Okay folks, I am aware that not everyone is as enthusiastic as I am when this topic comes up. I find it important, however, to know what we are talking about when we say certain words or terms. For example, what does sustainability really mean, what are the global climate goals and now, in this case, what is global warming and what is climate change? It's the same? Why are scientists so sure about climate change? You understand…
So let's dive in.Global warming and climate change
There is some confusion because sometimes people talk about global warming and sometimes about climate change. They seem to be interchangeable, so you can say global warming = climate change. This post is intended to show you how such confusion can arise in the scientific world. Here is some history of climate science for you.
So in the beginning, when the debate about the whole climate started, researchers always talked about "global warming". They did this because they were collecting a bunch of shitty data and what they saw is that the temperature on our planet - on the whole - is rising.
It's one of a scientist's job, they have to name something they find. In this case, there is a very famous graph from 1999 made by 3 climate researchers, one of which is the well-known Michael E. Mann. They created the so-called Hockeystick chart. This graph is one of the first to show that the temperature has only been rising for 100 years and not rising and falling like the previous 900 years.
The so-called Hockeystick chart which also bears the name of "global warming". Source: Wikipedia and nature
I know, we are all out of school and most of us are happy that we no longer have to look at charts like the one above. Please give me a chance, it's a pretty interesting story.
On the horizontal line you can see the years. In this case we go back from the year 2000 to the year 1000. On the left we see the temperature anomaly which indicates how the temperature was above or below what is called normal. Notice that you don't see the actual temperature. What you see is that, for example, about 1400 years ago the temperature was about 0.5 ° C lower than "normal".
See, the blue line moves up and down a bit, but suddenly, where the red line comes in, it obviously turns into a different story. The red line starts later because it shows the time when humans started taking temperature. This is pretty exciting, this is something we can all imagine. Someone clever came up with a thermometer and started measuring it once a day (duuuh yeah wow, our smartphones do it every minute these days, I know). So, luckily for us, that person also wrote it down so that we have an exact record of past time. And what do we see?
You can see, the red line starts from the blue one. Suddenly, however, it only shoots upwards. Before that, for 900 (!!) years, the weather was a little colder than normal. From 2000 years ago to 100 years ago, nothing has seriously changed. For 900 years it has been more or less the same. A little colder here, a little warmer there, but no major changes. Then, after 900 years, it goes up.
It is true that this study has suffered many attacks but it still holds up and now we can see these changes with our own eyes: talking about summer heatwaves, wild fires, stronger hurricanes, floods, etc. The general conclusion: the Earth is warming and hunting.
Due to the trend we see in the chart and many other scientists discovering the same thing in different datasets, the researchers had to give this trend a name. Since they see that the temperature is rising, they have called this trend "global warming", of course. I mean, who wouldn't do that? It's simple and yes… obvious. Now we see that the planet is generally warming up but people are confused.
Recently, winters are what feels abnormally cold and some summers have been awful too. Where's the heating? So, scientists understood, they confused the people they needed on their side, they should have chosen a different name for this phenomenon. They tried to rename it and call it climate change, but global warming is still on people's minds and confuses many.
What happened in the late 1800s that we saw such a sharp rise in temperature around the world?
Interestingly, it happens around the same time as the industrial revolution. When humans started driving steam-powered trains; when our ancestors were lucky enough to discover electricity; when the first huge industrial sites began to appear; when humans discovered they could generate energy by burning coal and wood. This is doomsday for our planet, so to speak.
We started showing off on all these new discoveries, cars, gas stoves, washing machines, lights everywhere 24/7. Nobody really thought about the consequences, it just made everyone's life better! Refrigerators were born, women eventually no longer had to wash laundry in local rivers or wells, no more freezing during the winter, we installed toilets inside our homes, we could just turn on the bed lamp so as not to touch us toe on the way back from said bathroom It was just amazing, I guess. But there is a downside to this, unfortunately.
While everyone was delighted with their newly gained freedom and comfort, no one actually thought about the consequences. This is a bit weird because if you suddenly see smoke and smog everywhere, like in 1952 in London, you might think something like, "Mhmm I'm not so sure it's cool for me to breathe this kind of air".
I know, we are all out of school and most of us are happy that we no longer have to look at charts like the one above. Please give me a chance, it's a pretty interesting story.
On the horizontal line you can see the years. In this case we go back from the year 2000 to the year 1000. On the left we see the temperature anomaly which indicates how the temperature was above or below what is called normal. Notice that you don't see the actual temperature. What you see is that, for example, about 1400 years ago the temperature was about 0.5 ° C lower than "normal".
See, the blue line moves up and down a bit, but suddenly, where the red line comes in, it obviously turns into a different story. The red line starts later because it shows the time when humans started taking temperature. This is pretty exciting, this is something we can all imagine. Someone clever came up with a thermometer and started measuring it once a day (duuuh yeah wow, our smartphones do it every minute these days, I know). So, luckily for us, that person also wrote it down so that we have an exact record of past time. And what do we see?
The arrow points upwards only
You can see, the red line starts from the blue one. Suddenly, however, it only shoots upwards. Before that, for 900 (!!) years, the weather was a little colder than normal. From 2000 years ago to 100 years ago, nothing has seriously changed. For 900 years it has been more or less the same. A little colder here, a little warmer there, but no major changes. Then, after 900 years, it goes up.
It is true that this study has suffered many attacks but it still holds up and now we can see these changes with our own eyes: talking about summer heatwaves, wild fires, stronger hurricanes, floods, etc. The general conclusion: the Earth is warming and hunting.
Due to the trend we see in the chart and many other scientists discovering the same thing in different datasets, the researchers had to give this trend a name. Since they see that the temperature is rising, they have called this trend "global warming", of course. I mean, who wouldn't do that? It's simple and yes… obvious. Now we see that the planet is generally warming up but people are confused.
Recently, winters are what feels abnormally cold and some summers have been awful too. Where's the heating? So, scientists understood, they confused the people they needed on their side, they should have chosen a different name for this phenomenon. They tried to rename it and call it climate change, but global warming is still on people's minds and confuses many.
Why does the temperature rise ??
What happened in the late 1800s that we saw such a sharp rise in temperature around the world?
Interestingly, it happens around the same time as the industrial revolution. When humans started driving steam-powered trains; when our ancestors were lucky enough to discover electricity; when the first huge industrial sites began to appear; when humans discovered they could generate energy by burning coal and wood. This is doomsday for our planet, so to speak.
We started showing off on all these new discoveries, cars, gas stoves, washing machines, lights everywhere 24/7. Nobody really thought about the consequences, it just made everyone's life better! Refrigerators were born, women eventually no longer had to wash laundry in local rivers or wells, no more freezing during the winter, we installed toilets inside our homes, we could just turn on the bed lamp so as not to touch us toe on the way back from said bathroom It was just amazing, I guess. But there is a downside to this, unfortunately.
Convenience and greenhouse gases everywhere
While everyone was delighted with their newly gained freedom and comfort, no one actually thought about the consequences. This is a bit weird because if you suddenly see smoke and smog everywhere, like in 1952 in London, you might think something like, "Mhmm I'm not so sure it's cool for me to breathe this kind of air".
Nelson's Column in London during the Great Smog of 1952 . It doesn't sound that healthy, does it?
Or, if everyone's toilet waste is turning local water into brown soup, you'd think we'd start reconsidering our actions. But hey, no judgment. Everyone was so happy to be able to shit in private and get rid of the stench. Who can blame them?
In this sense: convenience stops innovation
And therefore, people haven't actually seen how their environment has started to change. They haven't felt the consequences yet, as we do now. But the more smoke came out of those factories and the more cars were on the streets, the more greenhouse gases began to accumulate in our atmosphere. The atmosphere is a bit like a shield. It has wholes, so there is a heat exchange with the outer space. The sun brings heat, but not all because it would not be healthy for us and the atmosphere protects us from it.
Likewise, the Earth must also get rid of excess heat via the atmosphere. Greenhouse gases, however, tend to fill those "wholes" in the atmosphere through which this exchange is possible. Less heat can escape, it is trapped under the shield. However the Earth tries to balance this and the temperatures on the rise of the earth. The oceans also warm up, doing their best to balance this surplus of heat. At some point, however, it becomes too much and the Earth, as we know, begins to change.
Now we know, so we have to do it!
Now we realize this. Science has no doubts, and most people on this planet also know it's true.
We have changed this planet to the point where it becomes hostile towards us because our behavior is too great to bear. When we can change an entire planet in just 100 years, then why can't we change our life in a couple of decades or less? Science knows, we know, big companies know… Now we have to start acting on this knowledge.
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