Is global warming being caused by CO2 emissions produced by man, or do we just have a preoccupation with our own destruction?
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Nailed it!
The debate is over, the science is in? Only truly a non-scientist would ever make a statement such as that and even worse believe it. Knowledge and wisdom are only ever gained through challenging of that which we think we already know. Imagine all the breakthroughs that would have been lost had the status quo been left unchallenged.
Global warming is a topic of much passion in the 21st century , but also much confusion and misinformation over the fundamental sides of the debate. I don't think that anyone argues to the contrary that the globe is not warming. That is a measurable and recorded scientific observation. The two sides of the debate really stem from the fundamental idea over the cause of the warming. One camp will tell you definitively that global warming is a man made problem resulting from the over production of carbon dioxide by burning of fossil fuels in transportation, power and industry. While the other side will tell you that man has a nominal to non-existent effect on global climate change and that the changes are a result of natural cycles far beyond our control. We will try to outline the facts about global warming and potential problems with collected data.
Average Global Temperature
The globally averaged temperature near the Earth's surface expressed as a linear trend, has risen by 0.74 degrees Celsius over the period of 1906-2005. This figure is extremely misleading though. When expressed in this manner it makes it appear that the Earth is one homogenous environment and that climate change affects each region equally. But because it is an average, drastic to moderate changes can be expressed as the same average. For instance, say that the temperature at the poles remained static and changed by 0 degrees Celsius, but the temperature everywhere else increased by 2 degrees. The average temperature increase would be 1 degree if treated as 2 measuring points. Contrast this with the reverse, a 2 degree increase at the pools with no change in temperature everywhere else. The average is still 1 but the difference is huge in ramifications. One the poles are melting the other it's not, but the statistic is still the same. Statistics like this can only be useful when measuring homogenous environments.
CO2 production by man
Carbon dioxide is considered a trace gas in terms of the Earth's atmospheric composition occurring at an average concentration of 385 parts per million by volume. It's net effect as a greenhouse gas is believed to be 9-26% of the total greenhouse effect, with water vapor being the most significant. Carbon dioxide accounts for 0.038% of the Earth's atmosphere and has increased by 22% from 1960 - 2009. But this does not mean that CO2 production by man alone is responsible for all 22%. Carbon dioxide is a natural byproduct of respiration of living organisms and despite popular wording, is not a pollutant. On the contrary it is a very essential and important part of our ecosystem. Most will site cars as a major source, but how about population increase in general. The world has increased by billions over the last hundred years, which means that more humans are exhaling carbon dioxide. Decaying vegetation is responsible for more CO2 production than any other source, and as agriculture increases to feed the growing population, so does the amount of decaying vegetation.
CO2 vs. Temperature
A common misconception is that ice core samples have shown that in the past, increases in CO2 have resulted in an increase in the temperature. But in fact the ice core samples reflect the opposite. It has been shown that in the past, temperature has driven the increase of CO2. The graph shown is that from Al Gore's Inconvenient Truth where he attempts to illustrate rise in CO2 (blue line) causeing rise in temperature (red line). You can see that temperature increase is well ahead of any CO2 increase.
Solar Variation
Variations in the solar output have been the cause of past climate changes. Although solar forcing is generally thought to be too small to account for a significant part of global warming in recent decades. But a recent phenomenological analysis indicates that Sun might have contributed up to 50% of the observed global warming since 1900.
Myths about Global Warming
-Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles will help curb global warming. This is wrong, they will actually contribute more to the problem than combustion engines of today. This is because Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles produce water as their byproduct. As harmless as this might sound, water vapor causes 36-70% of the greenhouse effect. Pumping more water vapor into the atmosphere will have an effect far greater than CO2 could ever have.
-There is a consensus amongst scientists that global warming is caused by human production of CO2. There is much propaganda that would make you believe this by politicians and political activists alike. The illusion of consensus is campaigned greatly to avoid debate on the issue. But many scientists range from flat out disagreeing to still being on the fence about the issue. The problem is that the Earth's climate is governed by countless variables that are just not fully understood.
-Global warming will cause more violent and devastating storms. Global warming would actually produce less violent storms. Storm intensity is greatly determined by the difference in temperature between fronts. For instance a cold front meeting a warm front makes a much bigger storm than if both fronts were the same temperature. Global warming would make temperatures more consistent and therefore produce less significant storms.
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