The debate surrounding climate change is a polarized one. One side, mostly the scientific community, are saying that the rapid changes in climate are mostly a by-product of humanity. The other side, mostly political pundits and people with no scientific knowledge, are claiming that it’s merely left-wing propaganda. For the denialists, citing this past cold winter as evidence is their way of denying that the earth is getting warmer.
James Lawrence Powell, renowned geochemist, argues his point that only people still debating whether or not climate change is “real” and caused by human activity are the ones who aren’t doing the actual research.
“The sort of confusion we’ve seen in the public around this issue belies a misunderstanding of the difference between climate and weather,” said Dr. Altaf Arain, director of the McMaster Centre for Climate Change in Hamilton, Ont. He thinks people tend to look at their local weather for evidence of climate change, when really it’s the global average that shows the trend.
“When people see one month of extreme cold, they say ‘What happened to global warming?’” said Arain. “But if you look globally, it’s -23 C in our region, but in Australia, in Europe the temperatures are much warmer than usual.”
Arain cites from extensive research at Rutgers, which is a study of the reduced Arctic Sea ice and extended weather periods. Based off of this research and more from peers within the scientific community, the theory is that Earth is believed to be warming at a rate of .1 or .2 degrees Celsius per decade.
source: nasa.gov
This may not sound like a very high number but it is being attributed to the “cold snaps” we’ve felt this past winter in Toronto, the droughts in California, floods in England, the $10 billion in damages from the Typhoon Fitow in China and Japan, a further $10 billion in China due to drought, and the $22 billion damage in Central Europe due to flooding in June.
Torontonians have experienced a pretty heavy snowfall this winter and it’s absolutely being attributed to global warming. As temperatures rise, more water evaporates into the atmosphere, speeding up what is known as the hydrological cycle. This is then carried through a jet stream and dumped as snow.
While it may be decades before we see environmental catastrophe due to changing temperatures, governments and individuals would be cautious to start planning now, Arain warned. Increased rains, flooding, snowfall and temperature shifts come with a cost, particularly as buildings, streets and cities face weather extremes for which they weren’t built.
Climate change could cost Canada billions of dollars per year by 2020, which will depend on our reaction to it and the severity of the change.
The National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy looked at the cost of climate change in Canada. They assessed Canada’s growing population, public health, and coastal areas that have been affected by weather events, and continue to have estimated that the cost could start at roughly $5 billion/year in 2020, and then increase to $21 billion and $43 billion/year by 2050.
The annual cost is expected to be roughly 0.8% to 1% of GDP by 2050.
These facts are hopefully being served as a huge wake up call to climate change denialists to start working with the scientific community and the government to combat and adapt to the growing evidence of climate change.
Humans have an aptitude toward deception. Science does not.
