The Global Warming debate continues. Experts and amateurs alike can't seem to agree on the facts - is this a man made or natural cycle?
What is Global Warming?
Global warming is a theory that the average air temperature around the globe is steadily increasing, with catastrophic effects such as rising sea levels and severe weather patterns.
While certain temperature records demonstrate a warming trend since the 1950s, these appear to be beyond the normal realm of natural climate change. This has led many people to conclude that the current climate change is being caused by some relatively new external factor – namely mankind’s industrial boom.
The Greenhouse Effect
The science behind the theory of global warming is largely based on the greenhouse effect. This process, first observed over 180 years ago, involves the emission of infrared radiation by the planet’s atmosphere. (It is not actually anything like the heating of air inside a greenhouse.)
The current global warming trend is therefore defined as the heating of the lower atmosphere due to an increased concentration of greenhouse gases in the air. Such gases include water vapour, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and ozone.
The Global Warming Debate
The issue of climate change is a complex one, fuelled by a host of different types of data (including inexact measurements of ground, sea-surface, ocean air and troposphere temperatures) and warming theories and consequences. An exhaustive list is well beyond the scope of this article.
However, in the main, supporters of anthropogenic (man-made) global warming state that the disappearance of rainforests, the growth of the hydrocarbon industries, the increase in livestock and the depletion of the ozone layer are all fundamental causes of global warming.
In contrast, opponents of the theory state that carbon dioxide levels (descended from the above factors) do not directly correlate with warming trends. Instead, they point to erroneous data (that is, no global warming) or a natural process of global warming caused by sun spots, volcanic eruptions, changes in the Earth’s orbit, or changes in the Earth’s orientation toward the sun. Supporting evidence arises from increasing arctic temperatures, glacier shrinkage and rising sea levels before the industrial revolution began¹.
Why The Uncertainty?
Some people claim that the data supporting global warming theory is circumstantial. For example, exact temperature records only go back a few hundred years (as opposed to millennia) making this a relatively short-term trend to gauge. Similarly, it is very difficult to measure sea levels, where the level of precision needed is within centimetres, which is infinitesimal on a planetary scale.
While this uncertainty throws the exact causes of global warming into debate; the considerable political, financial and environmental consequences make the truth about global warming even more critical.
A broad range of motives – coming from all angles – have been put forward to support the idea that global warming theory is false. Here are a few of note:
- The United Nations wish to promote a single, global government
- Environmentalists wish to halt the industrial development of Africa
- Climate science researchers wish to gain greater financial support
- Left-wing political activists wish to halt globalisation
- Right-wing political leaders wish to promote nuclear power
The Truth About Global Warming
On both sides of this multi-faceted global warming debate, data is often misrepresented or misused, scientific facts and processes are contorted, and conclusions from both supporters and opponents are hotly contested.
While the politicians and mainstream media generally provide a case to support man made global warming, it is the job of individuals with no political or financial bias to sort through the fact and fiction. In an age where media propaganda is rife, that may be no easy task.
Sources
2. Ocean World
4. Global Warming Debate: Irrational
