In a post using Chapter 15 information, websites listed for the labs, and at lea

Question

In a post using Chapter 15 information, websites listed for the labs, and at least one other new online source (referenced in your post with an active link) present an argument on if Climate Change, better known as Global Warming, is a man-made problem and a concern or a function of natural climate variability. Finally in the post explain what you think should be done locally or globally, if at all, to combat climate change.

An argument is not simply an opinion statement your thoughts need to be backed up with at least two premises that defend your point with data and scientific mechanisms. Premises always include data or information to back up your point.

Once you have presented your argument you will also need to evaluate and comment on the science and data presented by at least one other person. These comments need to be of substance and truly evaluate the data and offer your opinion. You will not receive full credit without this data from an original source or the double entry.

Things to consider:

1. You will need to be able to explain the variation associated with fronts and seasons at multiple latitudes in order to separate climate change from weather events.

If you are one of the last to come to the discussion board to post you need to present new premises you cannot simply use the argument posted by someone else. In this instance it behooves you to get online and do this early.

Explanation / Answer

The urgency of climate policy actions depends on how future concentrations of greenhouse gases (GHGs) and global climate change are likely to evolve in the absence of GHG emission control and how global climate change may affect the world's ecosystems and the services they provide. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is the most important anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG). Currently, only about half of the anthropogenic CO2 emission stays airborne. The rest is taken up by the terrestrial biosphere and the ocean. Global climate change due to increased GHG concentrations has the potential to reduce these natural CO2 sinks and to affect ecosystem structure in ways that could enhance or reduce carbon uptake. However, projections of future atmospheric CO2 and climate are rendered uncertain by our understanding of how the mechanisms driving oceanic and terrestrial carbon sequestration are influenced by a changing environment. The test for a globally coherent climate fingerprint does not require that any single species show a climate change impact with 100% certitude. Rather, it seeks some defined level of confidence in a climate change signal on a global scale. Adopting the IPCC ‘levels of confidence’11 and applying the economists’ view of a fingerprint, we would have “very high confidence” in a fingerprint if we estimated that more than 95% of observed changes were principally caused by climate change, “high confidence” between 95% and 67%, “medium confidence” between 33% and 67%, and “low confidence” below 33%. In contrast, the biologists’ confidence level comes from the statistical probability that global biotic trends would match climate change predictions purely by chance, coupled with supporting experimental results showing causal relationships between climate and particular biological traits.

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