Climate Change - Man or Nature
Position Paper 1: Global Climate Change – Is climate change a natural phenomenon or caused by man?
There has been some discussion and debate over the causes of global climate change and particularly, the causative forces that have contributed to the measured increase in the mean atmospheric temperature over the last several decades. Many researchers and climatologists have concluded, using climate modeling systems that the main cause is anthropogenic (man caused). Other researchers have argued that the model is ineffective and biased due to short-term horizon values and that the causes of increased temperatures are due to the natural cycles of the planet. It is my belief that both nature and man contribute to climate change. Mankind’s impact, however, has been much more pronounced of late. As a trained scientist and chemist, I prefer to demonstrate the natural causes and contributors to climate change rather than asserting that climate change is exclusively the result of one or the other climate force. The natural causative agents that promote global climate change are many and the complex systems that provide for and regulate our natural environment are not static. That is – they are in a constant series of cycles that create, adapt, and react to climate changes. The many natural factors affecting the climate can combine to amplify the effects of the others or to counteract them. The contributing forces that alter our climatic system are illustrated in the following diagram:
[pic] (Pidwirny, 2006)
“The work of climatologists has found evidence to suggest that only a limited number of factors are primarily responsible for most of the past episodes of climate change on the Earth” (Pidwirny, 2006). These factors when at there maximum or minimum values have significant impact on Earth’s overall climate.
. Factors affecting climatological changes include: • Natural changes in the Earth's orbital characteristics. • Atmospheric gas composition
There has been some discussion and debate over the causes of global climate change and particularly, the causative forces that have contributed to the measured increase in the mean atmospheric temperature over the last several decades. Many researchers and climatologists have concluded, using climate modeling systems that the main cause is anthropogenic (man caused). Other researchers have argued that the model is ineffective and biased due to short-term horizon values and that the causes of increased temperatures are due to the natural cycles of the planet. It is my belief that both nature and man contribute to climate change. Mankind’s impact, however, has been much more pronounced of late. As a trained scientist and chemist, I prefer to demonstrate the natural causes and contributors to climate change rather than asserting that climate change is exclusively the result of one or the other climate force. The natural causative agents that promote global climate change are many and the complex systems that provide for and regulate our natural environment are not static. That is – they are in a constant series of cycles that create, adapt, and react to climate changes. The many natural factors affecting the climate can combine to amplify the effects of the others or to counteract them. The contributing forces that alter our climatic system are illustrated in the following diagram:
[pic] (Pidwirny, 2006)
“The work of climatologists has found evidence to suggest that only a limited number of factors are primarily responsible for most of the past episodes of climate change on the Earth” (Pidwirny, 2006). These factors when at there maximum or minimum values have significant impact on Earth’s overall climate.
. Factors affecting climatological changes include: • Natural changes in the Earth's orbital characteristics. • Atmospheric gas composition