• PRO

    A vocal advocate for taking action on climate change,...

    Jay Inslee launches 2020 presidential bid with focus on climate change

    Jay Inslee, the Democratic governor of Washington, has announced he is running for president, declaring himself the “only candidate who will make defeating climate change our nation’s number one priority”. A vocal advocate for taking action on climate change, Inslee used his entrance into the race to sound the alarm on what he called “the most urgent challenge of our time”. “We’re the first generation to feel the sting of climate change,” he said in a video announcing his launch. “And we’re the last who can do something about it.”...

  • PRO

    Weather forecasts are often wrong, and the science of the...

    Models of Climate Change and weather forcasts are equally wrong, most often.

    Climate change is a religion, as we will not be alive to see the truth of the predictions. Weather forecasts are often wrong, and the science of the immediate future of a local climate should be more easily predictable. Climate change will happen, the direction, warming or cooling, is unpredictable. The true path of a storm is unpredictable. Diblasio is a fear monger along the lines of his political god, Gore.

  • CON

    You have done neither of these basic things so far. ......

    Human caused climate change is nonsense

    >>>In order to win a debate, You have to, Either show evidence or use logic to convince the voters that you are correct and that your opponent is wrong. You have done neither of these basic things so far. I have shown evidence. For example, In Round 1 I gave evidence that burning fossil fuels causes global warming. I will cite my sources in the comments. I have also rebutted your arguments. Note: you do not need to use logic in your rebuttals. You can simply state why something would not work. . . Also, You have claimed that having studied the properties of CO2 for 10 years gives you a position of authority on the matter. It does not. Your conspiracy theory makes little sense, And you have refuted none of my arguments. For example, You said that: The Arctic had forest growth as recent as 1000 years ago Climate researchers are fraudulent They manipulated the evidence There is no evidence for any of these claims, And then for you to say: "And thus all climate researchers are criminals and global warming doesn't exist" is plainly ridiculous. As previously said, I will cite my sources in the comments. And if you state that the sources are from You have done neither of these basic things so far. I have shown evidence. For example, In Round 1 I gave evidence that burning fossil fuels causes global warming. I will cite my sources in the comments. I have also rebutted your arguments. Note: you do not need to use logic in your rebuttals. You can simply state why something would not work. . . Also, You have claimed that having studied the properties of CO2 for 10 years gives you a position of authority on the matter. It does not. Your conspiracy theory makes little sense, And you have refuted none of my arguments. For example, You said that: The Arctic had forest growth as recent as 1000 years ago Climate researchers are fraudulent They manipulated the evidence There is no evidence for any of these claims, And then for you to say: "And thus all climate researchers are criminals and global warming doesn't exist" is plainly ridiculous. As previously said, I will cite my sources in the comments. And if you state that the sources are from climate research organisations, Well - yes, They are, But there is no evidence for the fact that climate researchers are fraudulent, So that's an invalid dispute.

    • https://www.debate.org/debates/Human-caused-climate-change-is-nonsense/1/
  • CON

    Thus, if you add extra heat to the Earth, then, this will...

    Reserved for FollowerofChrist: Climate change is real and a massive threat to humanity.

    Well, as expected, my opponent has ignored my two references which clearly shows that the whole climate change fiasco is an elaborate money making scam. Then he proceeds to produce false information which has been specifically designed to trick and fool people into believing in climate change. My opponent also suggests that if the climate changes that it will pose a threat to humanity. This is false information as well. This is because the Earth is like a thermostat which self regulates itself. Thus, if you add extra heat to the Earth, then, this will create more cloud which will then cool the Earth back down to an even average temperature. 1. My opponent has ignored 1000 top level scientists who have clearly indicated that climate change science is a fraud. 2. My opponent has ignored that Maurice Strong was an evil person who used climate change as a means of gaining power and personal wealth. Quote from Quadrant - 'Investigations into the UN"s Oil-for-Food-Program found that Strong had endorsed a cheque for $988,885 made out to M. Strong " issued by a Jordanian bank. The man who gave the cheque, South Korean business man Tongsun Park was convicted in 2006 in a US Federal court of conspiring to bribe UN officials. Strong resigned and fled to Canada and thence to China where he has been living ever since.' Note - We can plainly see that the instigator of climate change was himself a criminal. Thus, how can we accept climate change and the science of climate change when the originator is a crook? 3. The hockey stick graph trick. An email was intercepted which reveal that graphs were inverted. That's the trick that was used to create an increase in temperature. https://climateaudit.org... 4. Adding more Co2 doesn't increase temperature. There is no scientifically valid mechanism for CO2 causing global warming. Carbon dioxide absorbs all radiation available to it in about ten meters. More CO2 only shortens the distance, which is not an increase in temperature. In other words, the first 20% of the CO2 in the air does most of what CO2 does, and it doesn't do much.

  • CON

    Scientists theorize that this is due to increased amounts...

    Anthropic climate change is real and a threat.

    There is so much on this issue I don't know what to explain first. Fact 1: There has been no significant atmospheric warming since 1998. In addition to this, there has been a lack of an atmospheric hotspot (in the mid to upper troposphere) that was predicted to be caused by greenhouse gas caused warming. This in itself proves that greenhouse gasses are not causing the recent warming trend. No warming 1: http://blogs.news.com.au... No warming 2: http://4.bp.blogspot.com... Lack of hotspot 1: https://mises.org... Lack of hotspot 2: http://sciencespeak.com... (Specifically on pg 6 but I suggest you read more) Fact 2: Co2 is an extraordinarily weak greenhouse gas. According to atomic absorption spectroscopy, it can only store and release 7% of the electromagnetic spectrum that passes through it. Fact 3: Throughout Earths history, Co2 has been much higher in the past showing that recent levels of Co2 are harmless. http://www.paulmacrae.com... Fact 4: Recently, ice core data shows that Co2 followed temperature, sometimes by hundreds of years, not the other way around. Lags warming 1: https://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com... Lags warming 2: http://joannenova.com.au... Lags warming 3: http://i29.tinypic.com... Fact 5: Co2 has never caused amplification of warming in the past. It is simple logic. If Co2 amplified temperature after orbital changes raised the temperature first, when would the amplification stop? The answer is when there is no more Co2 in the oceans. This would cause the oceans to become abnormally basic and this has only happened once in the last 25 million years: Ocean pH 25 million years: https://www.manicore.com... (I know it shows acidification at the end but this does not contradict my argument because it is a different result of more Co2.) Fact 6: Almost every single computer model made by the IPCC is wrong. This suggests something fundamentally wrong with the models used. In addition, the models are all wrong because they predict to much heat which suggests that the effect of Co2 is being overblown. Computer models wrong 1: https://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com... Computer models wrong 2: http://c3headlines.typepad.com... Computer models wrong 3: http://cdn.phys.org... Fact 7: The Earth has been warming for 15000 (or 20000) years. Warming for 15000 (or 20000 it depends on the data) years: http://www.oarval.org... Fact 8: In the last 8000 years, we have had 4 major global warm periods naturally. We had the medieval warm period, the roman warm period, the Minoan warm period and the Holocene maximum. All major warm periods: http://notrickszone.com... Medieval warm period was global 1: http://scienceandpublicpolicy.org... Medieval warm period was global 2: http://www.climatedepot.com... Fact 9: All major planet bodies in our solar system are experiencing rapid climate change, indicating that the heating on Earth could be caused by something in the solar system, not the planet. Mars: Ice caps are shrinking, two pictures showed possible warming (these could be unreliable due to dust storms), atmosphere is gaining clouds, ozone and water vapor (indicating warming). Pluto: Mysterious dark spots are becoming larger, atmospheric pressure increased by 300% (indicating warming) Saturn: Giving off x-rays, growing storm spots and other hot spots in its atmosphere (indicating warming) Uranus: Polar shifts, 2 large storms spots that were not there 50 years ago (indicating warming) Mercury: Gaining a magnetic field, polar ice caps growing (indicating cooling) Jupiter: Plasma clouds merging together and growing new storm spots (indicating an 18 degree Celsius warming) Venus: 2500% increase in green glow indicating more oxygen in its atmosphere Neptune: Weird changes in light intensity. Earth: Rapid warming As you can see, every major planet in our solar system is experiencing rapid climate change. Scientists theorize that this is due to increased amounts of energy in the space around our solar system. Fact 10: There is no scientific way to test whether Co2 causes global warming. Yes, Co2 is a greenhouse gas and traps warmth, I am not denying that. What we haven"t tested is whether this warmth has a great enough impact to trump all other factors that influence climate. For example, ocean currents, cosmic rays, sun irradiance, the sun spot cycle, Earth"s magnetic field, Earth"s orbit, Earth"s tilt, Volcanos, etc" all effect the climate. Why is Co2 more important than all of these factors? Let"s find out! Oh, wait, you can"t. This is where you reach a problem. How do you find out? You can"t, scientifically, create a real, controlled experiment to test whether Co2 has a bigger impact than any of these other factors. This means that the entire idea that Co2 causes climate change is based on computer models and it can"t actually be tested. This shows that the idea that Co2 causes warming is less science then it is religion because you are putting your faith in a computer model rather than observing and recording data. Keep in mind that simple correlations do not qualify as scientific data. Fact 11: During the post economic boom, when Co2 soared, temperatures fell despite the increase in Co2. This has been blamed on increased sulfur emissions but NASA says, "the cooling effect of the pollution aerosols will be somewhat regionally dependent, near and downwind of industrial areas" which explains how sulfur would only cause cooling in or around the areas it was released. This means that sulfur could not be responsible for the cooling. Post war economic boom: http://www.ofcomswindlecomplaint.net... Co2 levels: https://www3.epa.gov... As you can see, Co2 levels rose dramatically during the post economic boom, past what they had ever been at before, yet temperatures fell. In conclusion, I have provided 11 facts explaining how Co2 can not, or has never been, a main climate driver. All the historical and recent evidence is stacked against it. While my opponent gives links to a consensus and impacts of possible warming, I have focused on the argument at hand. Explaining why Co2 does not drive climate. While my opponent has made little to no argument, I have shown why the conclusions of the scientists in the consensus he listed were wrong. I thank my opponent for this debate, and may the best man/woman win!

    • https://www.debate.org/debates/Anthropic-climate-change-is-real-and-a-threat./1/
  • PRO

    The Obama administration fueled its push for energy...

    Administration issues dire climate change report, amid regulatory push

    The Obama administration fueled its push for energy regulations with a massive new report Tuesday, linking climate change to extreme weather across the country and warning of more climate disruption if the nation doesn't change its ways.

    • https://www.allsides.com/story/white-house-climate-change-report
  • PRO

    Contention I: "The economic impact of environmental...

    Resolved: Developed Countries have a moral obligation to mitigate the effects of climate change.

    Contention I: "The economic impact of environmental legislation hurts the economies of developed countries." Pro makes several highly unsupported conjectures in his C1. The main point is that government attempts to curb the effects of global warming would have negative effects on the economy. Among his conjectures include the arguments that EPA regulations would cause "a loss of jobs, impeding economic recovery and harming livelihoods" as well as "result in the loss of thousands of jobs and billions of dollars". Now besides the fact that Pro has neglected to source or substantiate his claims, his point would still fall moot if the effects of global climate change will be worse than the effects of environmental regulations. And scientific consensus supports this position, including the position of the European Academy of Science and Arts[1], the American Association for the Advancement of Science[2], the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change[3], among several other scientific organizations. Contention II: "The Earth"s climate is always changing." This contention attempts to disprove the existence of man-made global climate change. There are a few problems with this point though. First, even if we were to concede that global climate change isn't man-made, that wouldn't change the existence of moral obligation on those able to do so if we take a utilitarian perspective i.e., global climate change could still pose a grave threat to humanity, thus provoking obligation to those who have the means to mitigate such effects. The second problem with this point is the fact that Pro has failed to provide any evidence to substantiate his claims. He claims that "Anyone saying that we should reverse the effects of climate change are obviously misinformed and have no scientific background." What an incredible claim, considering "That humans are causing global warming is the position of the Academies of Science from 19 countries plus many scientific organizations that study climate science. More specifically, around 95% of active climate researchers actively publishing climate papers endorse the consensus position."[4] The point is further corroborated by further studies, all available in Source 1. Contention III: "There is no moral obligation to mitigate climate change because nations are not moral entities." Pro's third and final contention rests on his conception of nations as non-moral entities. He makes two sub-points in regards to this contention: (a) he argues that a nation exists separately from the people that make them up and (b) with his assuming of ethical relativism in a societal context. I contend that neither of these points hold weight and that Pro is mistaken in his existential characterization of nations. (a) Pro's first mistake in his point is that he conceives nations as something distinct and separate from their individual parts i.e., their citizens. But try to conceive of a nation without citizens. It wouldn't exist. Nations only exist because a group of people come together to organize society. (b) Pro's second mistake lies in his application of ethical relativism. Even if we admit that morals are relative to individuals, Pro's point still fails in that he proves too much. For instance, if morals can only apply to people and not collective entities (assuming such things even exist), then we also can't apply moral criticism to any other collective entities, including corporations, interest groups, or even family households. The only way to overcome this obstacle is to dissolve the existence of collective entities or more than the sum of their parts. We can't apply moral duties to a nation, but we can apply those criticisms to the individual people who make them up. ===Sources=== [1] http://www.euro-acad.eu...; [2] http://www.aaas.org...; [3] http://www.grida.no...; [4] http://www.skepticalscience.com...

  • PRO

    Commentary: Let's aim for Mars". ... June 23, 2009:...

    Mars reveals more to scientists about climate change

    Buzz Aldrin. "Commentary: Let's aim for Mars". CNN. June 23, 2009: "Exploring and colonizing Mars can bring us new scientific understanding of June 23, 2009: "Exploring and colonizing Mars can bring us new scientific understanding of climate change, of how planet-wide processes can make a warm and wet world into a barren landscape."

    • http://www.debatepedia.org/en/index.php/Debate:_Mission_to_the_Moon_or_Mars%3F
  • PRO

    Thank you jwesbruce for accepting my challenge.first of...

    The world should focus on climate change than on global economy!

    Thank you jwesbruce for accepting my challenge.first of all i would like to define the word climate change.climate change is a significant and lasting change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over periods ranging from decades to millions of years.it may be a change in average weather conditions or in the distribution of weather around avarege conditions.my main point on this issue is that climate change comes before the global economy so the world should focus on climate change.because if we do not focus on climate change it means that our land will be affected.e.g what if we have things such as global warming?that will be a case of one country but the world as whole will be affected.i would like to give you a very good axample by one country.let it be Zimbabwe.if there is global warming in Zimbabwe that means Zimbabwe can not produce the products it was manufacturing before because we manufacture products from raw materials.the country will have to depend on the other countries.that means there is no state income for that country.that is a process ,the economy that you were focusing on it start to decline.that will force you to go back and come with ways of ending global warming.because the economy of a country is sustained by the primary sector.how can you plant your seeds without the ground?and now where is people those are living in that country?is poverty not there?some firms will be closed up and people will be unemployed

  • PRO

    Perhaps now our data is biased on both sides, pro- or...

    Taking a Stand Against Climate Change with Greener Technologies

    I would like to thank 16kadams for a wonderful first debate, here at DDO. I also must admit that my opponent has put forth very valid arguments, some of which I greatly agree with. I hope that in the future -- when I am a more developed debater -- I may challenge him again. As for my correlation of CO2 to warming, I must stand strong with it. I am aware that it was not the largest factor, but this correlation rate will continue to drop as the ppm of Carbon Dioxide rises, as it is an inverse equality. This is not me conceding the fact that there is a correlation, but that as our world becomes more laden with CO2, each molecule will have less and less of an effect. 1. Global Warming is real and is a threat I do not believe in Global Warming, as it means to show that the whole planet is warming (which I do not believe), but I understand the general use of the term now, even in ways to describe climate change. I believe that there is a vast change in our climate, and will continue to be as such. Perhaps now our data is biased on both sides, pro- or con-climate change. 2. Caused by humans I am well aware of the natural cycles of warming in Earth's geological history. Never before have we experienced such a sharp upward clime of Carbonppm without a natural calamity (such as eruptions, meteor collisions, etc.). To refute Con's claims on the 2,000-3,000ppm pf Carbon 60mya, I will use the same data as in my round 3. I used data from 66mya, 60mya, and 58mya, just to make sure I had all my bases covered, in case of his 60mya figure being an estimate. My attempted refute on your round2 source 7 was based on the grounds that our methods of measuring have become more efficient and accurate, so the data could be deemed inaccurate today (only a speculation). 3. Fixing the problem We are not ready to drop non-renewable fossil fuels. The profit is greater, and the amount of energy produced from these fuels far exceeds renewable energy. Hopefully, that can change. If not for a hopefully cleaner planet, then simply for the fact that we are going to run out one day. However, we will continue to grow in our ability to produce cheaper sustainable energy. In conclusion I have done the best in my ability to refute the claims Con has made and stabilize my views and hopes for the future. I hope to one day challenge another debater to a similar topic when I am more experienced.