A raging issue at the moment, in both government bureaus and bar chats alike, is global warming. Is it just a natural occurring event, part of the Earth’s climate cycle or, indeed, human-induced? Most scientists have repeatedly claimed, backed by scientific evidence, that the ever rising global temperature levels, along with various calamities sparked by a chain reaction, are primarily due to human intervention.

Though there are numerous studies and evidence pointing towards that the conclusion that global warming is human-induced, skepticism is at large, and in certain places it’s fueled by interest. The oil industry, for instance, has almost unanimously taken the stance  of denying global warming.

Anyway, despite this, no scientist can positively and 100% assert that global warming is indeed human induced, but he could most certainly give some odds. For those who have eyes to see and ears to listen, this should be enough. For example, NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center recently estimated that the odds of the ever rising global temperature levels, which peaked in the past few years with an average temperatures in the continental US for the month of June a full 2°F above the average for the 20th century, are due to a matter of chance, occurring randomly, would be 1 in 1,594,323. Other past studies presented similar findings. The American Meteorological Society claimed, in a 2011 study, that the drought due to high temperatures in Texas last year were “distinctly more probable” than they would have been 40-50 years ago, thanks to global warming.

Here’s an extremely interesting video produced by the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR), which presents in layman terms the effects of climate change on extreme weather.

source: Mother Jones

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