In the New York Times article I read, Justin Gillis the author of the piece points out that the scientific community does not know nearly enough about climate change to either currently predict it, or solve it. This comes based off the notion that we know more about space than we do about our own oceans. I’ve heard this statement many times throughout my life and it kind of creeps me out because you would like to think understanding what’s in our backyard would be more important than knowing what’s in another galaxy. This seems to be our own fault for not allocating the appropriate funding to the right causes and in general dodging the tougher questions initially. Nevertheless, the article does mention some knew information involving climate change that I have never heard before. One, is that scientists are now taking more of an initiative to understand the oceans’ role in cooling the earth because in recent decades the earth’s temperature rise has slowed down; The oceans must have something to do with this. Secondly, that China’s coal addiction may actually be helping the rest of world:”Coal releases greenhouse gases that will have a long-term warming effect, of course, but it also throws particles into the air that can reflect sunlight back to space over the short term” (Gillis). This statement is strange to me, but you can’t rule it out. In summary the article provided some interesting information on climate change study and where it is headed. I’d definitely recommend glancing over this because some of the information seems before its time.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/12/science/in-the-ocean-clues-to-change.html?ref=earth&_r=0
Jeremy, this article is really interesting. The author’s thoughts about the coal burning in China actually decreasing the temperature of the earth temporarily is pretty mind-blowing, but also nerve-racking in that this short term alleviation will only lead to long term heating. Regarding the ocean absorption idea, I would like to know the findings of this research currently being carried out. You’re right, it is unsettling that we know so little about our own oceans and the way they could be contributing to temperature alleviation. However, even if we do not fully understand what causes these fluctuations in temperature rise, climate change is still a pressing issue and I think we’ve allocated resources to where problems are occurring rather than attempting to understand small fluctuations in temperature rise. The world is still heating up and it will be good to gain more knowledge about the specific temperature trends, but the main issue is greenhouse gas emissions and I think that is where we should keep our focus at this point.