2020, a year filled with climate change pushing the world to the brim of disasters. First was Australia. The world watched it burn from coast to coast. Raging wildfires take rare and loved animals, wildlife, and resources and leave behind chard trees, homes, and dust that adds to the smog filled air. Climate change is real, and it affects our everyday lives in more ways than just our eyes can see. Fox News produced an interview with Dr. Patrick Michaels where he explains his false claims and how climate change isn’t real. In reality, climate change is real, and it affects our everyday lives and our future as it becomes a bigger problem. In reality, climate change is real. Many sources including NASA have said how it affects our everyday lives and our future as it becomes a bigger problem.

1. Expert: Dr. Patrick Michaels (0.00-14.28)

In the interview with Michaels, he lists his background and past accomplishments. He is the director of the study of science at the Cato Institute. He currently holds an AB in SM and degrees in biology, and sciences, and plant ecology from the University of Chicago. Not only that, but he has a PhD in Ecological Climatology from University of Wisconsin Madison, and finally he is the president of the State Climatologists. E&E News has said that “Michaels is among a few academics with legitimate climate science credentials who downplay the human contribution to rising temperatures. He is a frequent guest on Fox News and other conservative outlets, and he has spent years attacking efforts to address climate change.” Many will agree that Dr. Michaels is a very credible source, but he has certain disagreements with the truth behind the science that may make people second guess the subject of climate change.

2. “Man made carbon dioxide in the last century could not have produced this heat” (5:49) 

In the video you see Dr. Patrick Michaels and Mark Levin talk about climate change and how it affects our world in the past and today, in this first claim Dr. Michaels states that considering the heat increase in the past century, none of it was caused by man made CO2, which includes cars, factories, and steel mills. NASA has stated that the clearing of land for agriculture, industry, and other human activities has increased concentrations of greenhouse gases. Greenhouse gases are an important factor in climate change and develop when sunlight reaches the earth. Some energy is reflected back into space or is absorbed and re-radiated back as heat. The New York Times has done lots of research on this claim and states that, “As the concentration of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases increase in the atmosphere, so does the amount of heat they trap.” Since greenhouse gases have been around for so long, they have been slowly building up as we release more fuels into the atmosphere. This is a very big factor of climate change and is one of the reasons why it exists today.

3. “It’s the scientist, not the science that determining how warm it’s going to warm.” (7:12)

Later in the video Dr. Michaels makes his second claim about climate change saying that it’s the scientists that make climate change seem more real, rather than the actual science behind it. An article by the New York Times has explained how the arctic is warming faster than usual meaning that there is a lot more water to reflect the sun off of and onto more ice causing it to melt at a much faster pace. This could not have been misinterpreted by scientists reading off facts from the arctic. In order for scientists to have to mess with the numbers they would have to go against weather and natural disasters that have shown years of evidence. National Geographic has said “Climate change encompasses not only rising average temperatures but also extreme weather events, shifting wildlife populations and habitats, rising seas, and a range of other impacts.” Many of the science proven facts are human observations as Fact-check has said “Sixteen of the last 17 years have been the warmest ever recorded by human observations including sea-level rise, loss of biodiversity, species extinction, crop loss, and limits on water supplies and economic growth” Scientists could not have proven a lot of facts about the weather or any sort of natural disaster and its severance on the planet. 

4.“Is the weather getting worse? No.” (11:47)

One of the last claims Dr. Michaels made about his perspective on climate change is how the weather is not getting worse. Michaels states how “…there’s more damage from weather because there’s more stuff and people and property in the way of weather…” National Geographic has noticed how the world has a higher temperature and sea level rise than ever before, “Thermometer records kept over the past century and a half show Earth’s average temperature has risen more than 1 degree Fahrenheit (0.9 degrees Celsius), and about twice that in parts of the Arctic.” The weather is getting worse and summers are getting hotter and longer. NASA has lots of facts about the weather and how the world is being changed such as how global temperatures have gone up by 2.1 °F since 1880, the arctic ice minimum has gone down 13.1% per decade, ice cheers have gone down 429 billion metric tons per year, and sea levels are rising 3.3 millimeters per year. All of these change the weather without the help of humans “being in the way” to make them seem more severe. 

Conclusion

Climate change is affecting our everyday lives and our future each day as we continue to ignore it. Many organisms are also losing habitats and food due to climate change. Not only is this a problem for human life but animal life too. Many factors have contributed to causing climate change, but a big one is greenhouse gases. They change the climate as we know it, and result in devastating natural disasters such as the Australian fires, Californian fires, and all the severe hurricanes that have ripped through homes and wildlife within the past 3 years. Together we can help to stop climate change by simply cutting down on emission fuels, and zeroing out greenhouse gases. Our future generations need our help, and it only takes one of us to do our part and make sure that they have as beautiful of a world as we do.

Featured Image captured from The Truth About Global Warming