In Dave Chrisman’s letter in the May 31 West Hawaii Today he argues that climate change, man made or otherwise, is in fact not occurring and “invites us to research the statistics” that will apparently show his viewpoint to be true. Well, I took him up on his advise, so here are a few statistical facts regarding climate change.
1. Carbon dioxide levels in the Earth’s atmosphere, which are known to cause warmer surface temperatures on Earth, are 40 percent above the highest level ever recorded on Earth during the past 800,000 years. This includes the last seven cycles of glacial advance and retreat. Scientists know these increased levels are being caused by human activity because of chemical traces of coal and oil currently found in the atmosphere.
2. Since 1870, global sea levels have risen 8 inches. Sea levels have risen at twice the speed over the past decade as compared to the last century. While Florida may not be under water right now, sea levels are in fact rising.
3. Earth has indeed been steadily warming over the past century with the 20 warmest years on record occurring since 1981 and 11 of those taking place in the past 12 years. The speed of these current warming trends are unprecedented over the past 1,300 years.
4. Over the past 200 years, the acidity of ocean surfaces has increased by 30 percent, also caused by increased levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The amount of carbon dioxide being absorbed by ocean surfaces is increasing by 2 billion tons per year. The increased acidity in the oceans is having a negative effect on the entire oceanic ecosystem.
5. Antarctica has been losing 134 billion tons of ice per year since 2002, while Greenland has been losing 287 billion tons per year. Glaciers in general throughout the world have been losing 400 billion tons per year since 1994. In 1910, Glacier National Park had 150 glaciers. Today there are 27.
The above statistics are agreed upon by 97 percent of climate scientists from around the world, including scientists from NASA and NOAA, who also agree that global warming is at least partially being caused by human activity on Earth. These are folks with doctorates in science who do nothing but study climate and its changes, so it strikes me as very odd that there are still people who deny this is taking place. Do people really believe that thousands of scientists from around the world have gotten together as part of a liberal conspiracy to take down big business and increase government control over the population, or perhaps to just have a little fun and scare the population of Earth? For those of you who do believe global warming is a conspiracy, I understand no amount of facts are going to convince you otherwise.
I don’t consider myself a “proponent” of global warming. I am not rooting for a warming planet and its consequences. Quite the contrary. I simply believe that the Earth is indeed round, that man did in fact land on the moon, that the Earth rotates around the sun and not vise versa, and that human activity is causing our planet to warm in a unprecedented fashion. Why do I believe this? Because I followed the facts as Mr. Christman suggested.
Eric Garrett is a resident of Kailua-Kona.
Viewpoint articles are the opinion of the writer and not necessarily the opinion of West Hawaii Today.