I have studiously avoided this thread, knowing that it would probably get me more infractions than the election threads
. I just skimmed the entire thread and this was confirmed. But PBS has a great 52-minute documentary that goes into an appropriate amount of depth for the casual fan on something that hasn't been discussed here.
The feedback loops. Must watch video if you care anything about the future.
https://video.wucftv.org/video/earth-emergency-6njifx/
A true understanding of science is beyond many, maybe most, people. So when I talk with deniers, I try to dumb it down to a few things.
It took literally hundreds of millions of years to create the petroleum, coal, and natural gas on the planet. We've released most of that stored carbon in just 200 years since the Industrial Revolution. For pete's sake, of course that has an effect.
The Earth is like a giant machine, or a giant ball rolling downhill. Once moving in a certain direction and accelerating, it takes increasing amounts of effort to change that motion. Think about the summer solstice, the longest day of the year, shouldn't that also be the hottest day? But no, the hottest part of the summer is 4 to 6 weeks later.
I'll absolutely agree with any denier that sea levels have been going up and down for millennia. But until about 100 years ago, we didn't have trillions of dollars of infrastructure, and hundreds of millions of people, living within 10 feet elevation of sea level. Take Florida alone: during the Industrial Revolution, there were less than 30,000 people in the State...there are now about 22 million, and guess where most of them live. So sea level rise is going to have a huge,
costly, impact.
I'll admit I usually don't get through to them, so I always end with this. Their children and grandchildren will curse this generation for the mess we've left them. Honestly, I ended up not having kids so I don't even know why I care anymore.