My analogy for explaining Climate Change to "normal" people

[CTAtheist]

(by "normal" I mean everyone from people unaware of the issue, to people with "average-to-low" IQs who really can't understand the science, which may also include some non-rabid conservatives.)

Imagine driving a car. Imagine you are driving it up and down hills of different sizes, which slow you down or speed you up different amounts. Small hills slow you a little on the way up and give you a little speed on the way down, whereas big hills slow you way down on the way up and give you a big speed boost on the way down. You are naturally speeding up and slowing down every minute. I say "naturally" because hills are natural things.

Now imagine you are systematically pressing the gas pedal a tiny bit more every minute. Each minute, you press it a little bit more. And more. And more. Are you getting faster? Yes. But what if you measure your speed at the exact moment that you are going up a big hill? You'll be going slower at that moment. But that doesn't disprove that you are getting faster every minute that passes.

[artislife]

1. Nice

This is how I explained it to my ex-roommate who was a Libertarian. His argument was that earth was in a natural process of warming up after being colder and that we had no influence.

I said I think of earth as an ice cube on the counter. Slowly melting, then we come over with a hairdryer. Yes, it can be natural and man made at the same time.