Climate Change...a Disturbing Bite of Reality

http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2012-01/did-global-warming-destroy-my-hometown-0

Above is an article out of Popular Science magazine about the tragic Joplin tornado that struck the town of Joplin, Missouri killing many and destroying the lives of countless others. Take the time to tread the full article and then continue reading the rest of this post.

As in the article, no one weather event can really be proved to be caused by climate change, but rater a long chain of events. As it said towards the bottom, 2010 and 2011 were both years of extreme weather, which is very uncommon in terms of weather patterns. Consequently, 2010 was a year when the annual amount of carbon dioxide released into the air dramatically increased from other annual averages.
Now to sit there and say that the input of 2ppm into the atmosphere yearly by humans contributes nothing whatsoever to our climate would undoubtedly be an outright lie. On the other hand, to say it is the main contributor to our warming climate would be not that truthful. Let us take a look at some indicators that our climate is going through that might support man-made climate change:

The amount of CO2 in the atmosphere as increased more than significantly since the industrial revolution; before that levels remained relatively low, around 280ppm. Bette Otto-Bliesner, a scientist from the National Center for Atmospheric Research took part in the study that actually suggests the Earth should be going through a cooling period. Looking back at the various cycles of Earth's climatic history, the next period of cooling should be within the next couple-a few thousand of years, which means the Earth should be going through a cooling cycle. Simply stated, it is not. The Earth's average temperature is increasing and the Arctic continues to melt at an alarming rate. The glaciers in the arctic help reflect the sun's raise, and without glaciers, more rays warm up the Earth and water, melting more glaciers and causing a global temperature increase, which can be seen present day.
An indicator of the overwhelming amount of CO2 in the atmosphere can be seen by the increasing acidity of the ocean. This happens when carbon dioxide is dissolved into the ocean and creates a higher concentration of hydrogen ions, which in turns raises the acidity. This can be seen off the shores of Alaska as proven by studies done by marine biologists and by the decrease in coral reefs, which are especially sensitive to an increase in acidity.
http://www.nature.com/news/acidic-oceans-threaten-fish-1.9607
The article above has two links to scientific articles that shows studies on the acidification of oceans.

Back to weather patterns, the extremity can already be seen, and is only bound to get even more extreme as there is an increase in warming. Some events include the wettest spring in early 2011 in the Midwest, including Illinois, having record warm temperatures last decade along that have surpassed many other years, record drought in Texas that is going to continue well into 2012, extreme tornado outbreaks as seen in 2011 and an increase in hurricanes and there intensity. These are only some events that have occurred with many more not listed.

The facts of the matter are is that: 1. CO2 has and is increasing 2. The Earth is warming. These two are undeniable facts that cannot be disputed.

I don't know about you, but I trust science. A scientific poll performed by climatologists out of University of Illinois at Chicago showed that 97.4% of active researching climatologist agree that man is playing a significant part in the present climate change. http://tigger.uic.edu/~pdoran/012009_Doran_final.pdf
Because someone is a scientist does not mean their stance matters on every scientific matter. If they study that matter day in and day out, they are more likely to give the most accurate answer compared to a scientists who has studied it  couple of times.

So I ask, what is your stance on climate change and why so? It is perhaps the single most important factor leading into this century that has the possibility to affect our entire global economy, and more importantly, human life as we know it. Where do you stand?