Trump is Stumped
By: Ammon Riley
Trump
has controversial stances on climate change. In January of this year, Trump
said “Well, I think the climate change is just a very, very expensive form of
tax. A lot of people are making a lot of money. I know much about climate
change. I'd be — received environmental awards. And I often joke that this is
done for the benefit of China. Obviously, I joke. But this is done for the
benefit of China, because China does not do anything to help climate change.
They burn everything you could burn; they couldn't care less. They have very —
you know, their standards are nothing. But they — in the meantime, they can
undercut us on price. In a rally in S.C. he also said “Obama's talking about
all of this with the global warming and … a lot of it's a hoax. It's a hoax. I
mean, it's a money-making industry, okay? It's a hoax, a lot of it." In short
trump does not believe about climate change, and he has said it numerous times,
and he has also tweeted about it multiple times. (Jacobson)
Purpose: The purpose of this blog
article is to inform the reader that there is substantial evidence that climate
change is occurring as we speak, therefore contradicting Donald Trump's
comments.
Evidence: There is substantial
evidence to support the fact that climate change is happening. There are
multiple factors that attribute to this claim. CO2 levels are one major indicator
scientists use. The average global temperature and also the level of the ice
caps on the poles are another couple of very large indicators. It's also clear
that mankind is the reason for the increased CO2 levels.
In
an article from NASA, a graph was provided that shows the patterns in CO2
levels in the past. It can clearly be seen that the graph has an obvious cycle
of ups and downs. However, the end of the graph shows that in recent times the
CO2 levels in the atmosphere have reached record levels. Never before (up to
400,000 years ago) have the CO2 levels been as high as they currently are.
This graph, based on the comparison
of atmospheric samples contained in ice cores and more recent direct
measurements, provides evidence that atmospheric CO2 has increased since the Industrial
Revolution. (Credit: Vostok ice core data/J.R. Petit et al.; NOAA Mauna Loa CO2
record.)
The article also states that CO2
has heat trapping properties, which is part of the reason the earth's temperature
has risen in recent times. (http://climate.nasa.gov/evidence/)
In
an article by skeptical science (http://www.skepticalscience.com/evidence-for-global-warming.htm) There are ten indicators for global
warming that we can observe. Land surface air temperature, Sea surface
temperature, air temperature over the oceans, lower troposphere temperature,
ocean heat content, sea level, specific humidity, glacier levels, northern
Hemisphere snow cover, and arctic sea ice. Land surface air temperature, sea
surface temperature, air temperature, lower troposphere temperature, and ocean
sea content have all increased in recent years. The sea level, glacier level, northern
hemisphere snow cover, and the arctic sea ice level have all fallen. The arctic
sea ice has had the largest decline relative to these other factors. This
causes a rise in sea level. This infographic from skepticalscience.com provides
a visual aid to these factors.
In
an article by the Union of Concerned Scientists http://www.ucsusa.org/our-work/global-warming/science-and-impacts/global-warming-science#.V_8B7-2Vs8o
we are provided with more specific evidence regarding temperature. The average
temperature around the world has increased in the past 35 years by 1.5 degrees
F. They say that this is correlated to the CO2 levels in the atmosphere, which
can be seen to have a steady increase in recent years due to the NASA graph
above. The article says the way that CO2 does this is by reflecting heat from
the sun back onto the Earth's surface after it has “bounced” off of the ground
so to speak. CO2 levels can be attributed to some natural causes but the
article states that it would be impossible for these natural causes to change
the CO2 levels at the rate they are changing. The article also states that
there is an “overwhelming consensus that global warming is happening and that
human activity is the primary cause.” They then talk about the ipcc, or
intergovernmental panel for climate change – which brings me to my next
article.
In
an assesment cycle done by the IPCC (intergovernmental panel for climate
change) climate change is further discussed. http://www.climatechange2013.org/images/report/WG1AR5_SPM_FINAL.pdf
This journal makes some very
bold statements about climate change. In the field of science one can never
really say that something is 100% prove, they can only use words like
“supported”. However, the journal seems to try and make the verbiage as severe
as possible, in an attempt to really get the severity of climate change across.
In reference to the atmosphere they say it is “virtually certain” that the
troposphere has warmed since the mid20th century. They also stated
that cycles world temperatures did exist and were recorded in the medieval
climate, however these anomalies did not occur as coherently across the globe
as they due today. The journal also describes the cryosphere, sea level, carbon
and other biogeochemical cycles, the drivers of climate change, and gives an evaluation
of climate models. There are many more topics described in this journal,
however I am out of room for them in this paper.
In
summary Donald Trump is lying. (Also I could find no evidence to show that
global warming was a chinese hoax). Climate change is very real and also a very
serious problem. From CO2 levels to temperature levels. From sea level to the
polar ice caps. There are many things that clearly indicate that global warming
is happening as we speak. One could write an entire paper on the negative
effects of it.
Wolff, J., Et al. (n.d.). Climate Change Evidence and Causes. Royal Society and US National
Academy of Sciences.
Shaftell, H. (Ed.). (2016, October 5). Global Climate Change
Vital Signs of the Planet. Retrieved September 12, 2016, from http://climate.nasa.gov/evidence/
I. (2013, September 26). Climate Change 2013. Climate Change The Physical Science Basics.
UCSUSA. (n.d.). Global Warming Science. Retrieved October
12, 2016, from http://www.ucsusa.org/our-work/global-warming/science-and-impacts/global-warming-science#.V_8B7-2Vs8o
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