Climate Change… Man Made or Chinese Hoax?

By: Abby Bogal

If you have been keeping up with the 2016 presidential election, you probably aren’t the first to notice that the majority of the discussions are filled with name calling, interruptions, and pointing out the flaws in their opponents. But, if you listen close enough, sometimes you can catch some important biological topics being discussed. In the science community, global warming is a topic which many scientists (90%-100% to be exact) have the same views on. Most presidential candidates have the same views, with an exception to Donald Trump who once tweeted, “The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive” Whereas, during a Democratic primary debate in Miami, early in March 2016, Hillary Clinton clearly states

“You can see already what’s happening in Miami, particularly in Miami Beach with tides rising. So we do have to invest in resilience and mitigation while we are trying to cut emissions and make up for the fact this is clearly man-made and man-aggravated.”

Some people might believe that climate change and global warming are the same thing, which is not true. To clear up any misconceptions, by definition, global warming is the increase on the average temperature near the Earth’s surface. Climate change is the changes that go along with global warming. For example; changes in weather patterns, the oceans, ice, snow, and ecosystems. 

The purpose of this article is to inform readers on the facts about climate change. The facts are that scientists have the research and data to back up that climate change has been affected by human civilization. It is happening at a rate which is already effecting the future generations to come.

According to NASA, the current warming trend is in all probability human-induced. 90%-100% of climate scientists conclude that humans are the cause of recent global warming, which backs up Hillary’s statement. That being said, even if humans stopped producing greenhouse gases today, we wouldn’t see a change in global warming and climate change for at least a few more decades, maybe centuries. The reason we wouldn’t see an immediate response is because CO2 lingers in the atmosphere because the heat is trapped. According to the latest estimates, temperatures are expected to rise an average 10.8 °F.

In a peer reviewed 2014 Synthesis Report, it is stated that “Human influence on the climate system is clear, and recent anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases are the highest in history.” The last three decades have been recorded as the warmest decades since 1850, and further use of greenhouse gases will cause further warming. Since the mid-20^th century, it is very likely that human influences are contributed to the changes in frequency and intensity of daily temperatures.  Evidence of human influence on climate change has been growing rapidly, and changes in ocean and marine organisms are linked to human influence. This report states that to limit climate change, substantial and sustained reductions in the use of greenhouse gas emissions is required.

In the picture below, the data shows that atmospheric CO2 has risen drastically since the Industrial Revolution. This is largely attributed to population growth and economic.

(Credit: Vostok ice core data/J.R. Petit et al.; NOAA Mauna Loa CO2 record.)

            So, is the sun to blame? According to the NOAA, It is extremely unlikely that global temperatures have risen because of the energy we are getting from the sun. The amount of solar energy the sun is giving off has reportedly not increased, based on an 11-year cycle. In the same time frame, global temperature has risen immensely. Therefore, it is highly unlikely that the drastic change in climate is due to the sun.

            Again bringing up the Industrial Revolution, the concentration of CO2 has risen about 35% since that time. According to this source, there are three ways to indicate evidence of humans being a primary cause of climate change. The first being humans basic understanding of greenhouse gases and how our atmosphere traps heat, and how the climate responds to the increase of greenhouse gases, and other human and natural factors influence climate. Second, scientists use indirect estimates from the last 1,000 to 2,000 years to observe living things such as trees and their remains that show how climate change has effected its natural pattern. And third, evidence is based off of computer models built to show how we expect climate to behave under certain human influences.

            Llissa Ocko, a climate scientist, concludes that humans have affected Earth’s climate for the next tens of thousands of years. New research shows that humans delayed the next ice age. We have already effected the lives generations thousands of years in the future. How did we do it? By the rate of which humans are burning fossil fuels in the past couple of centuries, we’ve added an incredible amount of carbon dioxide into the Earth’s atmosphere. The excess warming will disrupt the cause of the next ice age (which isn’t due for another 50,000 years from now, by the way.)

            And last but not least, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research further backs up Hillary Clintons statement in this article. Co-author, Joachim Schellnhuber states that humanity has become its own geological force. Experiments show that even a very small addition of carbon emissions will most likely affect the evolution of the Northern Hemisphere ice sheets for the next tens of thousands of years. Likewise, moderate carbon emissions are bound to delay the next ice age. That being said, there is currently no evidence of the beginning of a new ice age.

            The picture below reflects on the rate that glacier thickness is changing within the last half century. You can clearly see that glaciers worldwide are decreasing in thickness as a result from trapped CO2 humans are creating.

            In conclusion, evidence supports the statement that humans have a huge impact on climate change and global warming. Hillary Clinton looked at the facts, and made an educated statement. With a plethora of research, data, and experiments, it is wildly agreed that since the Industrial Revolution, climate change has been growing rapidly. Sources like NASA, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and Llissa Ocko; a climate scientist, and many others all conclude that humans are burning fossil fuels and producing greenhouse gases at a rate which is raising sea levels, melting glaciers, and raising global temperatures. So is climate change a Chinese hoax? I’m afraid not, my friends.