10 Indisputable Facts for Understanding Climate Change
Conversations about climate change can often be confusing, complex, and loaded with field-specific scientific jargon, making it nearly unreadable for larger audiences. While some of the target audiences for these pieces are the other experts knowledgeable about the topics, most of us are not. When I was transitioning from the military into the science world, I often encountered this issue, reading article after article yet understanding and absorbing very little. My solution to this was to break these high-level topics down into smaller, much more basic concepts, and I found that pretty much all of these high-level systems are much easier to understand and explain when we do that first. I know that sounds so blatantly obvious, yet many discussions are still held with the assumption that everyone has the same knowledge base for understanding these concepts, which is rarely ever true. So that is why I am releasing this article and planning to release more on a biweekly or monthly basis, conversations centering around climate change and the planet are incredibly complex, but I think we can simplify these conversations in a way that can bring more people to the table to discuss and learn why myself and so many others are concerned about our future on this planet.
For the first installment of Complex Climates: Simplifying Conversations About Climate Change, I am starting with the basics. A ten-step process for understanding climate change with ten facts that progressively explain why we should all be caring about the changes to our planet. This first article focuses on sea level rise, one of the more well known impacts of climate change, but this process could be easily applied to a number of other topics such as extreme weather events, water availability, food insecurity, or public health. What’s most important in this climate communication approach is not just sharing facts but providing context for why these processes are happening and especially why they matter. So let’s start with these ten facts that progressively build on each other and are all related, if we understand all ten, then we have the necessary basis for understanding climate change. Let’s dive in…
10 INDISPUTABLE FACTS FOR UNDERSTANDING CLIMATE CHANGE:
All living organisms contain carbon molecules. 🌱🐋
Fossil fuels like coal, natural gas, and oil are created from decayed plants and animals. 🦖⛽️
Burning fossil fuels releases greenhouse gases (GHGs), the primary gas we are focusing on is carbon dioxide (CO2). 🔥💨
The presence of CO2 and other GHGs in the atmosphere make Earth habitable for life by absorbing and redirecting energy. The concentration of CO2 is a major factor in controlling global temperatures. 🌤️🌡️
CO2 levels have varied throughout history, with higher concentrations causing warmer global temperatures, increased glacial melt, and higher sea levels. 🏔️🌊
Since 1850, CO2 levels have risen from 280 ppm to more than 420 ppm, driving global temperatures close to a critical threshold - an average global temperature that is 1.5°C higher than it was in 1850. 🌡️🏭
Ice melts at 32°F (0°C). 🧊💧
There are about 8-million cubic miles of ice in the world, which, if completely melted, would raise sea levels by over 200 feet. 🇦🇶🏝️
1-billion people live less than 33 feet (10 meters) above current sea levels. 🏘️🏖️
Humans cannot breathe under water. ☠️🔥🧊
While trying to add a bit of comedic levity to the situation, the bottom line is this…
We know why climate change is happening and how the Earth’s past climate has responded to changes in atmospheric concentrations of CO2. A common misconception that I often hear is that we are “killing the Earth.” The Earth and its natural systems existed long before humans were around and will continue to exist for another few billion years. What we are doing to the Earth is changing it in a way that will put increased stress on the very systems which we rely on every day for survival. Humans have always been great adapters to change, but the rate at which we are altering the planet is far exceeding the rate at which we and the systems we rely on can naturally adapt. Systems crucial to our comfortable modern existence such as agriculture, acquiring fresh water, and the energy infrastructure needed to power our modern world are all at risk. You see, we are not “killing the Earth,” the only thing we are killing is ourselves by making our one and only home unsuitable for sustaining human life as we know it today. Like I said, our Earth will be around for another few billion years. The only question is whether or not humans will be there too, or will the decisions we make in the next few years and decades be the final proverbial nails in the coffin.
As I said multiple times, our planet's natural systems and cycles existed long before humans arrived and will continue long after we are gone. Earth simply does not care about our societal structures, social classes, our goals and aspirations, the hopes and dreams of our children, and certainly not our economies. Earth will continue to follow the laws of nature and physics by reacting to changes in the same way that it always has, by responding to whatever inputs it is given. In our case, we are continually increasing the input of CO2 into the atmosphere. As we have continually shown that humans do not care much for the lives of the other living organisms with which we share this planet, our planet likewise does not care one bit about the existence of our species. It truly is only up to us whether we allow our existence to continue on into the future.
Climate change is an extremely unique problem for mankind because it is the only problem where we understand why it is happening, why it is a threat, and how to fix the problem, yet we knowingly choose to ignore and do nothing about it. Actions or lack of actions, have consequences and many people around the world are already experiencing these consequences today. While the United States has faced some of the more minor impacts like droughts and more extreme weather events, we have yet to have to face the reality that many people are already experiencing. If we only start to care about climate change after the people in our coastal cities are displaced, after our agricultural regions are no longer able to support necessary crop yields, after wars are waged over the need for access to clean fresh water, if we wait until the strength and trajectory of our economy is no longer more important than our ability to find the food and water necessary keep our children alive then we will have waited too long and our fate will have already been sealed with only ourselves to blame.
In closing, I leave you with this quote from the great Sir David Attenborough,
“The truth is: the natural world is changing. And we are totally dependent on that world. It provides our food, water and air. It is the most precious thing we have and we need to defend it.”
Created by Ethan & Rebecca Carr