Why I stand with science?
We need to ask more ‘why’ questions?
This post was inspired by comments on a Facebook related to the news headline, Clear and unequivocal: Thousands of scientists sign letter on the climate crisis. What I’ve tried to do in the following post, is distinguish between the concepts of “global warming” and “climate change”.
To often these terms are used interchangeably and that leads, I think, to a great deal of confusion. It also plays into the hands of skeptics who scoff at the concept of “climate change” as being nothing more than something caused by a cyclical variance in the weather patterns. Scientists, on the other hand, have focussed their attention on “global warming”.
1. First, let’s talk about the history of global cooling and warming?
It’s generally agreed the earth’s surface temperature has changed considerably over the last 12,000 to 15,000 years. Indeed, while it has been changing throughout history and pre-history, in this post I only reference the recent history of the western hemisphere. It starts with an ice age that covered what is much of that which is Canada today. Take a look at Vancouver Island (sketch below) – that was us, then.
During the Ice Age, the Earth’s average temperature was about 12 degrees Fahrenheit (6.7c) colder than it is today. That was enough to keep snow from melting during the summers in northern regions. As snow fell on the snow, glaciers formed. (NASA Earth Observatory)
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