop more damage?
Myth 5: Who cares about climate change? We could do with a warmer summer!
Fact: Climate change doesn’t simply mean “the world will get a bit warmer”. That extra heat is melting ice at the poles, increasing water levels worldwide. In addition, a global increase in temperatures will alter weather patterns, leading to extreme and unpredictable weather patterns, hampering crop growth and displacing entire populations. No matter where you live, global warming will affect your way of life in unpredictable and extreme ways.
This post was written by Crispin Jones for Juice Electrical Supplies – suppliers of energy saving products and other electrical goods.
Image credit: zmescience.com