• Question: do you think humans are the main cause of global warming? if so why? if not why?

    Asked by to Anna, Chris, Jane, Iain, Nick on 17 Mar 2014. This question was also asked by .
    • Photo: Anna Middleton

      Anna Middleton answered on 17 Mar 2014:

      Hi chloe
      I’m not totally up to speed with the latest global warming arguments but from what I understand there is pretty concrete evidence that humans are at least responsible for some of global warming and the climate change we are experiencing is not just due to natural events. However, we get such mixed (and politically driven) messages on this it is difficult to uncover what the truth is. Work from the British Antarctic Survey is really interesting and they might be able to answer your question better: http://www.antarctica.ac.uk/

    • Photo: Iain Moal

      Iain Moal answered on 17 Mar 2014:

      Yes, I do think that humans are the main cause of global warming. The reason I believe this is because of the huge amounts of carbon dioxide which we put into the air when we burn fossil fuels. The earth takes in radiation from the sun, and also emits infra-red radiation into space. Carbon dioxide can absorb this radiation and convert it to heat, which gets trapped in the atmosphere. This is the reason I believe that humans are the cause of global warming.

    • Photo: Chris Cole

      Chris Cole answered on 17 Mar 2014:

      I used to be fairly skeptical. I’m no climate specialist, but I still think there is a lot we don’t fully understand about the “recent” increase in global temperatures. Much of it is based on correlations, which often can be convincing, don’t necessarily mean causation.

      I said “used to be” as the “wheelchair” figure that was published recently highlights how anomalous the current temperatures are http://blogs.worldbank.org/futuredevelopment/climate-change-myth and that had quite an impact on me.

    • Photo: Jane Charlesworth

      Jane Charlesworth answered on 18 Mar 2014:

      Yes, for the reasons Iain said.

      Also, I think it’s stupid to say “I don’t believe in global warming, so I’ll just drive around in a massive car”, because even if there was a small chance that your behaviour could have an effect on future generations of people, that seems a silly chance to take.

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