Blog Action Day: What Condition Our Climate Change Condition is in

Posted by at Oct 15th, 2009 in Climate Change

Filed under: Climate Change

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So, scientists (and politicians) have been studying climate change for decades now and what do we actually know about it, (other than the planet’s ice caps seem to be doomed)? What is the current status of our planet’s current status? And what can we expect in the near future?

Ask climate scientists what the effects of climate change will amount to in the next couple of decades and you’ll likely get a variety of predictions ranging from a temporary cool down to the record smashing heat waves. So, what gives? Why does it feel like these predictions are about as reliable as your local TV weatherman’s?

I’m no scientist — that’s for sure — and that’s exactly why I want short simple answers to the most basic questions at the root of climate change.
Unfortunately, the only way to even begin to understand the debate over climate change requires a somewhat dispassionate breakdown of all the factions involved. Thankfully, the BBC has done a pretty good job of that for us .

Contrary to popular belief, there is more to this debate than just “Team Al Gore” and “The Deniers.” We know all about the people who are completely convinced that anthropogenic greenhouse gases have condemned most of mankind to a Water World-ish existence. We also know that there are dudes out there who will deny man’s effect on the planet at any costs.

There are numerous, lesser-known groups you should probably know about. Here are just a few: the “Sun Worshipers,” the “Sun Spot Skeptics,” the “Ocean-o-philes,” and “Team We’re Doomed Anyways.” Here’s a quick rundown of these players and their predictions for the future of our climate.

Sun Worshipers - Let’s face it, there’s really nothing about our climate that’s not affected by the sun, so these guys definitely have a point. In a nutshell, these guys say that there’s evidence that the sun drove the warming at the end of the 20th Century (with or without the help of humans).

Sun Spot Skeptics - These are the guys who basically do the Solar debunking. Led by the Royal Society, scientists in this camp recently published research to indicate that increased Solar output was clearly not responsible for the warming over the last 20-40 years — but there are always new theories to refute.

Ocean-o-philes - Perhaps the most groundbreaking piece of the climate change puzzle was recently discovered by Professor Don Easterbrook of Western Washington University. It’s called the Pacific decadal oscillation (PDO) and it’s basically a 30-year ocean cycle that just finished a warm cycle. If he’s right, we should be in for another 30-year cool cycle.

Team We’re Doomed Anyways - This group — perhaps the largest group of all — believes that regardless of short-term warming and cooling trends, we need to be looking at the whole enchilada here, not just the tortilla or the lettuce. When you do that, they say, the future looks warm, wet and less than ideal. For example, IPCC panelist Mojib Latif believes that we are currently in an ocean-driven cooling phase, only to be followed by a scorching hot man-made warm up.

So, there you have it. Our climate is clearly confused and could probably use an ample portion of extra strength Icy Hot on hand; icy to dull the pain, hot to relax it away. Then, maybe a nice massage and spa treatment. Blog Action Day: What Condition Our Climate Change Condition is in originally appeared on Green Daily on Thu, 15 Oct 2009 14:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

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