• CON

    You then try to link it with the fact that humans are...

    Human-Caused Climate Change is Impossible

    "From the invention of plastic, To the utilization of fossil fuels, To the catastrophic change in Climate conditions is all a naturally occurring process of the Earth's evolution" Evolution is biology and chemistry. Humans inventing plastic is not evolution. Moreover, If being a natural by-product of the Earth means you can't say "human did X", Then you acknowledging that "plastic never would have existed without humans" is in fact saying humans created plastic. You then try to link it with the fact that humans are from Earth so that you can say the Earth caused plastic - but you still needed that middle man fact, Right? Therefore, You CAN say humans cause climate change - just as you can say that humans made plastic. You try to go a step further by saying that if Humans are a byproduct of the Earth, Then the Earth caused climate change. However, You'd again need the middle man of "climate change as we know it wouldn't have happened without humans". And that statement is the exact same as saying "humans caused You then try to link it with the fact that humans are from Earth so that you can say the Earth caused plastic - but you still needed that middle man fact, Right? Therefore, You CAN say humans cause climate change - just as you can say that humans made plastic. You try to go a step further by saying that if Humans are a byproduct of the Earth, Then the Earth caused climate change. However, You'd again need the middle man of "climate change as we know it wouldn't have happened without humans". And that statement is the exact same as saying "humans caused climate changed". "Science and Mathematics do not make mistakes. " Climate change isn't a mistake - it's the result of the actions taken. We are a byproduct of biology and chemistry, But our actions are taken with our evolutionary instincts and thought process which isn't scientific or mathematical. "Pardon me for utilizing the fish hook. " You failed completely. Your conclusion is NOT followed by your premise. Natural processes follow the laws of physics. These laws of physics gave birth to life on Earth. The life on Earth evolved with bodies and brains that kept them alive - not necessarily to understand the world and how their actions affect it. From this, You get climate changed caused by humans advancing technology and not thinking of the consequences. Your argument has failed completely.

    • https://www.debate.org/debates/Human-Caused-Climate-Change-is-Impossible/1/
  • PRO

    Hello, I would like a fair and balanced debate about...

    Climate change is real.

    Hello, I would like a fair and balanced debate about climate change. Please only accept if you plan to follow through and complete the whole debate.

    • https://www.debate.org/debates/Climate-change-is-real./2/
  • CON

    first of all if climate chagne is real, then why it not...

    climate change is fake

    climate change is fake and all people who believe in this fake phenomeon are corrupt. first of all if climate chagne is real, then why it not cold right now in mississippi? also, john coleman the weather channel founder said this; ""There is no significant man-made global warming at this time, there has been none in the past and there is no reason to fear any in the future. Efforts to prove the theory that carbon dioxide is a significant "greenhouse" gas and pollutant causing significant warming or weather effects have failed. There has been no warming over 18 years" "there is no climate crisis. The ocean is not rising significantly. The polar ice is increasing, not melting away. Polar Bears are increasing in number. Heat waves have actually diminished, not increased. There is not an uptick in the number or strength of storms (in fact storms are diminishing). I have studied this topic seriously for years. It has become a political and environment agenda item, but the science is not valid" "

    • https://www.debate.org/debates/climate-change-is-fake/1/
  • PRO

    They just assumed that the issue was important or urgent....

    Climate change is a fraud

    My opponent has used the same authoritarian approach used by climate scientists. He assumes because something has become accepted that it can't be later disputed. Quote - I still can't tell if you are claiming that the climate is not changing at all or if you believe it is changing but for natural reasons rather than anthropogenic. Reply - My opening statement is "The science of human caused climate change is faulty" Thus, You have twice doubted what this debate is about when I have clearly stated that it is about human caused climate change and not about natural changes. Thus, My opponent is being totally obnoxious and difficult to deal with and is not acting in a civil manner as required by debating rules. If you are voting please deduct points for this annoying repetition and harassment. Quote - The 97% number may not be exactly on-the-nose, But it is around that. Reply - My opponent has failed to acknowledge the deceptive tactics used by the surveys which ask loaded questions and which assume many false assumptions hidden within the questions. For example - None of the questions asked any of the scientists if they thought that climate change was an urgent or important issue. They just assumed that the issue was important or urgent. Thus, Therein lies the deception of not specifying if the problem was worthy of worrying about. Note - It was not even considered or discussed in any of the questions. Note - Only 64 % of qualified meteorologists agreed with the survey in it's corrupted format. Thus, 36 % of climatologists must have disagreed. Note - Of 3, 146 scientists that were surveyed only 77 of these surveys were used in the results. Thus, 77 experts divided by 75 agreements equals 97%. Yes, Folks that's how they got the the magical 97% - Truly amazing or what! Thus, We can plainly see that mathematical manipulation is a specialty of the so called 'climate scientists'. Quote - The mass of humans V's. The mass of Earth does not mean we cannot effect the Earth. Reply - My opponent didn't address the mathematical absurdity of the mass ratio difference between the Earth and human mass. It is the equivalent of 3 grains of sand (humans) on a 100 mile beach (Earth). Thus, It doesn't matter how much heat that those 3 grains of sand can produce they are never going to effect the temperature of a 100 mile beach of sand. Quote - Atmospheric CO2 has no true saturation point Reply - Again, More lies and deceptions. After the 80 parts / million point is reached any further gains are so small they are not worth any consideration. Note - The decline in effect or infra red reflection becomes exponentially less. Quote - The corruption of a single public figure does not negate the science Reply - Maurice Strong is just the tip of the corruption iceberg. All climate scientists are corrupt liars and deceivers. Quote - Tree rings are not the only proxy used to estimate historic and prehistoric climate trends- Reply - Sorry, I forgot to mention that inverting graphs is the second most common method. Note - Tree rings growth suggests water availability and are independent of temperature. This has been proven with many recent tests. Study - Insensitivity of tree-ring growth to temperature and precipitation. PLOS ONE

    • https://www.debate.org/debates/Climate-change-is-a-fraud/1/
  • PRO

    Climate change is happening. ... Here are some good...

    Climate Change is happening

    Climate change is happening. Here are some good sources to back it up. http://en.wikipedia.org... http://climate.nasa.gov... http://www.skeptic.com... https://www.ted.com... http://environment.nationalgeographic.com...

    • https://www.debate.org/debates/Climate-Change-is-happening/1/
  • CON

    I say it's unlikely CO2 dominates, but no one really...

    Anthropogenic Climate Change Exists

    Correlation plus a theory is not proof CO2 dominates climate My opponent noted temperature generally rising since 1900 and CO2 rising since 1900, and claims that because CO2 is a greenhouse gas, it must be responsible for the rise. The error in that logic is that we do not know how much of the rise is due to CO2 and how much is due to other factors affecting climate. We could plot increasing consumption of charcoal in backyard barbecues, noted that burning charcoal heats the atmosphere, and then concluded that barbecuing causes global warming. The barbecue theory is defeated by showing that there isn't enough heat generated by the volume of charcoal consumed to have a significant warming effect. Similarly, Pro offers no analysis that shows CO2 to be even a significant cause. Pro has the burden to prove not only that CO2 dominated climate in the last century, but that it will dominate the next century despite all unknown factors affecting climate. Here is a reconstruction of CO2 and climate over the past 650 million years. [1. http://www.geocraft.com...] http://www.debate.org... Over geological time, clearly climate has been dominated by factors other than CO2. On the geological time scale, we are currently in an unusual period of low temperatures and low CO2. It a very complicated picture, proving that climate is far more than just CO2. Pro shows the CO2 data for the past 650,000 years.Temperature follows the same pattern, only CO2 follows temperature. The graphs are here [2. http://www.geocraft.com...] If the graphs are time aligned, the result is not that CO2 causes warming. Quite the opposite, CO2 rises about 800 years after temperature rises. Warming causes CO2 because warmer oceans cannot dissolve as much CO2. In 2013 the prestigious journal Nature published an up to date scientific reconstruction of climate for the past 2050 years. [3. http://www.nature.com...] It shows that over the period climate varied by about as much as the present warming, with both the Roman Period and the Medieval Warm Period warmer. It remains possible that CO2 is contributing significantly to current warming, but the natural variations are so large that CO2 might be inconsequential. Current climate science has no explanation for the major climate variations of the past 2000 years. That's why the discredited global warming hockey stick attempted to prove there were no past variations. Pro has the burden to prove CO2 dominates. I say it's unlikely CO2 dominates, but no one really knows. http://www.debate.org... Total sea ice is at record levels and CO2 can't explain why Pro argues that arctic ice is melting, that proves CO2 is the cause. Historically, Arctic ice melts when Antarctic ice increases in a cycle of 40 to 60 years called the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO). The PDO pattern fits the cooling period from the 40s to the 70s that CO2 cannot explain. [4. http://www.drroyspencer.com...] The Arctic was last clear around 1940. Global warming alarmist scientists warned that this time the Antarctic was melting as well, and they made the confident prediction in 2010 was that the Antarctic would be ice free by 2013. What actually happened is that the Antarctic reached record high levels of ice: “The Antarctic surge is so big that overall, although Arctic ice has decreased, the frozen area around both poles is one million square kilometres more than the long-term average.” [5. http://www.dailymail.co.uk...] If CO2 warming dominates climate, it cannot be that it is overwhelmed by other factors like the PDO. But it is. CO2 theory cannot explain the pause in warming To accurately predict future climate, computer models must be proved to be reliable. We know the models did not predict ice formation in the Antarctic nor pre-1900 climate variations. In addition, global warming has essentially ceased since 1997, [6. http://wattsupwiththat.com...] so a check on the accuracy of climate models is how well this pause is predicted. Sscientists predicting CO2 crisis use many variations of computer models. The collections are called CMIP3 and CMIP5, with CMIP5 the very latest. ... Climate models cannot simulate past surface temperatures, precipitation or sea ice area. Those are basic components of Earth’s climate. … The concern about the latest slowdown in warming was addressed by a recent scientific study by Von Storch, et al. (2013) “ Can Climate Models Explain the Recent Stagnation in Global Warming? ” The one-word answer to the title question of their paper is, “No”. They stated: However, for the 15-year trend interval corresponding to the latest observation period 1998-2012, only 2% of the 62 CMIP5 and less than 1% of the 189 CMIP3 trend computations are as low as or lower than the observed trend. Applying the standard 5% statistical critical value, we conclude that the model projections are inconsistent with the recent observed global warming over the period 1998- 2012. [7. Tisdale, Bob (2013-09-23). Climate Models Fail (Kindle Locations 276-291)] The Von Storch paper is available free in draft format [8. http://www.mpimet.mpg.de...] There are a number of ocean oscillations in addition to the PDO. These are not accurately modelled in the computer simulations and likely account for the rapid warming before the current pause. The Medieval Warm Period and the following Little Ice Age correlate extremely well with sunspot activity, but no physical cause of the warming and cooling has been definitively linked to sunspots so there is nothing in the computer models representing the effects. It is not direct change in the solar radiation, because that varies too little to explain the large effect. Danish scientist Svensmark has proposed that changes in cosmic rays linked to variations in sunspots affect cloud cover by a cloud seeding mechanism, but CO2 scientists discount that, so nothing is in the computer models. [9. http://wattsupwiththat.com...] All of the climate change in the past century could be accounted for by less than a 3% change in cloud cover, but even with satellites cloud cover measurement is difficult. The cloud height is important as well as the density. We don't know future CO2 levels Everyone, crisis advocates and skeptics alike, agrees that whatever the CO2 sensitivity it is logarithmic. So if doubling CO2 produces a one degree rise, which is about the theoretical rise if there is nothing in the climate that magnifies the effect, then doubling it again would produce another degree of warming. An exponential rise in CO2 produces a linear rise in temperature. If we had a perfect model of CO2 effects on climate, we would still need to know how much CO2 is left to be produced and at what rate. Everyone agrees oil and coal are running out, but no one is sure how fast. But as supplies get scarce, prices rise and alternatives become economically viable. A technological breakthrough like a cheap, efficient battery would drop carbon consumption dramatically. It's another major unknown. A clarification of the resolution was agreed to in the debate comments so Pro must show that CO2 dominates climate in the past and future century. Pro has not made a convincing case that CO2 accounts for past climate change, nor that either computer models or carbon consumption assumptions are reliable enough to predict the future. He has the burden of proof.

    • https://www.debate.org/debates/Anthropogenic-Climate-Change-Exists/1/
  • PRO

    This furthers the point that cracking down on global...

    Anthropogenic global climate change.

    Round four defense "This argument that a consensus proves anything is preposterous, for a multitude of reasons. Number one, the consensus cited. This consensus reviewed 928 abstracts published in scientific journals. 928 is a somewhat large number, but not large enough to make a point off of, considering that there are hundreds of thousands of scientists in this field in the U.S alone [1]. Number two, consensuses are not reliable arguments, especially in the world of science. Scientists had consensuses on many things that turned out to be wrong, such as that saccharin led to cancer, and that the Sun's energy was a requirement for life. This consensus on climate change could be wrong as well." Repcon First my opponent states there are hundreds of thousands of scientists within this field. That may be true, but considering each journal interviews has multiple scientist opinions changes the numbers. Furthermore, science magazine was not the only source I used. Finally, my opponent links to a long article in his/her source #1. My opponent has not met his/her burden of proof by quoting the relevant information. Having me proof a negative, that the information is not within the source would put an unfair burden on me. "he consensus that humans are causing recent global warming is shared by 90%–100% of publishing climate scientists according to six independent studies by co-authors of this paper. Those results are consistent with the 97% consensus reported by Cook et al (Environ. Res. Lett. 8 024024) based on 11 944 abstracts of research papers" [5] As seen here there are 11,944 abstracts reviewed in this article. As for the consensus changing, my opponent is correct, that science does come to incorrect conclusions and theories are changed to meet the new information. Despite this, this not a coin flip situation. The probability is very high that the scientists are correct in their current assessment. That man-made global climate change is real. "In the report I just showed about death rates from weather-related disasters, Indur M. Goklany goes into that exact study, and debunks it, saying that, "Notably, the contribution of extreme events to the mortality burden for accidental causes of death is also small (at 0.4 percent)." Saying that we need to double down on climate change because it is .4% of the reason for accidental deaths (Not even a full percentage) is quite ridiculous. Goklany also says that, "Although the review paper"s estimates for non-flood related deaths are problematic, if one accepts them as valid, that means that climate change currently accounts for less than 0.3 percent of all global deaths. Accordingly, based on current contributions to the global mortality burden, other public health issues outrank climate change." This furthers the point that cracking down on global warming for something so small is preposterous. But even putting the argument aside, it doesn't even fit in with what is supposed to be debated." Repcon Even .2% of all global deaths would be a lot. Considering "5.9 million children under age five died in 2015, 16 000 every day " [17] .2% of 5.9 million might not seem like a lot percentage wise, yet the absolute number of 11, 800 children under five annually is still high. An analogy would be that homicides involving guns don't make up even the top ten list of all cause mortality. Still, people tend to get upset about these deaths. Furthermore, showing people died from a cause is a good way to show that cause exists. Humans care about each other. My opponent then delves into whether not a scientific consensus occurred. I find this part of the argument confusing and difficult to follow. The fact that my opponent used pastebin only further complicates the matter. My opponent claims that the true consensus number is .3% as opposed to 97.1%. I doubt science magazine missed up by such a large error or any of the other scholarly peer reviewed articles. "Yes, because of the regulations being put on the fossil fuel industry by the government in an attempt to stop something that is naturally occurring. So this isn't a fault of the industry- it's the government that's implementing the regulations that would drive the industry to the ground. Like the article itself said," Repcon I can understand the fossil fuel industries objections, but the fossil fuel industry appears to spreading misinformation. Most likely you are in denial about man-made global climate change is due to this misinformation campaign. "Again, this has NOTHING to do with what is supposed to be discussed. It doesn't prove that global warming is man made, so it shouldn't have been brought up in the first place." Repcon I've already proven global climate change exists, I'm only showing why there are still deniers. "First off, it is unknown if the Koch Brothers' donations led to any biases in research. As for the scientist who is claimed to be biased, his research is supported by data looking at the sun activity and temperature over the last 100 years [6], like I presented in my Round 2 argument. And if you're bringing up funding biases, you might as well bring up the fact that the government participates in the same thing." Repcon Yes, but independent studies have also verified government research. "An independent study of global temperature records has reaffirmed previous conclusions by climate scientists that global warming is real." [19] "Our energy policy is not rigged to help the oil industries. If anything, it's rigged AGAINST the fossil fuel industry. We have regulations that, as stated before, will destroy the fossil fuel industry," Repcon The oil industry seems to be just fine. Just the fact that they could lose 33 trililon dollars shows their wealth and influence. "First off, there are no crimes committed, and you haven't provided a source to back it up. Second off, jailing climate deniers is unconstitutional. One reason is known as the first amendment, which grants freedom of speech [8]. Another reason is that the U.S. isn't a facist government, and pretty much goes against facism, so good luck trying to get deniers arrested. Nice try, though." Repcon The climate change deniers are selling false information. They are committing fraud just for starters. "Fraud must be proved by showing that the defendant's actions involved five separate elements: (1) a false statement of a material fact,(2) knowledge on the part of the defendant that the statement is untrue, (3) intent on the part of the defendant to deceive the alleged victim, (4) justifiable reliance by the alleged victim on the statement, and (5) injury to the alleged victim as a result." [20] Number five, injury to the alleged victim as a result, many people die annually from anthropogenic climate change. This is fraud that results in the death of the victim. This is immoral. The first amendment does not protect criminals from commiting fraud. If anyone is the fascist here it is the fossil fuel industry. The poor get hit the hardest, minorities tend to be poorer. This could be seen as the mass murder of minorities on the fossil fuel industries part. Sources. 17. http://www.who.int... 18. https://skepticalscience.com... 19. http://www.cnn.com... 20. http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com...

    • https://www.debate.org/debates/Anthropogenic-global-climate-change./1/
  • CON

    Water vapour contributes 85 % of the Earth's cooling...

    Human caused climate change is nonsense

    Your arguments shalt now be rebutted. >>CO2 is a trace gas. It constitutes only a meagre 0. 04% of the atmosphere. Water vapour contributes 85 % of the Earth's cooling effect, Whereas CO2 only contributes 15 % of the heating effects. Yes, CO2 is indeed a trace gas. And CO2 does indeed only constitute about 15 percent of the Earth's temperature capacity. However, This does not change the fact that more CO2 results in more global warming. It seems that you have conceded that CO2 does cause heating. >>A green house is an enclosed environment which has little or no air circulation. On the other hand, The Earth is an open system where air is free to circulate. The air is constantly moving from the cooler polar regions to the warmer tropical regions. The Earth's temperature system is a closed system in the sense that it does not interact with any other systems. . . And although air is moving from the cooler regions to the warmer regions, This does not change the fact that humans caused climate Water vapour contributes 85 % of the Earth's cooling effect, Whereas CO2 only contributes 15 % of the heating effects. Yes, CO2 is indeed a trace gas. And CO2 does indeed only constitute about 15 percent of the Earth's temperature capacity. However, This does not change the fact that more CO2 results in more global warming. It seems that you have conceded that CO2 does cause heating. >>A green house is an enclosed environment which has little or no air circulation. On the other hand, The Earth is an open system where air is free to circulate. The air is constantly moving from the cooler polar regions to the warmer tropical regions. The Earth's temperature system is a closed system in the sense that it does not interact with any other systems. . . And although air is moving from the cooler regions to the warmer regions, This does not change the fact that humans caused climate change, Which is the debate topic. >>The science community likes to cling to the past when it suits them. Considering that you have started talking about the motives of scientists, I will say a little about the motives of climate change deniers. . . Climate change denial is often a defence system against the guilt that comes with the thought of humans having caused climate change. I'm not saying that you are doing this, But it's very common among climate change deniers for them not to want to believe that they are, In fact, Partially implicated in global warming. >>Note - I do understand CO2's properties because I have studied CO2 graphs and read research papers for the last 10 years on this matter. Note - This does not give you a position of authority on the matter. I look forward to the next few arguments. Audience members of this debate may post their thoughts in the comments.

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

    Assume for a second that the deniers are wrong. ......

    Jail climate change deniers.

    I reassert my strongest argument in r2. "Finally, and perhaps my strongest argument. Assume for a second that the deniers are wrong. Not much of an assumption. Jailing the deniers could backfire. Causing them to become martyrs per say. Holding back political Assume for a second that the deniers are wrong. Not much of an assumption. Jailing the deniers could backfire. Causing them to become martyrs per say. Holding back political change and giving the deniers a louder voice. Thanks for debating and being respectful. " stupidape Jailing the climate change deniers could backfire. Cause the deniers to become martyrs and more suspicion and doubt to be cast.

    • https://www.debate.org/debates/Jail-climate-change-deniers./1/
  • PRO

    If we agree that humans are a naturally occurring product...

    Human-Caused Climate Change is Impossible

    A belief in human-caused Climate Change requires one to assert that humans are foreign entities from outside the Universe, Or are created and implanted into the Universe through Intelligent Design/God. If we agree that humans are a naturally occurring product of the Earth, It means the Earth is causing Climate Change since the Earth is a prerequisite to humanity. If you argue that humans are the Cause of Climate Change, You have to hold the belief that humans are an unnatural, Foreign, And parasitic force in the Universe, Implanted at some point by external means. If we are a natural result of Earthly evolution, Our presence here (including our intelligence and ability to develop technology) is a result of that natural process, No different than those of plants and other animals.

    • https://www.debate.org/debates/Human-Caused-Climate-Change-is-Impossible/1/