Early on in August, the world's leading scientists in climate and weather released a new report on the climate emergency that the world is allegedly experiencing right now. Citing global warming changes and "tipping points" that cause "irreversible change" in the world's climate system, the United Nations' climate panel sounded the alarm on the current "code red for humanity."
"The alarm bells are deafening, and the evidence is irrefutable: greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel burning and deforestation are choking our planet and putting billions of people at immediate risk," U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said, as reported by CNBC.
The report by the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was approved by 195 member states and speaks about the physical evidence of climate change and how humans are altering the planet.
Greta Thunberg, a young Swedish climate activist, spoke out about the "climate emergency report," saying "We can still avoid the worst consequences, but not if we continue like today, and not without treating the crisis like a crisis."
Leaders from developed nations also spoke out, with U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry saying that the report highlighted the "overwhelming urgency of this moment" and U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson added that the report should be a "wake-up call" for global leaders.
Researchers who worked on the report cited "unprecedented" changes in the climate, including rising sea levels that they predicted would be "irreversible over hundreds to thousands of years." They also underscored that the emissions of greenhouse gases from human activities resulted in a 1.1 degrees Celsius of warming since 1850-1900.
Global warming is expected to increase 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming in the next 20 years. Other changes brought about by climate change are intense rainfall and flooding, severe drought in several regions, and sea level rise due to permafrost thawing.
But at least one environmentalist is not convinced about the U.N.'s report on the "climate emergency." According to CBN News, Tony Heller of RealClimateScience.com is speaking out on what U.S. scientists call climate change. Heller argued that the heat waves the U.S. is experiencing today is not even close to what the country experienced in 1936, saying, "The 1930s were really when the terrible heatwaves were."
An environmentalist and electric engineer who helped develop the modern computer microprocessor, Heller maintains a website filled with weather history that showed how it was hotter 90 to 100 years ago versus now. Heller dismissed today's global warming by saying that "The claims that summers are getting hotter are simply not true. During 1936, 21 states had their all-time temperature records, and none set them this year."
Based on historical data, Heller's argument was that the 1930's saw the U.S.' temperature reach over 100 degrees. At the time of no air conditioning, families slept outdoors. When many people died from the heat, half a million climate refugees migrated out of the Great Plains and Midwest to places such as California. The environmentalist added that Wisconsin recorded temperatures of 114 degrees, while North Dakota recorded 121 degrees. In the Midwest, 100-degree temperatures were common from then up until 1960.
When it comes to wildfires, Heller suggests that wildfire data before 1983 was erased by the National Interagency Fire Center to show how wildfires are more common now. But the reality is, he said, that wildfires were much worse in the 1920s and 30s.
He also pointed out how NASA's temperature graph from 1999 showed the warmest temperatures in the 1900, compared to its graphs now that show temperatures getting warmer today.
Chief Forecaster at Weatherbell.com and the author of "The Weaponization of Weather in the Phony Climate War" Joe Bastardi warns of the "weaponization of each and every weather event," saying that "The weather is always changing. It's the very nature of our creation...change and reaction. What I do mind is people with a one-sided perspective that won't give people the total picture."
