Discuss the idea that present day climate changes are part of a larger natural atmospheric cycle

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Natural factors have changed Earth's climate in the past and that they will undoubtedly change it in the future. For example, natural climate change has been definitively linked to global climate shifts such as the Pleistocene Ice Age, the Medieval Warm Period, and the Little Ice Age. During the past million years, the biggest temperature swings on Earth have been the ice ages. When ice ages have ended, it has taken about 5000 years for the planet to warm between 4°C and 7°C (7°F and 13°F). For comparison, in the 20th century alone, Earth's average temperature climbed about 0.7°C (1.3°F), which is roughly eight times faster than previous warming. In fact, proxy studies show that humanity is altering Earth's climate 5000 times faster than the pace of the most rapid natural warming episode in our planet's past. Over the past century, scientists from all over the world have been collecting data on natural factors that influence climate—such as changes in the Sun's brightness, variations in Earth's orbit, major volcanic eruptions, and other factors. These observations have failed to show any long-term changes that could fully account for the recent rapid warming of Earth's temperature. Scientists agree that the observed warming in recent decades is occurring more quickly and with greater magnitude than can be explained by any natural factors. In essence, the release of human-caused emissions is the only viable explanation for the documented and observable recent climate changes—including the increased average temperature of Earth's surface.