Kayley-O ​ range- rebuttal

Zach-​ ​Red
Grady-​ ​Blue

Listed reasons:

Humans are the main cause:​ ​It’s no question. Climate change is happening, and it’s because
of us. During the ice age, the average CO2 in the atmosphere was around 180 PPM. Before the
industrial revolution, it had increased to about 280 PPM which was more than 10 thousand
years ago. ​Currently though, it has reached around 410 PPM. That's 69 percent or 125 more
CO2 within the atmosphere in 200 years. Compare that to the ice age and pre- industrial
revolution, it's a far more drastic change. Not to mention the average person produces 2.3
pounds of CO2 a day. Since there are 7.53 billion people, 17,319,000,000 (17.319 billion)
pounds of Co2 per day. Even if not everyone uses 2.3 pounds, there are still people who use
more than that.​ Not to mention the industry business. Factories produce about 104,657,534.25
(millions) a day. Which means that per year, on average, factories produce 38.2 billion tons of
CO2 per year. (Possible rebuttal) Of course before the industrial revolution there were causes
for climate change. ​Variations in the sun’s energy reaching earth, and change in the reflectivity
of earth atmosphere and surface. However according to
[​https://19january2017snapshot.epa.gov/climate-change-science/causes-climate-change_.html​]
“​Recent climate changes, however, cannot be explained by natural causes alone. Research
indicates that natural causes do not explain most observed warming, especially warming since
the mid-20th century. Rather, it is extremely likely that human activities have been the dominant
cause of that warming.”​ The Sun’s energy can’t be affecting the warming either.
[​https://19january2017snapshot.epa.gov/climate-change-science/causes-climate-change_.html​]
“Changes in solar energy continue to affect climate. However, over the last 11-year solar cycle,
solar output has been lower than it has been since the mid-20th century, and therefore does not
explain the recent warming of the earth.[2] Similarly, changes in the shape of Earth’s orbit as
well as the tilt and position of Earth’s axis affect temperature on very long timescales (tens to
hundreds of thousands of years), and therefore cannot explain the recent warming.”​ Nasa also
quotes ​“Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, the acidity of surface ocean waters has
increased by about 30 percent.13,14 This increase is the result of humans emitting more carbon
dioxide into the atmosphere and hence more being absorbed into the oceans.​ The amount of
carbon dioxide absorbed by the upper layer of the oceans is increasing by about 2 billion tons
per year.” ​It may be true that there are times before where Earth’s temperature has jumped
aburtly. This is mainly caused by large emissions of greenhouse gasses. This being volcanic
eruptions and earth’s rotation and such, however since the industrial revolution the average
global temperature 0.85 degree celsius. (​https://ec.europa.eu/clima/change/causes_en​)
^^^^[Humans are destroying Carbon sinks as well]
According to Nasa.gov they agree that “the current global warming trend is human Recent
climate changes, however, cannot be explained by natural causes alone. Research indicates
that natural causes do not explain most observed warming, especially warming since the
mid-20th century. Rather, it is extremely likely that human activities have been the dominant
cause of that warming.expansion of the “greenhouse effect”​ -- warming that results when the
atmosphere traps heat radiating from Earth toward space.The industrial activities that our
modern civilization depends upon have raised carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere from 280
parts per million to 400 parts per million. According to UN they suspect that there is a 95%
chance that global warming is happening because human impact on the environment. Some
Greenhouse gases block heat from leaving the atmosphere causing the earth to warm up if
there is enough heat being trapped by the greenhouse gases that are in the atmosphere. On
Earth, human activities are changing the natural greenhouse in the earth. Over the last century
the burning of fossil fuels like coal and oil has increased the concentration of atmospheric
carbon dioxide. This happens because the coal or oil burning process combines carbon with
oxygen in the air to make CO2.Also, the clearing of land for agriculture, industry, and other
human activities has increased concentrations of greenhouse gases.Our modern civilization is
based on hydrocarbons: fuel and coal are the main sources of energy of our societies. Burning
fuel and coal releases a great amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the Earth's atmosphere.

CO2 is a greenhouse gas, which means that its presence in the atmosphere contributes to
global warming. But the role of CO2 and other greenhouse gases is ambiguous: our planet
would not shelter life if greenhouse gases did not contribute to heat up our atmosphere.

The problem is that modern human activities release too much greenhouse gases into the
atmosphere at the same time, which causes a swift global warming on a scale never
experienced before by our planet. The risk is that it could unbalance the Earth's atmospheric
and oceanic cycles on a global scale, which would have very unpredictable consequences for
our
climate.​https://earthobservatory.sg/faq-on-earth-sciences/how-can-human-activities-cause-clima
te-change

Since the industrial revolution, with ever-increasing supplies of fossil fuels, the activities of a
dramatically expanding world population have made significant alterations to the make-up of our
atmosphere.

In some cases human-caused change is direct and unambiguous. The harmful effect of the
human release of CFCs on the ozone layer is well documented and not disputed. Down on the
ground, draining of marshland and deforestation can produce a significant decrease in water
vapour in the atmosphere downwind; while the introduction of irrigation for agriculture has the
opposite effect. Over time, both of these human activities can alter patterns of rainfall, turning
deserts into green areas and green areas into deserts.

In other cases the human causes of climate change are more complex. Emissions from cement
production, pollution and the release of particulates to form smog in the atmosphere, all affect
climate.
Without doubt the most significant of all the human causes of changing climate is the dramatic
increase in CO2. After remaining relatively steady for the last 650,000 years or more, in just the
last two hundred years the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere has suddenly shot up from
280, to more than 380 parts per million. And it’s still rising. This dramatic 30% increase has all
taken place at the same time as humans have been burning fossil fuels at a greater and greater
rate.

Of course there are also natural sources of the CO2 in the atmosphere, such as vegetation, but
fortunately there are differences that scientists can measure between the CO2 derived from
fossil fuels and the CO2 derived from plants. The changing concentrations of the two types
demonstrate that the additional CO2 can only be the result of human
activity.​https://www.skepticalscience.com/Are-humans-too-insignificant-to-affect-global-climate.h
tm
The planet's average surface temperature has risen about 1.62 degrees Fahrenheit (0.9
degrees Celsius) since the late 19th century, a change driven largely by increased carbon
dioxide and other human-made emissions into the atmosphere.4 Most of the warming occurred
in the past 35 years, with the five warmest years on record taking place since 2010. Not only
was 2016 the warmest year on record, but eight of the 12 months that make up the year — from
January through September, with the exception of June — were the warmest on record for
those respective months.The oceans have absorbed much of this increased heat, with the top
700 meters (about 2,300 feet) of ocean showing warming of more than 0.4 degrees Fahrenheit
since 1969. The Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets have decreased in mass. Data from
NASA's Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment show Greenland lost an average of 281
billion tons of ice per year between 1993 and 2016, while Antarctica lost about 119 billion tons
during the same time period. The rate of Antarctica ice mass loss has tripled in the last decade.
Glaciers are retreating almost everywhere around the world — including in the Alps, Himalayas,
Andes, Rockies, Alaska and Africa. Satellite observations reveal that the amount of spring snow
cover in the Northern Hemisphere has decreased over the past five decades and that the snow
is melting earlier. Global sea level rose about 8 inches in the last century. The rate in the last
two decades, however, is nearly double that of the last century and is accelerating slightly every
year. Both the extent and thickness of Arctic sea ice has declined rapidly over the last several
decades. These are all reasons of climate change caused by humans.
https://climate.nasa.gov/evidence/

Evidence that c02 are the main cause of global warming is very robust. Scientists have known
since the early 1800s that gases in the atmosphere trap heat. Theccc.org.uk

Climate: the weather conditions prevailing in an area in general or over a long period.The state
of the atmosphere at a place and time as regards heat, dryness, sunshine, wind, rain.
Arctic sea ice reaches its minimum each September. September Arctic sea ice is now declining
at a rate of 12.8 percent per decade, relative to the 1981 to 2010 average. This graph shows the
average monthly Arctic sea ice extent each September since 1979, derived from satellite
observations
Sea level rise is caused primarily by two factors related to global warming: the added water from
melting ice sheets and glaciers and the expansion of seawater as it warms. The first graph
tracks the change in sea level since 1993 as observed by satellite
Most climate scientists agree the main cause of the current global warming trend is human
expansion of the "greenhouse effect"1 — warming that results when the atmosphere traps heat
radiating from Earth toward space​.
https://climate.nasa.gov/causes/
Gases that contribute to the greenhouse effect include:

Humans aren’t the main cause:

Listed reasons: coral bleaching, greenhouses gasses from factories
Increase of greenhouse gasses, melting of ice caps, saying there wasn’t a hotter time,
before records
Climate change has been changing for years, even before humans. There are the examples of
the ice age which last for periods of thousands of years. There are also warming periods which
have actually been warmer than the present despite the CO2 levels being lower than they are
now says Richard Lindzen. (An American Physicist) Take for example, the Permian period. The
Permian period was a time way before human technological advancement, around 298.9 million
years ago. However due to the great increase of heat world wide, around 90 to 96 percent of the
species on earth went extinct to what we know know as the Great Permian extinction. [National
Geographic] (possible rebuttal) It’s no question that global warming is happening, and humans
have some role in changing some of it. However there are plenty of natural changes that
change the climate, amd have over thousands or millions of years before the industrial
revolution. ​Of course there was the Permian extinction I mentioned earlier. According to
[​https://19january2017snapshot.epa.gov/climate-change-science/causes-climate-change_.html​]
some causes for climate change besides human industrialization are variations in the sun’s
energy reaching earth, and change in the reflectivity of earth atmosphere and surface.​ Another
thing that needs to be brought up, “According to a 2003 study published in Science,
measurements of ice core samples show that over the last four climatic cycles (past 240,000
years), periods of natural global warming preceded global increases in CO2. ​In 2010 the
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences published a study of the earth's climate
460-445 million years ago which found that an intense period of glaciation, not warming,
occurred when CO2 levels were 5 times higher than they are today”
(​https://climatechange.procon.org/​)​ Also, According to a 2007 study published in Energy &
Environment, "variations in solar activity and not the burning of fossil fuels are the direct cause
of the observed multi year variations in climatic responses." Between 1900 and 2000 irradiance
from the sun increased 0.19%.
According to a 2011 study published in the Asia-Pacific Journal of Atmospheric Science, many
climate models that predict additional global warming to occur from CO2 emissions "exaggerate
positive feedbacks and even show positive feedbacks when actual feedbacks are negative." [75]
About 50% of the CO2 released by the burning of fossil fuels and other human activities has
already been re-absorbed by the earth’s carbon sinks. [118] From 2002-2011, 26% of
human-caused CO2 emissions were absorbed specifically by the world’s oceans. [61] A 2010
study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found evidence that
forests are increasing their growth rates in response to elevated levels of CO2, [62] which will in
turn, lower atmospheric CO2 levels in a negative feedback. According to an Aug. 2012 study in
Nature, the rate of global carbon uptake by the earth's carbon sinks, such as its forests and
oceans, doubled from 1960-2010 and continues to increase. [64]
https://climatechange.procon.org

As CO2 levels in the atmosphere rise, the amount of additional warming caused by the
increased concentration becomes less and less pronounced. [65] According to Senate
testimony by William Happer, PhD, Professor of Physics at Princeton University, "[a]dditional
increments of CO2 will cause relatively less direct warming because we already have so much
CO2 in the atmosphere that it has blocked most of the infrared radiation that it can. The
technical jargon for this is that the CO2 absorption band is nearly 'saturated' at current CO2
levels." [66] According to the Heartland Institute's 2013 Nongovernmental International Panel on
Climate Change (NIPCC) report, "it is likely rising atmospheric CO2 concentrations will have
little impact on future climate." [67]
Over the past 10,000 years, solar minima (reduced sun spot activity) have been "accompanied
by sharp climate changes." [68] Between 1900 and 2000 solar irradiance increased 0.19%, and
correlated with the rise in US surface temperatures over the 20th century.​ [114] According to a
2007 study published in Energy & Environment, "variations in solar activity and not the burning
of fossil fuels are the direct cause of the observed multiyear variations in climatic responses."
[69] In a 2012 ​study by Willie Soon, PhD, Physicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for
Astrophysics, a strong correlation between solar radiation and temperatures in the Arctic over
the past 130 years was identified.​ [70] According to a 2012 study published in the Journal of
Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics, "up to 70% of the observed post-1850 climate
change and warming could be associated to multiple solar cycles." [71]
Changes in ocean currents are primarily responsible for the melting Greenland ice sheet, Arctic
sea ice, and Arctic permafrost. Over the 20th century there have been two Arctic warming
periods with a cooling period (1940-1970) in between. According to a 2009 study in Geophysical
Research Letters, natural shifts in the ocean currents are the major cause of these climate
changes, not human-generated greenhouse gases. [124] According to William Gray, PhD,
Emeritus Professor of Atmospheric Science at Colorado State University, most of the climate
changes over the last century are natural and "due to multi-decadal and multi-century changes
in deep global ocean currents." [122] Global cooling from 1940 to the 1970s, and warming from
the 1970s to 2008, coincided with fluctuations in ocean currents and cloud cover driven by the
Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) - a naturally occurring rearrangement in atmospheric and
oceanic circulation patterns. [123] According to a 2014 article by Don Easterbrook, PhD,
Professor Emeritus of Geology at Western Washington University, the "PDO cool mode has
replaced the warm mode in the Pacific Ocean, virtually assuring us of about 30 years of global
cooling, perhaps much deeper than the global cooling from about 1945 to 1977." [88]
The current warming trend is of particular significance because most of it is extremely likely
(greater than 95 percent probability) to be the result of human activity since the mid-20th
century and proceeding at a rate that is unprecedented over decades to millennia.1

General information-
For: Industrial revolution, ice age, factories, CO2 usage, Greenhouse effect, sun’s energy
Against: Permian extinction, climate through history, random warming spikes/ ice ages

Citations:
https://19january2017snapshot.epa.gov/climate-change-science/causes-climate-change_.html
https://climate.nasa.gov/evidence/
https://www.skepticalscience.com/climate-change-little-ice-age-medieval-warm-period.htm

Charts and pictures:

^^
(​https://climate.nasa.gov/climate_resources/24/graphic-the-relentless-rise-of-carbon-dioxide/​)
^^
(​https://19january2017snapshot.epa.gov/climate-change-science/causes-climate-change_.html​)

https://www.geocraft.com/WVFossils/last_400k_yrs.html
https://climate.nasa.gov/vital-signs/global-temperature/
This graph illustrates the change in global surface temperature relative to 1951-1980 average
temperatures. Eighteen of the 19 warmest years all have occurred since
P2001, with the exception of 1998. The year 2016 ranks as the warmest on record. (Source:
NASA/GISS). This research is broadly consistent with similar constructions prepared by the
Climatic Research Unit and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Opening Statement: State what side we are on. Say 3 reasons why we are on that side then
hand it over to zach for evidence for the main argument

Rebuttal:
Pro:
Con:
Main argument
Pro:
Con:
Closing Statement: