A couple of years ago I was somewhat unconvinced by claims that humanity was influencing the climate. I hadn’t really studied the available data in detail, and thought that perhaps the atmosphere was so large that anthropogenic emissions couldn’t noticeably affect its composition, and that there was no reason to think that the warming that is observed was not part of a natural trend. Over the last couple of years I’ve studied the issue in much more detail and come to the conclusion that without doubt, mankind is influencing the climate, and that unless that influence is curbed then the effects will be severe.

Although the number of climate scientists who do not think that humanity is affecting the climate is very small, the issue is now heavily politicised. Journalists with science degrees are a minority, and journalists with a political bias are a majority. For the public, the science is filtered through the media, and what they get at the end often doesn’t bear much relation to what the scientists are actually saying.

To stop or drastically curb the emissions which are causing climate change, governments need to take action. But politicians take their cue from what they think people want, and if there is any hint that taking action will lead to losing votes, then action will not be taken. Therefore, politicians need to be convinced that people want action to be taken and the dangers of climate change to be taken seriously. Given that I’m a scientist, albeit in a different discipline, I thought it would be useful to explain here for anyone who happens to pass by why I am convinced by the theory that mankind is influencing the climate.

So here are my brief digests of what I’ve read that has convinced me. Comments or arguments are most welcome.

Carbon dioxide

The temperature of the Earth’s atmosphere is determined by the balance between incoming and outgoing radiation. The ground absorbs sunlight, which warms it up, and it emits infrared radiation. The [...read on...]

Temperatures

One of the pitfalls for a layman studying the climate is to overestimate the importance of the present day. To me, the increase in temperatures over the last twenty years now seem very noticeable [...read on...]

The Sun

Given that incoming radiation from the Sun is one half of the equation that determines the temperature here on Earth, it makes great sense that changes in solar radiation would affect the [...read on...]

Models

You can deduce the significant impact of human activities on the climate just from basic physics and real world observations. But you can learn more about the climate system and how it will respond [...read on...]

Consequences

So by now, if all’s gone to plan, I might have convinced an agnostic reader that temperatures are rising, the cause is fundamentally greenhouse gases, and that temperatures will rise a lot more [...read on...]