Is the climate changing on climate change?

I’ve been a believer for decades now, but nothing to do about convincing anyone else. I do my part, I even bought an old fashioned push mower last summer to go a little greener between the big power mows. While the earth has undergone many climate changes for various reasons over the millennia I do think anyone that disputes the human impact on global warming in the last century or so is delusional.

I, too, have been a believer for decades. However, as long as the big oil companies continue to have such deep pockets – I do not think that anything will change, since these oil companies have the cash to bribe Congress (& especially since the conservative ‘Christians’ think that their ‘God’ will never allow the environment on our planet to reach the point that it will kill the humans & animals that live on it). I kid you not, in the last church that I tried to attend several years ago, NONE of them were willing to even consider the reality of Climate Change or Global Warming. They all quoted the Bible saying that ‘God’ had promised after the flood that ‘He’ would never destroy the world again. They ignore the logic & reality of Climate Change. I am in favor of logic & reality, but I do think that we are very close to the point of no return (commonly known as the ‘tipping point’).

I’m just going to wait, and later when more and more people start dying due to climate change, I’m going to stick my fingers in my ears and constantly repeat “I told you so”.

I can only hope the mood is changing. I do wish we could all stop expressing ourselves in terms of “belief” in science of any kind, though. It doesn’t help the situation at all.

As Neil deGrasse Tyson says, ”‘The good thing about science is that it’s true whether or not you believe in it.” The true question is whether we, as a species, will develop the will to deal with the issue before it’s too late (if it isn’t already).

I certainly hope so. Events like super-storm Sandy rouse a few people from their slumber. But the $40 trillion per year fossil fuel industry funds a massive disinformation and junk science industry. And you get a cold snap like we’ve just had in the US—something that is one of the extremes predicted by climate change models as a result of global warming—and the Luddites suddenly think that they can accurately measure the last 10 years of temperatures all around the Earth by waiting to a very cold day and sticking their heads out the window. An honest lack of facts is easy to fix. Willful ignorance is near impossible to change.

@Linda_Owl If you ever venture back to that church, remind them to actually READ their bibles occasionally instead of always just thumping them. God promised never to destroy the Earth again by flood. There is no promise in there to prevent mankind from destroying it by polluting its atmosphere with CO2 and methane.

Lets see, here’s a graph of human population growth and here’s one of greenhouse gases and one last one of temperature . But yea totally humans have nothing to do with it, all just coincidence I’m sure ~

Climate change is always happening. Only a fool would believe that in a dynamic and changing universe, the fixed constant would be Earth’s climate.
Once there were dinosaurs, now there are not.
Once there were glaciers south of Cleveland. Now there are not.
Someday there will be no New Orleans.
Someday the son will burn itself up.
Until then, might as well have good time.

@josie I’m confused by your post, are you implying the the current climate change isn’t anthropologic or at least accelerated due to anthropogenic activities? Are you also implying we shouldn’t be doing anything to slow down the climate change?

Sorry @ETpro , I will not be returning to the church of which I spoke. And I agree with you, the church members should spend more time reading their bibles. This was a point that I made to them before I left. The ‘God’ in Genesis did make a promise to not end the world by flooding it again, but no matter how much you read the bible, there is no way to get around the reality of Climate Change. After all, our planet will continue to exist long after our environment has been altered to the point that humans can no longer live on it. And @josie , you must not have any children or grand-children, if you did you would not display such a ‘flippant’ attitude toward the human contributions to Climate Change. Your attitude of ‘live for today’ will (ultimately) result in a world for our children & grand-children in which they will barely be able to survive.

stupid auto correct changed anthropogenic to anthropologic >_<

@josie, I too am confused by your comment. Sounds you think nothing humans are doing is affecting climate change. I think science has proved, as one of many examples, that increases amounts of carbon dioxide are killing he oceans. Sounds like man-made damage to me.

I believe climate-change to be man made, but the question of cause is moot. Whether it is made by the industrialization of the past century or not, it can not be reversed. What is needed, rather than a debate on the cause of climate change, is an international discussion on what to do about the effects: rising sea levels, super-storms, drought, shrinking polar ice, etc. It never fails that when a winter storm brings record low temperatures, some pundit will say something like “Global Warming?”

@Pachyderm_In_The_Room
I’m confused about what is confusing you.
@Linda_Owl Grand children?! Is it the avatar? I admit I was a little heavier in that picture. But grandpa?

We need to get away from a discussion about data. From now on it’s all about emotions. It’s all about metaphors. I said this before:

“Ending climate change denial is difficult, because the fossil fuel industry has hired excellent marketing professionals. It is possible to come up with simple messages to spread doubt about the seriousness of the climate problem. It is far more difficult to refute these simple messages, because climate science is complex. Still, the people who are concerned about the climate have to create good marketing strategies as well using powerful messages. Here are some I find useful:

1) Denying man-made climate change is like denying that cigarettes are addictive.

2) Denying global warming is like denying an increasing population of the United States.

3) Denying that CO2 and CH4 are greenhouse gases is like claiming that the planet Venus is made of green cheese.

4) Telling people that CO2 is fertilizer for plants is like telling people to eat more vitamin D pills.

5) Telling people that the use of fossil fuels is cheaper than green technology is like telling people that cars without seat belts are cheaper.”

I think climate change is a very more appropriate description. Yes, the climate is growing warmer, but many of my friends are too right wing and point to the colder periods of winter in some areas as “proof’ that there is no such thing. Usually my emphasizing that what is called Global Warming is actually climate change of all kinds makes them stop and reconsider my point. It doesn’t always (ok, usually doesn’t) make them change their mind but it does stop their tirade.

I think climate change is a very more appropriate? English is my native tongue? I think that CALLING IT climate change is a MORE appropriate description.

6) Pointing to colder winters as a sign that global warming isn’t real is like pointing to the smiles of a raped woman as a sign that she was never raped.

@GracieT – We need additional metaphors for every nut arguments right wings folks come up with. Are there more? Just let me know.

@GracieT reminds me of people who don’t know the difference between a theory and scientific theory and think that scientific theories are just guesses at what is going on.

See related new question:

http://www.fluther.com/155422/what-are-the-most-common-positions-taken-by-climate-change-deniers/

Climate change is happening, yes I do believe it. And concerning those who don’t. there isn’t much we can to convince them, just wait for them to realize it themselves. People have tendency to be very stubborn when it comes to what they believe or how they feel about certain things. And about mitigating the effects of climate change, I don’t think there is much we can do. But we can always try and stop what causes it to the best we can. Of course it will take many years before any changes will be seen.