Essay about Arguments: Global Warming and Climate Change Theory

Submitted By ac686686
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The key concepts of this question are ‘climate change’ and ‘climate change sceptics’ as a whole, with the question further asking if sceptical views on climate change present a relevant case to the climate change theory. Firstly we should ask what climate change is. Climate change is the significant change to weather patterns over a certain period of time, whether they are considered either directly or indirectly linked to the Earths natural processes or human actions (Hardy 2003, p11; Pielke 2004, p31). A climate change scepic is not to be confused with a climate change denialist From a scientific point of view a sceptic is not someone who simply rejects new claims, ideas or theories as most would think. A sceptic is someone who wants compelling evidence before coming to a conclusion. Scepticism is seen as a method of questioning and further developing new ideas and theories for the benefit of science. (Kemp, Milne & Reay 2010, p637; Bowditch 2010, p43). To answer the question ‘ Do climate change sceptics have a valid case?’ the negative arguments must be outlined before the affirmative. Scientists on both the negative and the affirmative will generally agree that the Earths climate has been changing over millions of years (Plimer 2009, p25; Hardy 2003 p23). The negative believe that human involvement over the last 160 years has amplified the global warming process (Burroughs 2007 p253; Hardy 2003 pp 39-45). The negative have observed record temperatures from observing stations, radiosodes or hot air balloons, satellite thermal readings of the upper atmosphere and thermometers positioned all around the Earth (Hardy 2003 p40; Berliner, M 2003, pp 430-432; Forest, Stone & Jacoby 2002, p48). The findings of these experiments and recorded data have suggested that the global mean temperature has risen by 0.2°c to 0.8°c over the last 100 to 160 years (Freer 2005, p3; National Research Council 2000, p21) Climate scientists have also developed complex mathematical equations and computer models that give a better understanding of how the Earths climate operates and supports the theory of anthropogenic climate change (Ridgewell & Valdes 2009, p565). Now that he negative arguments have been outlined the