Reddit had a link to a Think Progress (left wing reactionary blog) post titled Fox News Segment Falsely Claims That Denver Blizzard Casts Doubt On Global Warming this morning. The article has an embedded video that includes the host, Neil Cavuto asking “if more of those who support global warming did not live in the East Coast … they might have a different take on things?” Of course he received an affirmative reply.
The reaction in the comments is what one would expect: outrage that Fox News reporters claimed that snow in Colorado disproves Global Warming. The article notes that the snow could even be caused by Global Warming because of carbon dioxide may increase the amount of water in the atmosphere. That’s all well and good but this article signifies a larger problem with the climate change issue.
One of the commenters on the blog posted the following:
They should come here to Indiana… so far this year NO snow just rain, some warm days, and a couple morning freezes. That isn’t proof of anything either, but it has never happened since I have lived here in the past 33 years. Unless things pick up I am starting to think this is going to be the year with no winter in Indiana.
The idea that higher temperatures in one area (in this case, Indiana) proves that Global Warming is a problem while low temperatures (low enough for snow, anyways) elsewhere don’t disprove Warming is preposterous. Every time we say “it’s warm here” to attempt to support the warming hypothesis we validate attempts to disprove warming with the same tactic.
Let’s all read this next sentence together: Global Warming is not a local phenomenon. The temperature and weather in any particular city, state or region can fluctuate drastically without proving or disproving Global Warming. The Global Warming hypothesis is that the average, global temperature is increasing and that the amount green house gasses in the atmosphere is rising. The Global Warming hypothesis is proved by measurements of current and past climates and observations of historical atmospheric conditions.
The debate should no longer be about whether Global Warming is happening; it is. Every time we let the argument shift to the existence of Global Warming we lose ground. The debate shouldn’t be about whether humans are causing Warming; it doesn’t matter, we should still do everything we can to protect the environment, our cities, our people and our economy. The debate should be about what the best way to address our energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.