By J. Andre Faust (July 02, 2023)
There are two schools of thought on the issue of climate change as a product of human activity—those who believe that our species is responsible for climate change and those who think it's a myth or some conspiracy that the government is trying to make us believe that human activity is solely responsible.
When non-believers are challenged using the data collected from peer-reviewed research to counter their arguments, they say that the scientific methodology is a made-up justification to blame humans.
Climate change deniers will argue that the planet has undergone many climate changes in the past and what we are experiencing is expected, which is partially true. However, they fail to consider that earlier climate changes occurred over 30 thousand years plus.
How do we know that climate change has been accelerating from the start of the industrial revolution to the present day? We know that from core samples taken from the ground, glaciers, and other modern measuring techniques that have measured prehistoric and contemporary climate change rates. For us seniors, we have seen drastic climate changes in our lifetime. For the younger generation, it may not be as apparent as it is for my generation.
The following Graph shows the rate from two hundred to the present day. The consensus is that the industrial revolution began in the eighteenth century; looking at the Graph, it can be seen that the temperatures started to rise slowly, but as we move forward in the arrow of time, the rate increases drastically. By the year two thousand, the rate has become almost exponential.
With this increase, we have gone into a global warming loop, and with each iteration, the effects of climate change as a function of global warming become greater. With a significant increase in forest fires due to the human-induced greenhouse effect, additional greenhouse emissions are introduced into the atmosphere. The second part of the problem is that the glaciers are receding, exposing the permafrost to warmer temperatures. Consequently, more methane gas and carbon are released into the atmosphere, thus compounding an existing problem.
If we can't break this cycle, we may have crossed the tipping point where there is no going back, and planet Earth will become a very hostile place for the human form.
Another red flag to the consequences of climate change is the Northern jet stream.
Typically the jet stream should be a continuous undulating stream of air flowing from west to east at a high velocity.
Over the last two months, something has slowed the jet stream's speed and broken it into multiple segments. We are curious to know if, this time, the jet stream will reconstitute itself into a uniform flow as it once was.
It is not the first time that the jet stream in the northern hemisphere has broken, the difference from the past is the magnitude, and its recovery cannot be predicted at this time.
One extraneous variable that might be exacerbating the jet stream problem: the El Niño, which is currently occurring in the pacific ocean. We don't know to what extent and duration El Niño has on the jet stream.
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To summarize, since the beginning of the industrial revolution, human activity has increased the rate of climate change greater than any other period in the Earth's history.
Consequently, more greenhouse gases are being released into the atmosphere, thus increasing global temperature in shorter intervals.
Warmer temperatures are destabilizing the jet stream, which is increasing the northern temperatures. If each interaction adds to the greenhouse effect, we may have passed the tipping point, and the planet may eventually not be fit for human habitation.
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