It’s not natural factors

I am a trained and designated leader for the Climate Reality Project to discuss and present climate change related issues. As such I’ve spoken to and with a number of individuals and audiences about this issue. The single most common point of resistance I encounter in individuals, that keeps them from accepting the science of climate change, is a belief that climate change is being caused by natural factors.

To address this question as to whether climate change is being caused by the Earth’s orbit, the sun, volcanoes, deforestation, ozone, aerosol pollution or greenhouse gases, I share a graph with them reflecting each of these factors (both separately and together) for years between 1880 and 2005. You can see these graphs by going to: climate.nasa.gov/climate_resources/144/video-how-global-warming-stacks-up.

The data supporting these graphs came from NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies. Greenhouse gases attributable to human emissions are clearly responsible for the change in climate we are now experiencing.

Granted, Earth’s climate has changed as a result of natural factors in the past. The Earth has also experienced five mass extinctions in the past. Asteroids were responsible for just one mass extinction. The other four mass extinctions were caused by climate change triggered by greenhouse gases. We are now in the beginning of a sixth mass extinction that can only be checked or limited by reducing our greenhouse gas emissions. Please help by making conscious efforts to reduce your emissions.

Del Nord

Spokane Valley