Talk:Stop climate change/Pending FAQs
FAQ - Introduction
"What is climate change?"
This section has not been filled in yet.
"Why is climate change a problem? Why should we care?"
- extreme weather
- famines
- extinctions of species
- ...
FAQ - Science
"Are you sure that people are to blame for climate change, and it's not just a natural phenomenon?"
Yes. 1 degree per million years vs 1 degree per century discussion ALT question phrasing: "But are you really sure that climate change is caused by human activities?"
"But CO2 is only 0.04% of our atmosphere, how can it affect the temperature so much?"
Similar to how just a small drop of ink can make a whole bucket of water darker (which btw would make it warm up more in the sun).
Sunlight travels through the whole atmosphere, where it interacts with a lot of CO2 molecules on its way. The CO2 turns the infrared rays into heat. So even a small difference in CO2 levels can make a big difference in temperature.
This is a DRAFT. All these numbers need to be verified!
| 350 ppm | 0.035% CO2 | Pre-industrial level (what nature adapted to for the last million years) |
| 400 ppm | 0.040% CO2 | 1 degree of warming. Reached in 1999 |
See also: Climate tipping points
"But it's only 1.5 degrees warmer, why is that such a big deal?"
- Weather fluctuations span more degrees
- Polar ice melting
- Ocean acidification (caused directly by co2, not temperature)
- Loss of agricultural land discussion elaborate, and also what about how much land would become cultivatable when it was too cold before
- Endangered species die [ELABORATION needed] discussion merge this question with "faq - introduction" question, or what?
"But when a floating ice cube melts in water, the water level doesn't go up?"
The polar ice isn't all floating in water. Much of it is on land, such as the Greenland ice sheet. When that melts, it runs off into the oceans, which absolutely can cause them to rise.
"But they said that California would be underwater by now?"
California would be underwater **if** enough arctic ice melts. The exact timeframe depends on whether people decide to stop causing climate change or not.
When scientists make specific predictions about the future, they come with a whole lot of "if"s that journalists often forget to mention.
As information spreads word-of-mouth, people often get confused about whether scientists said "maybe" or "definitely". A specific timeline prediction of climate change is a "maybe". The fact that fossil fuels are causing climate change is a "definitely".
"But scientists can't agree on anything bro?"
Centuries ago, scientists used to disagree on basic physics and chemistry. Now these things are known for sure. (Almost everything invented & built depends on that understanding. (For example, computers wouldn't even exist if basic physics & chemistry were wrong.))
But of course there are more things that scientists don't know or don't agree on. That's where the research is.
In other words, sometimes scientists say "maybe", sometimes scientists say "definitely" - but that nuance tends to get lost when people have discussions or share news articles. Things get bad when even government policy makers confuse the "maybe"s with the "definitely"s. discussion TODO: add examples: ~ Including covid policies in some cases, but not as much as anti-vaxxers would like you to think. ~ A more concrete example is in psychiatry, how badly patients are treated (especially in the early 1900s) ~ Also historically how badly children are treated in schools, typically motivated by speculative theories about what children need discussion Should this question be in a separate section called "FAQ - Philosophy"?
"In the 70s they said there would be an ice age? What happened?"
What, an ice age in a million years from now? Not the same as the relatively rapid warming caused by fossil fuel usage discussion See also: Make a page to debunk that meme about "acid rain will destroy us all", "cfcs will destroy us all (no ozone layer)", "global warming will destroy us all"
"But the Earth's temperatures go through natural cycles (ice ages etc), I thought nature can adapt?"
Nature can adapt when it's 1 degree per million years. Not when it's 1 degree per century (this past century). discussion TODO: link to xkcd illustration of this
"But volcanoes emit more carbon?"
This section has not been filled in yet.
"But H2O (water vapor) is a greenhouse gas too, shouldn't you ban water emissions or something?"
No. If you were to somehow put more water in the atmosphere, it wouldn't stay there for long - it condenses and becomes rain.
FAQ - "Why should we reduce our carbon footprint when it's rich corporations' fault?"
TO DO: Use the content from Carbon footprint and wealth inequality.
"but i heard that individual actions do nothing?"
Depends. If you're talking about turning off lightbulbs, then yes, it doesn't make a big difference. Most of the world's carbon emissions are not in home electricity, but in manufacturing things.
But guess what - manufacturing is still mostly a function of individual choices. Buy less stuff. Seriously. Car emissions are also a rather big piece of the pie. Some of it comes down to lack of walkability, but some of it is a matter of personal choices.
Talk
Maybe this page should be moved to Draft:Climate change/FAQ, and then it can have its own talk page as well?
The concept of "draft" could be a separate format distinct from talkpages and subjectpages. Everything written on a draft page should be taken with a grain of salt, and there's heavy use of the "pn" template for outlines and discussions that don't need to be tucked away in talkbubble popups. The talkpage of a draftpage could contain broader comments about the page as a whole.