by Gabe Mouer
This week we end our countdown with what I believe to be the most pervasive myth regarding climate change. This myth roots itself in a misreading of historical data and is prevalent among laymen as well as a small handful of academics.
This week we end our countdown with what I believe to be the most pervasive myth regarding climate change. This myth roots itself in a misreading of historical data and is prevalent among laymen as well as a small handful of academics.
1) “The world is warming due to natural climate variability,
it has warmed and cooled drastically long before modern humans were around.”
I give this
misconception the coveted number one spot because it has some hard science to
back its claim. It is true, the world has gone through variable fluxes in the
past that had nothing to do with human activity- look to the Medieval Warm
Period of 950-1250 CE, or the Little Ice Age that occurred soon after.[1]
The climate has swayed to the will of a variety of external changes such as the
solar activity from the sun, which was the case during the Medieval Warm
Period, or large volcanic eruptions that block sunlight thereby cooling the
planet. But as James Wight explains, “Climate reacts to whatever
forces it to change at the time; humans are now the dominant force.”[2]
How do we
know that Global Warming is anthropogenic? We need only to look at the plethora
of empirical studies from scientists across party lines that are published each
year.[3] The dangers of resisting to accept our
responsibility could very well spell the eventual end to life on this planet.
Unlike the fluctuations of the past, our current predicament is not an ebb and
flow of warm or cool climate, but a human invention that can only be corrected
if we acknowledge that we have to change ourselves. The intricacies of how we
go about fixing it is another matter altogether, but if we can align the
beliefs of the public with that of experts perhaps we can work to move the
discussion forward.
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