I hadn't ever really researched global warming previously, but to me it seemed like something that obviously exists. Temperature is rising (although slowly), ice is melting... whether or not the warming is man made, it seems to exist, so denying it seems foolish.
Then it occured to me that perhaps it's just a cycle - we've had ice ages, after all, so surely it can go the other way. I started doing a bit of research and I found this:
Aha! So there are indeed warm cycles and from the looks of this thing we're at "the warm end" of one. So that's it, it's just a cycle, no big deal...
Wait a minute:
Carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
I look at the graph... the highest it's ever been in 400,000 years is ~300 ppm. INTERESTING...
I tried to find out just how much CO2 we're emitting compared to other sources (the ocean, plants, other animals, etc) and finally managed to figure out that the amount we emit per year is in fact, quite small in comparison to say, the ocean. These are approximate figures but humans emit approximately 25 gigatons of CO2 per year, while the ocean emits around 440 gigatons.
So no big deal right? Our emissions are like a drop in the bucket!
But wait, did I mention the ocean also absorbs 440-450 gigatons of CO2 as well? It seems global warming deniers like to leave this part out when they try to use the "drop in the bucket" argument.
If history is any indicator (it is) then our planet was more or less in homeostasis when it comes to its carbon cycles
Goes up... goes down... goes up... and down again.
Then here we come, the humans. We create some super awesome shit that spews a meager 25 gigatons of CO2 into the air every year.
25 gigatons that was never there before.
It wasn't there.
Now it is.
You add in a new factor, you ruin the homeostasis, and some shit is going to happen. The earth can't somehow compensate for the additional 25 gigatons. It's not sprouting more trees (it's actually losing them since we just love cutting them down). Atmospheric CO2 levels are increasing, and CO2 levels are correlated with increased temperatures (as seen above). They're increasing and they're not going to go down.
So what's my conclusion?
Global warming is real, and we're causing it.
Come at me bros.
Then it occured to me that perhaps it's just a cycle - we've had ice ages, after all, so surely it can go the other way. I started doing a bit of research and I found this:
Aha! So there are indeed warm cycles and from the looks of this thing we're at "the warm end" of one. So that's it, it's just a cycle, no big deal...
Wait a minute:
Carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
I look at the graph... the highest it's ever been in 400,000 years is ~300 ppm. INTERESTING...
I tried to find out just how much CO2 we're emitting compared to other sources (the ocean, plants, other animals, etc) and finally managed to figure out that the amount we emit per year is in fact, quite small in comparison to say, the ocean. These are approximate figures but humans emit approximately 25 gigatons of CO2 per year, while the ocean emits around 440 gigatons.
So no big deal right? Our emissions are like a drop in the bucket!
But wait, did I mention the ocean also absorbs 440-450 gigatons of CO2 as well? It seems global warming deniers like to leave this part out when they try to use the "drop in the bucket" argument.
If history is any indicator (it is) then our planet was more or less in homeostasis when it comes to its carbon cycles
Goes up... goes down... goes up... and down again.
Then here we come, the humans. We create some super awesome shit that spews a meager 25 gigatons of CO2 into the air every year.
25 gigatons that was never there before.
It wasn't there.
Now it is.
You add in a new factor, you ruin the homeostasis, and some shit is going to happen. The earth can't somehow compensate for the additional 25 gigatons. It's not sprouting more trees (it's actually losing them since we just love cutting them down). Atmospheric CO2 levels are increasing, and CO2 levels are correlated with increased temperatures (as seen above). They're increasing and they're not going to go down.
So what's my conclusion?
Global warming is real, and we're causing it.
Come at me bros.
