Climate scientists drive stake through heart of skeptics' argument

[Rhiannon12866]

New research shows that the recent rise in global temperatures is unlike anything seen on Earth during the past 2,000 years.

Global warming skeptics sometimes say rising temperatures are just another naturally occurring shift in Earth’s climate, like the Medieval Warm Period of the years 800 to 1200 or the Little Ice Age, a period of cooling that spanned from roughly 1300 to 1850.

But a pair of studies published Wednesday provides stark evidence that the rise in global temperatures over the past 150 years has been far more rapid and widespread than any warming period in the past 2,000 years — a finding that undercuts claims that today’s global warming isn’t necessarily the result of human activity.

“The familiar maxim that the climate is always changing is certainly true,” Scott St. George, a physical geographer at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, said in a written commentary about the studies. “But even when we push our perspective to the earliest days of the Roman Empire, we cannot discern any event that is remotely equivalent — either in degree or extent — to the warming over the last few decades.”

Since the beginning of the 20th century, the global average temperature on Earth has risen by about 2 degrees Fahrenheit. A consensus of climate scientists pins the increase primarily on the burning of fossil fuels, which spews carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping greenhouse gases into the air. In the absence of concerted efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the United Nations says, the global average temperature could rise an additional 5.4 to 9 degrees Fahrenheit by 2100.

One of the studies, published in the journal Nature, shows that the Little Ice Age and other natural fluctuations affected only limited regions of the planet at a time, making modern warming the first and only planetwide warm period in the past two millennia. The other study, published in Nature Geoscience, shows that the rate of modern warming has far outpaced changes that occurred before the rise of the industrial era.


Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/mach/science/climate-scientists-drive-stake-through-heart-skeptics-argument-ncna1033646



A painting of a "frost fair" on River Thames in London in 1814 during a period known as the Little Ice Age when the river sometimes froze. 1814 was the last year a frost fair was held on the Thames. Guildhall Library and Art Gallery via Getty Images

[Kablooie]

1. This is the same exact argument Gore made over a decade ago.

He had the numbers to back it up back then too.
Didn't change any Republican minds back then and won't now.
They don't believe in data.
They only believe what they want to and what Faux tells them.

[Judi Lynn]

2. Thank you for the article. The painting, learning about the "Frost Fair" was amazing, also. n/t

[appalachiablue]

3. K & R Thanks for posting