My Modern Metropolis

Understanding the global warming arguments

This amazingly good graphic outlines the key arguments by global warming deniers and the corresponding arguments from climate scientists. In the middle of each pair of arguments is a graph of the data in question. this is BY FAR the clearest and most concise view of this incredibly important topic that I have ever seen. It was created by David McCandless and represents a huge amount of work distilling down the arguments and the data into something we can all understand. You can see the original here on his blog Information is Beautiful.


After looking at this, do you believe the climate scientists are correct?

Tags: environment

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Permalink Reply by Dijana on December 15, 2009 at 12:48pm
thats interesting information Mark. Thanks for sharing.
Permalink Reply by Ashley on December 15, 2009 at 1:06pm
I'm not at all as educated in this subject as I should be, but I do believe twe are an equal part of it. We simply don't know enough about our planet's natural cycles to make any sort of verdict on the case.

Global warming or no, there is still no excuse to litter and forgo recycling. Some things should just be common sense. We don't own the planet, we're simply tenets. If we keep destroying our resources like we are then I have no doubt in my mind that we will be evicted.
Permalink Reply by Mark Huckabee on December 15, 2009 at 1:17pm
I know you meant "tenants" but "tenets" is actually pretty funny. We are only a widely held belief :<)
Permalink Reply by Charles on December 15, 2009 at 1:47pm
Wow thanks Mark. There are actually people who don't recognize global warming? They should conduct a worldwide study of glacier melts, unless there's a theory that denies the law of melting.
Permalink Reply by Mark Huckabee on December 16, 2009 at 3:06am
i consider myself a scientist and I always try to be guided by the facts -- not my own opinion and definitely not what some corporation tells me I should believe. In this debate though there is a LOT of money at stake and a LOT of status quo that will have to change. Whenever there is a situation like this you will see people spreading FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt). Some will be doing it because they are genuinely concerned that the science isn't right. That group is what this poster is for. Some will do it because they are either stupid or crazy and think everything is a conspiracy. You can't help those people. The largest group though are those who have a vested interest in keeping things as they are. Think of the Coal Mining Industry -- they have a lot to lose if people really understand the impact they are having on the environment. The true cost of burning coal to generate electricity is probably ten times higher than what we pay if you consider all the damage that is done. This last group is either in the pay of these industries or heavily invested in their future. They exist and they have powerful friends in Congress. These people cannot be convinced because they have no interest in the facts. The best we can do with them is to educate everyone else with information like this so that hopefully we will be able to counter their weak arguments.
Permalink Reply by sAm on December 16, 2009 at 10:13am
Once again, well said Mark!
Permalink Reply by Kevin on December 15, 2009 at 2:56pm
I think that people who deny Global Warming would have been the same people in the past who insisted the Earth was flat. If you look at the deniers in this country it is the Republican rank and file a party that has real issues with science and considers intellect to be an elitist flaw. The Republican politicians are also in the pockets of the oil and coal lobby who don't want any change in the way we do things. Scientists however are paid to learn, invent and expand our understanding of the world. I'll throw my hat in with those guys over vested corporate interests any day.
Permalink Reply by Kevin on December 15, 2009 at 3:53pm
Eugene Mirman, Climate Protest Covering Machine
Permalink Reply by grace on December 16, 2009 at 8:41pm
Over the holiday break, I am going to really study this chart, look over the discussion here and read into this topic more.
Permalink Reply by Inka Leoni on December 20, 2009 at 5:23pm
Okay so this is about CO2 emissions and its effect or non-effect.

But ehm...So what exactly made the ozone layer get a hole in it? And why is it getting bigger?

Im sure the hole has more to do with humans having caused it rather than something that is natural (/supposed to be there).
Permalink Reply by Mark Huckabee on December 20, 2009 at 7:48pm
The hole in the ozone is different than global warming. It was caused by CFC compounds we used to use going up into the atmosphere and reacting with sunlight (see full explanation here). It is a good example though of what can happen when scientists tell us something is wrong and we all work to fix it. We really clamped down on CFCs and the hole should repair itself.

CO2 emissions are different than CFCs though in some important ways. CO2 comes from so many different sources and the environment interacts with CO2 in many complicated ways. Plants take in CO2 and release the oxygen (O2) that we breathe. The plants keep the carbon (the C part) to grow. Oil and Coal are basically just plants that died long ago and were crushed down under the earth into their present form. When we burn them in our cars or power plants the carbon recombines with oxygen and is released as CO2. But CO2 doesn't harm the ozone. Instead it goes up into the atmosphere and affects the way sunlight is absorbed or reflected by the earth. If earth absorbs more sunlight it gets hotter. If it reflect more it gets colder. More CO2 makes it absorb more.

CO2 is however a natural part of our planet. It was here long before humans existed. Plants interact with CO2 as I described above but the oceans do too. The oceans can absorb and release huge amounts of CO2 depending on conditions. That is why some people say that all our emissions aren't really affecting things that much. We now know that isn't true.

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