The hockey stick graph is used by many people to prove that average global temperatures are rising at an exponential rate. The statistical methods used to create the hockey-stick graph were so devastatingly exposed, that the graph has become one of the most comprehensively discredited artifacts in the history of science.
Then, in 2007, there was an unpredicted change in global climate. It changed in a way that had been wholly unpredicted by the IPCC computer models. Global temperatures started to drop. Although CO2 levels are continuing to rise, after 25 years of temperatures rising, the world’s climate was visibly starting to cool again.
The ice caps haven’t been melting as the models predicted they should. The Antarctic, containing nearly 90 per cent of all the ice in the world, has been cooling over the past 30 years, not warming. The polar bears are not disappearing as we are made to believe by the WWF, there are four times more of them now than there were 40 years ago. In recent decades, the number of hurricanes and droughts has gone markedly down, not up. But we are still being reminded of these catastrophes constantly.
The newspaper’s use of alarmism has had a serious effect on the publics’ perception of climate change. We are living in constant fear that we are destroying our planet. But by crying wolf too loudly and too often, no-one will believe us when it actually comes to dinner. When climate change does become a problem in the future, if it ever becomes a problem, we will be left in an incomprehensible situation as no one will believe that what is happening is true until it’s too late.
The government is also to blame as the Environment Agency produced statistics that suggested temperature increases of 15C and sea level increase of 11m over the next 1000 years, scientists believe that this will not be the case.
MP Peter Lilley drew attention to the fact that, outside the Palace of Westminster, snow was falling, the first October snow recorded in London for 74 years and said “Who says that God hasn’t got a sense of humour?” is this not an altogether possible idea? The supposed peril of global warming – and the political response to it – has become one of the overwhelmingly urgent issues of our time. If we accept the theory that the planet faces a threat unprecedented in history, the implications are catastrophic. But equally mind-boggling are the implications of the price we are being asked to pay by our politicians to meet that threat. More than ever, it is a matter of the highest priority that we should know whether or not the assumptions on which the politicians base their proposals are founded on properly sound science.
On the other hand, there are people that argue that we are to blame for the increase in temperatures. The main causes being burning fossil fuels to power the technology used in the MEDW such as computers, air conditioning, heating etc. Currently, burning fossil fuels emits about 6.5 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere each year. Since before the industrial revolution began, concentrations of greenhouse gases have increased by 30%. A more sedentary lifestyle has contributed to this as people are using cars for relatively short journeys which could easily be done on foot. Leaving lights on and appliances on standby uses unnecessary electricity which is powered by the burning of fossil fuels which release CO2 and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere leading to global warming. An increase in population has led to a higher production of cattle and other animals all which release large amounts of methane. There has been a greater demand for housing which has led to deforestation which removes trees that would have been able to remove some of the excess CO2 from the atmosphere.
Headlines are making it hard to ignore the fact that species such as the Golden toad are becoming extinct due to poisonous species growing due to the new climate. However, it was later proved that the fungus was killing frogs in different climates.
Worsened weather conditions as a result of global warming are causing serious problems for people all across the world. As temperatures rise, droughts are becoming more common, leading to more crop failures and a lack of available food for people, predominantly those in the LEDW where they cannot afford to import expensive foods from abroad. Floods, hurricanes and Tornadoes are becoming more common and more severe as recent floods in Australia have killed hundreds and left many more homeless. The effects of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 are still being dealt with, with many people still not able to return home. Rising sea levels will lead to low lying countries such as the Netherlands being flooded. It is, however, believed that climate change involves both good and bad and things tend to balance out in the long run.
Evidence used by some scientists show that the ice sheets have started to shrink in mass in Greenland and Antarctica. Data has shown that Greenland has lost 150 to 250 cubic kilometres of ice per year between 2002 and 2006 and Antarctica lost about 152 cubic kilometres. In addition to this the extent and the thickness of the Arctic sea ice has declined rapidly over the last several decades. Also, there is proof that glaciers around the world have been shown to be retreating.
Had I been asked a couple of years ago if I believed in climate change, I would have said yes without a shadow of a doubt. I would have been armed with research to prove that global warming was happening, and that we, as humans especially in the MEDW, were to blame for the rising temperatures. Now, however, I believe that all the concerns and media hype about climate change are unnecessary as there is strong evidence to disprove the phenomenon, and show that the Earth has experienced similar conditions before as part of a natural cycle. I think that climate change cannot be proved as a lot of hot air; the climate has constantly been changing no matter how far back in time you go, in terms of global warming, however, I strongly believe that it can be proved as a lot of hot air. How long will it be before sanity and sound science break in on what begins to look like one of the most bizarre collective delusions ever to grip the human race? It is alarming that we are still being told that temperatures are rising, and that the increase is due to human influence, yet in reality temperatures are falling. Do I think that we are contributing to greenhouse gases and climate change? Yes, but that contribution is so small that it is barely worth considering the “damage” it is supposed to have caused to the climate. However, I do still feel that it would not be a bad thing to control our use of fossil fuels and promote the use of infinite resources to preserve the planet for future generations.