Global warming?

Question

I am trying to convince my dad that global warming is real. If anyone has any ideas on how to convince him, it would be much appreciated. Please. This is very important to me. If I can change his mind, then maybe he would have more respect for what I believe in. Thank you.

Answer 1

CO2 is 30% higher than it has been for 650,000 years. Methane is 130% greater. These are two of the main pollutants humans put into the atmosphere in excess, and they are two of the primary greenhouse gases.

Look at the 'hockeystick', which shows a dramatic warming since 1950 after a fairly stable climate for 1000 years. In fact, the 10 hottest years in recorded history have all happened since 1990, with 2005 being the hottest.
(see links below)

How's that for proof of man's fault in this? There is ample proof, any real scientist will tell you that.

There has NEVER been an article doubting man's influence on global warming published in a peer-reviewed journal. A recent study of almost 1000 proved that.

Yes, the earth naturally heats and cools, but the rate and amount we are warming now is unprecedented in the recent geologic past. We are doing this, and we must stop it. This is not some political statement or rhetoric. This is science trying to educate a crass, ignorant public of the damage they are doing. The magnitude of temperature increase ALREADY is about 10x that of the 'little ice age' of the middle ages, and rate and amount are only going up.

Just to be clear, glacial and interglacial cycles are mainly controlled by astronomical fluctuations, but we have a detailed record of the last 7 cycles, and what the climate and CO2 is doing now is way different and extreme. The rate of increase is much higher than in the past AND the value itself is much higher.

HI CO2:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4467420.stm
HOCKEY STICK:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/5109188.stm
General climate stuff:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3897061.stm

Answer 2

Anyone who looks at global warming with a critical eye knows that it is far from "proven." There are plenty of doubters out there, including in the scientific community. But they are ignored and we are told that scientists are in consensus about it. Never mind that it's a lie, but since when has consensus in science actually meant a damn?

Science is about proof and evidence. There was a time when the consensus was that the earth was flat. There was a time when the consensus was that the heavens revolved around the earth. There was a time when the consensus said that man will never fly. Scientific proof has proved these wrong.

Just in the last couple of weeks, the UN has revised downwards by 25% it's estimations of global sea level rise due to global warming.

The earth goes through natural warming and cooling cycles, including periods warmer than now, even before man had much of a footprint on this planet. Especially between 1100 and 1300. Somehow, nature, and man, survived just fine.

Don't fall for all the global warming doom and gloom stories. Man has been predicting environmental doom for decades. Remember Erlich's Population Bomb. The world was supposed to be plunged into worldwide famine back in the 80's. Billions were supposed to die off because the planet could not sustain us. Did it happen?

No less than 4 times in the past century has the media sounded the alarm about climate change. First it was global cooling, then global warming, then cooling again, now warming again. Do you sense a pattern here? We go through cooling and warming cycles, and the media jumps on it and tries to scare the hell out of us. The global termperature has been cooling since 1998. In about 10-15 more years, the alarmist media will notice that we are going through another cooling cycle, and sound the alarm again about global cooling.

Answer 3

Geologists have determined from marine terrace data that the sea level is higher than it has been in the last 120,000 years. This is due to ice caps melting off the surface lands of Greenland and Antarctica, no other reason. There is no doubt that the climate is warming. What there is disagreement about is whether the warming is cyclical or caused by man. Have your father look at a newer geology textbook.

Answer 4

I have a hard time convincing people too. Sometimes i use cold hard facts, like using graphs from scientific magazines. I would really try showing him an episode if NOVA i saw freshman year in high school, called "Dimming The Sun" It's a little slow-paced, but it's relatively short when compared to An Inconvienient Truth. It scared a lot of people and got them thinking. Also try mentioning how important this is to you (so he'll be more open to listening) and show him little changes in everyday life a person can do to help the cause and save money, like change to fluorescent/LED lightbulbs and walking more, because parents like to save money. Good Luck!

Answer 5

If you desire to acquire supply cash for local weather study, do you feel that you can get a cheque should you say," I want the supply, as I feel that I can turn out that the figures that the present paradigm is headquartered upon are mistaken" ? The pleasant environmentalist, David Bellamy, has been silenced, and refused airtime. There remains to be no demonstrated causative hyperlink among the volume of Co2 within the surroundings, and an develop in worldwide temperatures. The WWWF photos of the polar bears swimming have been taken within the Arctic summer time; while the ice cap in part melts, as they could not rise up to snapshot within the iciness. The ice used to be too thick! The East-Anglian uni study figures. "Oh! The figures do not fit our expectancies. Oh good. Keep quiet. Because we all know that we're correct." When the perception, and the religion is extra fundamental than squarely dealing with the reliable doubts of plenty of non supply-supported scientists, technology has been superceded by means of devout zealots. As Oliver Cromwell colourfully mentioned." I pray thee, within the bowels of Christ, keep in mind that thou mayest be mistaken."

Answer 6

Take some upper division Physics and Chem. courses. Some post-grad work would be good too. If you still think that 'global warming' is legit after that, you just might be able to sway your Dads' opinion. Of course, you could also find out the opposite is true, which is 'global warming' is a hack pseudo science being pushed on you by the politically correct set and the media. Unfortunately, until you take some science classes for yourself, you will never really know.

Answer 7

PBS did many documentaries and you can access them online actually at PBS.org. It's really unlikely for something that have been well accepted in scientific community to be a 'hoax.' After all you can't see atoms, but quantum mechanics allow things like DVD players, semiconductors...etc to be produced. Studies during 911 when all plane traffics were grounded showed measureable change in temperature range. If couple of days of no airplanes over US can have measureable effect on temperature range its not far fetch to believe humans probably did effect climate for quite some time.

Answer 8

global warming, in a manner of speaking. if u try to convince ur dad on the summer season because these days every year when summer comes, it gets very hot. and every year it fells hotter than last year's and if try convincing ur dad on that summer season that it's getting hotter every year. the temperature rises more.

Answer 9

number 1, never try to convince your parents of anything.
if they don't have respect for you now, they most likely, never will.

number 2, if your father doesn't have enough education in science to believe in global warming already, anything you present to him will only look like witchcraft anyway.

but if you must try:
http://www.ucsusa.org/ssi/archive/ozone-climate-connection.html
http://www.pewclimate.org/global-warming-basics/facts_and_figures/
Scientists have calculated that volcanoes emit between about 130-230 million tonnes (145-255 million tons) of CO2 into the atmosphere every year (Gerlach, 1999, 1992). This estimate includes both subaerial and submarine volcanoes, about in equal amounts. Emissions of CO2 by human activities, including fossil fuel burning, cement production, and gas flaring, amount to about 22 billion tonnes per year (24 billion tons) [ ( Marland, et al., 1998)
Human activities release more than 150 times the amount of CO2 emitted by volcanoes--the equivalent of nearly 17,000 additional volcanoes like Kilauea (Kilauea emits about 13.2 million tonnes/year)!
Marland, G., Boden, T., and Andres, R., 1998, Global CO2 Emissions from Fossil-Fuel Burning, Cement Manufacture, and Gas Flaring: 1751-1998, Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center, http://cdiac.esd.ornl.gov

http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2005/climate-speth.html

http://globalwarming.sdsu.edu/igpcc2001graphb.jpg

Mccain and liberman's site real good site that exposes the myths spewed by skeptics!
http://www.undoit.org/what_is_gb_myth.cfm

http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/science/recentcc.html

Randy D, Michael Crichton's State Of FEar is a FICTION NOVEL! at the end he warned of beliveing stuff that wasn't scientifically proven, not that global warming doesn't exist!
his author's note at the end of the book was an opinion, and a word to the wise about both sides of the arguement, not a research journal that exposes anyone!

Answer 10

Just give him this line: Look Dad, 11,000 years ago was the end of the Wisconsin, last stage of glaciation. We don't see glaciers in Wisconsin today. Ergo, global warming exists.