Global Warming: the sky is falling!

[Elizabeth I]

We have quite accurate records from several tens of thousand of years, and less accurate ones from earlier than that.

If you don't know how, I suggest a little research.

Do you know the difference between weather and climate? If not, I suggest you do a little research in a dictionary or a 7th-grade general science book. The weather changes all the time. We have records about climate (plant fossils, glacier ice core samples, etc. - yes, I do know how.) We do not have any records about a temperature variation of a few degrees over a few years from 10,000 years ago, and not any accurate ones from 1,000, 500, or even 300 years ago.

While the data currently being collected may be accurate, until we have seen a consistent trend over more than a few decades, I submit that we cannot possibly know if they actually signal a climate change. I'm not saying they don't, I'm just saying that observations over our pitiful 70-odd years of life are pretty insignificant compared to the history of the global climate.

 

[Elind]

I have seen many illustrations of "temperature" levels over significant time periods and there are many ways to deduct temperatures from "climate" data. I don't know what you mean by claiming "weather" is independent of climate in a significant sense.

In this context trends are more important than accuracy to a few degrees. If you know that a trend is real, you can confidently conclude it will result in a change.

Yes I know there are still uncertainties, but unfortunately the concensus is that the trend is real. But there is a silver lining, we could get a Gulf Stream shutdown and have a little ice age for a while instead.

 

[a_unique_person]

Do you know the difference between weather and climate? If not, I suggest you do a little research in a dictionary or a 7th-grade general science book. The weather changes all the time. We have records about climate (plant fossils, glacier ice core samples, etc. - yes, I do know how.) We do not have any records about a temperature variation of a few degrees over a few years from 10,000 years ago, and not any accurate ones from 1,000, 500, or even 300 years ago.

While the data currently being collected may be accurate, until we have seen a consistent trend over more than a few decades, I submit that we cannot possibly know if they actually signal a climate change. I'm not saying they don't, I'm just saying that observations over our pitiful 70-odd years of life are pretty insignificant compared to the history of the global climate.

The difference is that we have scientifically backed theories to explain what is happening. If all we had was observation to go on, you would be correct. We also have a scientific understanding of the processes that are making the changes that are in progress.