Long before climate change became politicized, Astronomy 101 classes everywhere were doing this calculation. There was no controversy; it’s simple physics. “OK,” says the freshman business major taking the dreaded science course needed to graduate. “That means atmospheric carbon dioxide acts like a thermostat, right?”
“That’s right,” responds the professor, happy that somebody is paying attention.
“So,” our student continues, “if there were more carbon dioxide, Earth would be warmer, right?”
“Funny you should ask …”
Since 1750, humans have released over 300 billion metric tons of carbon into the atmosphere. There is 44 percent more carbon dioxide in our atmosphere today than there was before the Industrial Revolution. Half of that increase has come since 1980. There is over 30 percent more atmospheric carbon dioxide than at any time in the last 800,000 years. And just as our student realized, when you crank up the thermostat, things will start to heat up.
There are about a half dozen ways to measure Earth’s thermal imbalance, and they all show that the planet is warming. Imagine Earth’s surface covered by 1-kilowatt heaters, one every 100 feet (30 meters) or so. The heaters run 24/7, year after year, decade after decade: That is global warming.
Cable news will tell you there is scientific controversy about this, but they misrepresent the facts. When 97 percent of the research in a field agrees, that’s about as close to consensus as you are ever going to get, especially when there is a huge payday for
disagreeing. Drexel University researchers found that between 2003 and 2010, $558 million from untraceable sources was funneled to climate change deniers.
Like organ grinders’ monkeys, deniers do what they do. But as for serious people, according to the U.S. Navy’s Military Advisory Board — hardly a liberal cabal — “Climate change impacts are already accelerating instability … and are serving as catalysts for conflict.” Speaking for a bipartisan group of prestigious political, business, and academic leaders, former U.S. Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin summed it up well, calling climate change “the existential threat of our age.”
While the details are subtle, the basics of global warming are incontrovertible and easily understood. It is disingenuous and irresponsible to pretend otherwise. Politicizing climate change is like politicizing gravity. If you step off of a building, you fall and hurt yourself, regardless of your politics. Crippling NASA’s ability to observe Earth will not stop global warming; it will only leave us blind.
Jeff Hester is a keynote speaker, coach, and astrophysicist. Follow his thoughts at
jeff-hester.com.