Corey Seggerty

BIOL-1010-022-F16
Issue Paper – Climate Change

While the term climate change could be used to describe any change in significant temperature

or weather patterns, the term now is widely recognized as describing a planet wide increase in average

temperatures which has been causally tied to the increased emission of greenhouse gases by humans

especially in the mid to late 20th century and beyond. The term is often used interchangeably with

Global Warming. Carbon dioxide has been identified as the driving contributor, mostly emitted by the

burning of fossil fuels, but the increase in the emission of methane for example has also been named.

This paper presents two widely varying positions on the scientific merits of Climate Change.

The Climate Change 2014 report published by the IPCC offers most of the scientific evidence

needed to tie increased carbon dioxide emissions to an increase in global temperature and an

associated shift in precipitation. The report provides evidence that “each of the last three decades has

been successively warmer at the Earth’s surface than any preceding decade since 1850” (IPCC, 2014, p.

2) . The data provided shows a 0.85 increase in degrees Celsius from 1880 to 2012. This development

also ties in with an increase in sea level – which is only logical as increased temperature leads to an

increase in melting ice at the poles and a decrease in glacier mass worldwide. The report furthermore

states that in the same timeframe, the globally averaged greenhouse gas concentration has significantly

increased with an exponential growth curve for carbon dioxide and similar but lower increases for

methane and nitrous oxide (Liverman, 2007).

Climate Change skeptics can usually be grouped into two variations of opinions. The first

argument would be that there are a plethora of reasons that can explain global warming. The sun,

clouds, oceans, orbital variations of the earth are among possible explanations and that these up and

downs in global temperature have occurred naturally throughout the planet’s history. Critics of the man-
made climate change hypothesis postulate that there is no supporting evidence that carbon dioxide is

the dominating factor behind global warming. Many skeptics argue that that our climate is an incredibly

complex system and that a sole increase in CO2 in the atmosphere would not be enough to lead to a

significant change in climate. They argue that the greenhouse effect is just one among many other

factors that influence the Earth’s climate and that these processes would be able to compensate for an

increase in greenhouse gases. Effectively, this side of the argument proposes that while there may be

correlation between the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and an increase in average

temperature, there would not be causation. The second group of climate change deniers would argue

that even if climate change is a man-made phenomenon, this would not necessarily be a bad

development. They propose that increased CO2 levels and the associated temperature increases would

extend growing seasons and would allow areas closer to the poles to grow new and different crops.

They furthermore suggest that even if climate change would have a negative effect, the consequences

would not nearly be a dire as the media and global political leaders would make these out to be. Climate

change skeptics and deniers would point out that global warming would not lead to an increase in

natural disasters or a significant rise in sea levels (Lindzen, 2016).

I believe that we have a finite amount of resources on our planet; resources such as fossil fuels

are not easily replaceable once exhausted. At the rate the global population is growing and those

resources are being exhausted, humanity puts a strain on the planet which has unforeseeable

consequences. Climate Change is one of those consequences that is actually observable and scientifically

well documented. While researching this paper, well founded scientific studies could be easily located,

while it appears Climate Change skeptics are unable to make a convincing argument for their position.

Simply denying causality when faced with strong statistical evidence or downplaying potential

consequences does not hold up in light of collected data. The risk we would take by hoping Climate

Change is not real or the consequences won’t be as dire as portrayed is just too great.
Bibliography
IPCC. (2014). Climate Change 2014: Synthesis Report. Contribution of Working Groups I, II and III to the
Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Geneva,
Switzerland: IPCC.

Lindzen, R. S. (2016). Global warming: The science in three nut shells. New Criterion, 34(12).

Liverman, D. (2007). From Uncertain to Unequivocal. Environment: Science And Policy For Sustainable
Development, 49(8).