In the last several years, we have experienced a spate of off-the-charts extreme weather events that scientists had predicted decades ago—heat waves, droughts, wildfires, superstorms, and super storm surges. Meteorologist and former hurricane hunter Dr. Jeff Masters said in 2012, “This is not the atmosphere I grew up with.” There is an ever-expanding body of scientific literature that clearly shows that greenhouse gases are fundamentally altering the climate and sharply boosting the chances for many types of extreme weather events. Read more at location 217
Note: One of the fundamental aspects of the scientific method is prediction and verification. This was predicted.
For instance, in the past quarter century, the price of solar-powered electricity from photovoltaic panels has dropped by 99%, which has been accompanied by an equally impressive 60% annual increase in global solar capacity. This trend is certain to continue, in part because in its 2014 climate deal with the United States, China also committed to more than double its share of carbon-free sources of energy (such as solar power, wind power, nuclear power, and hydropower) by 2030. Read more at location 249
Note: Chris said some shit at some point that the cost of creating solar panels is prohibitive. Well they have gone down by 99% asshole.
Some naturally occurring atmospheric gases let visible light escape through into space while trapping certain types of infrared radiation. These greenhouse gases, including water, methane (CH4), and carbon dioxide (CO2), trap some of the reradiated heat, so they act as a partial blanket that helps keep the planet as much as 60°F warmer than it otherwise would be, which is ideal for us humans. At the dawn of the Industrial Revolution 250 years ago, CO2 levels in the atmosphere were approximately 280 parts per million (ppm). Since then, humankind has been pouring billions of tons of extra greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, causing more and more heat to be trapped. The main human-caused greenhouse gas is CO2, and the rate of growth of human-caused CO2 emissions has been accelerating. Emissions today are six times higher than they were in 1950. Moreover, CO2 levels have now hit 400 parts per million. Read more at location 354
“Some scientific conclusions or theories have been so thoroughly examined and tested, and supported by so many independent observations and results, that their likelihood of subsequently being found to be wrong is vanishingly small. Such conclusions and theories are then regarded as settled facts. This is the case for the conclusions that the Earth system is warming and that much of this warming is very likely due to human activities.” Scientists view warming as a settled fact because so much evidence points to that conclusion. For instance, the 1980s were the warmest decade on record at the Earth’s surface. That record was then topped by the 1990s. And again, the 2000s were the hottest year on record. The year 1998 was the hottest on record until 2005, and then 2010 topped 2005, and then 2014 became the hottest year on record. Now 2015 is on track to top 2014 and become the hottest year on record by far. Not only has the ocean’s surface temperature increased in the past several decades, but the ocean’s heat content has also increased. In addition, because the ocean is warmer, more water has evaporated from it, which leads to higher levels of humidity: this result has also been observed. With more water vapor in the air, you would expect more intense rainfall events and deluges, and, indeed, scientists have observed the increased frequency of these events. This warming has also been detected in the activity of plant and animal life. Spring is coming sooner across the globe, as observed in earlier and earlier blooming of plants. Likewise, all sorts of plant and animal species are shifting or migrating toward the poles or toward higher altitudes. Because the average temperature is rising, scientists expected the duration, severity, and frequency of heat waves to increase in a great many regions. This has also been observed, along with many other types of warming-related extreme weather events, Read more at location 374
Greenland and Antarctica are both covered with two enormous ice sheets. The Greenland ice sheet is nearly 2 miles (3 kilometers) thick at its thickest point and extends over an area almost as large as Mexico. If it completely melts, Greenland, by itself, would raise sea levels more than 20 feet. In 2012, a team of international experts backed by NASA and the European Space Agency put together data from satellites and aircraft to produce “the most comprehensive and accurate assessment to date of ice sheet losses in Greenland and Australia.” They found that the Greenland ice sheet saw “nearly a five-fold increase” in its melt rate between the mid-1990s and 2011. The year 2012 in particular saw unusually high spring and summer temperatures in Greenland. NASA reported that year, “According to satellite data, an estimated 97% of the ice sheet surface thawed at some point in mid-July.” Scientists told ABC News they had never seen anything like this before. In the summer of 2012, the Jakobshavn Glacier, Greenland’s largest, moved ice from land into the ocean at “more than 10.5 miles (17 kilometers) per year, or more than 150 feet (46 meters) per day,” another study found. The researchers pointed out, “These appear to be the fastest flow rates recorded for any glacier or ice stream in Greenland or Antarctica.” By 2014, researchers were able to map Greenland’s ice sheets using the European Space Agency satellite CryoSat-2, which can measure the changing height of an ice sheet over time. They found that since 2009, Greenland had doubled its annual rate of ice loss, to some 375 cubic kilometers per year.Read more at location 405
Note: This isn’t merely bias or a play for funding. We have pictures. You can look at the goddamn pictures. They aren’t Photoshop. They really exist. They really do show Ice shelves melting.