How do we really know humans are causing global warming?

[RedEarth]

......from Climate Progress......(links to all the sources sited are available at this link... http://climateprogress.org/2008/02/11/how-do-we-really-know-humans-are-causing-global-warming/ .....)


How do we really know humans are causing global warming?


So I’m sure that you, like me, are constantly getting e-mails or blog posts that sound like this:

I have been doing enormous amounts of research in this global warming (caused by man) theories and have concluded that there is not ONE shred of evidence to back it up. Can you PROVE to me that global warming is being caused by mankind?

Hmm. Not one shred of evidence? “PROVE”–in all caps, too! You know this is pointless, but still, it’s the day after your daughter’s first birthday, and you’re feeling in good spirits about humanity , so you decide to reply something like:

This one is easy. Either you believe in science — i.e. we went to the moon, you go to the doctor, you have IT equipment you rely on — or you don’t. If you don’t, I can’t “prove” anything to anybody. If you do, then the IPCC reports — which are nothing more than a literature review by the top scientists in the world, commissioned by and summarized for policymakers, signed off by every friggin’ govt in the world — are as much proof as a human being could possibly want.

.........

Once you realize the emailer hasn’t even bothered to read some of your recent posts, you send a reply that you think/hope will end things:

If you don’t buy into the IPCC, we have nothing to talk about. You might as well not buy into what the American Medical Association or the National Academy of Sciences says. Why take medicine? Why floss? Why get on an airplane? The IPCC report is a summary of the scientific evidence. Simple as that…. If you are talking about the well-debunked Inhofe 400, I guess you haven’t been reading this or other sites.

In retrospect, “laughable” is better than “well-debunked,” but then we all come up with better things to say after the fact. All one can do is press on and rewrite history on your blog….

.....

Sigh. You want some shreds of evidence global warming is caused by mankind, but the IPCC is off limits. Interesting but easy challenge. Let’s start here — It’s a few years old now, but it is the best other review of recent science by the leading experts:


“Detecting and Attributing External Influences on the Climate System: A Review of Recent Advances”

I assume you have a subscription to Science. This is a good study. “Penetration of Human-Induced Warming into the World’s Oceans.”

Then there is: “Contribution of anthropogenic and natural forcing to recent tropospheric height changes.“

Here’s NOAA: “The Detection and Attribution of Climate Change.“

I am personally fond of this often-cited paper by NASA.


Anyway, if you’re serious about wanting to review the science and don’t trust the IPCC to do it, then you should probably read the following :

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have read many of these, but, unlike you, I trust the IPCC’s ability to analyze them for me. Let me know when you’re done.

Anyway, if nothing else, perhaps this will discourage people from emailing me….

UPDATE: I just realized that the bibliography was cut off after the d’s. Oh well. Let’s see if the emailer notices….

http://climateprogress.org/2008/02/11/how-do-we-really-know-humans-are-causing-global-warming/

[BOSSHOG]

1. Since the earth is flat

and the sun revolves around the earth, the sun absorbs all of the global warming on earth as the sun rotates. Its real quite simple. Its spelled out in Leviticus. But you have to get the recorded version and play it backward. Conservative man is not responsible for anything.

[eppur_se_muova]

2. Bosshog, you explain it all too well. nt

[BOSSHOG]

3. I merely observe and opine

therefore I am. Some wish I weren't.

[rtassi]

5. And still not a mention of it in the debates ...

Buy the way I used to own a 1970 Cadillac De ville convert just like the Boss ... What an incredible straight line cruiser she was!

[Virginia Dare]

4. Wow, those are a lot of shreds...

isn't it ironic that considering how "advanced" as a civilization and a society that we are supposed to be, that it is our technological advancement coupled with our collective ignorance that will most likely prove to be our ultimate doom?

[BeFree]

6. Simple

They all say that volcanoes spread more than man does.

So now what I say is that man is equal to a volcano a day, with all the smokestacks, tailpipes, and burning we do day in and day out. 24/7.

[Up2Late]

7. Best to start by asking the emailer if they understand the difference between a Scientific Theory...

...and a Theory. If you get an affirmative email, then ask them if they understand the difference between a Scientific Theory and a Scientific Law, but if you get a Theory v. Fact response, it's time to consider how valuable your time is to you, because you are dealing with a RW-idiot. Best to ask them what the word "Pitch" means, then ask them to look it up in any dictionary.

Hopefully, after finding more that a full page of definition's for a simple word like "pitch," they will get the point that the word "theory" has several different meanings and they are using the wrong one.

[ramapo]

8. Because the animals can't

Who else are you going to blame? Dogs, cats, birds? Sure there's talk about the methane belching cows and all but I think they are the least of our problems.

So if it isn't the animals, and the planet is warming, then it must be humans (unless we want to blame God).

[Barrett808]

9. Climate scepticism: The top 10

Climate scepticism: The top 10

What are some of the reasons why "climate sceptics" dispute the evidence that human activities such as industrial emissions of greenhouse gases and deforestation are bringing potentially dangerous changes to the Earth's climate?

As the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) finalises its landmark report for 2007, we look at 10 of the arguments most often made against the IPCC consensus, and some of the counter-arguments made by scientists who agree with the IPCC.

(more)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/629/629/7074601.stm

A handy resource. Also see RealClimate's Start Here page (http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2007/05/start-here).