The New York Times provided the wrong answers to these 16 questions in late 2015.
Here are the same questions and my right answers, to the extent that anyone knows the right answers (climate change is mainly a scientific mystery, except in the overactive imaginations of smarmy leftists who created the false boogeyman of CO2 to scare people and control them):
1. How much is the planet heating up?
Our planet is slightly warmer than 135 years ago, based on very rough estimates.
Our planet is also colder than it was when dinosaurs were alive.
The starting point determines if there was heating, or cooling.
Every warming period in Earth's history was followed by a cooling period.
There is no evidence of any runaway warming in the past 4.5 billion years, in spite of the fact that CO2 levels were higher than today most of the time
2. How much trouble are we in?
We are in no trouble.
The slight warming since the mid-1800s (which could be nothing more than measurement error) is very pleasant following many unusually cool centuries, from 1200 to 1800 ... so cool there were serious famines in the late 1600s (such as in France in 1693 and 1694), and in the early 1700s (such as in India from 1702 to 1704).
3. Is there anything I can do?
Enjoy the wonderful climate in 2017.
Celebrate the fact that more CO2 in the air is greening our planet.
4. What’s the optimistic scenario?
Hopefully the mild warming since 1850 will continue for another century.
A doubling or tripling of CO2 in the air would maximize green plant growth rates.
If any of the warming was caused by CO2, be aware that every +100 ppm increase of CO2 in the air will have a much smaller effect that the prior +100 ppm increase.
5. Will reducing meat in my diet help the climate?
If you lost excess weight by eating less meat, you would feel cooler (and look better).
6. What’s the worst-case scenario?
No one can predict the future.
There is no need to make wild guesses about the future climate, because 97% of prior wild guesses using computer models have been wrong, and the other 3% were "right" only by coincidence (like a stopped watch being "right" twice a day).
7. Will a tech breakthrough help us?
We don't need any help.
The climate in 2017 is better than it has been, for humans, animals and plants, in at least 500 years.
8. How much will the seas rise?
Sea level rose about 400 feet since the peak glaciation about 20,000 years ago.
Sea level is currently rising about 6 inches a century.
The long-term trend has been a deceleration in the rate of sea level rise.
9. Are the predictions reliable?
Yes, climate predictions are reliably wrong.
10. Why do people question climate change?
No one questions climate change -- Earth's climate has been constantly changing for 4.5 billion years.
The climate in 2017 is wonderful.
People who have lived in the same place for decades (I'm one of them) at most have noticed their climate is slightly warmer than 30 years ago, and most of us are thrilled about that.
11. Is crazy weather tied to climate change?
There is no such thing as "crazy weather".
If there was warming from greenhouse gasses, which is only an unproven theory, the poles would warm the most.
That type of warming would reduce the temperature difference between the poles and the equator, generally making weather conditions milder.
In addition, greenhouse warming mainly affects nighttime lows, not daytime high temperatures.
12. Will anyone benefit from global warming?
Almost everyone enjoys a slight increase of nighttime lows, assuming they notice.
Green plants benefit from more CO2 in the air.
14. How does agriculture affect climate change?
Agriculture (green plants) benefit from more CO2 in the air -- growing faster, and using less water too.
Irrigation makes the air slightly more humid, but the effect on the average temperature is unknown.
15. Will the seas rise evenly across the planet?
Sea level is not the same everywhere, but sea level rise is similar.
16. Is it really all about carbon?
It's not about carbon at all.
It's about a false 'demonization' of carbon dioxide.
But, in fact, adding manmade carbon dioxide to the air was, inadvertantly, the best thing humans have ever done to improve our planet.
Green plants were suffering from low levels of carbon dioxide in the mid-1700s.
Now the Earth is 'greening'.
I
conclude by repeating that the actual effects of greenhouse gases are
unknown, other than assuming the results some simple laboratory experiments apply to the entire planet.
What is known: There were 4.5 billion years of climate change on our
planet NOT caused by man made CO2.
PS: The New York Times is an
excellent newspaper for lining the bottom of bird cages. They have a
hard left slant 100% of the time -- that means a lot of lying,
misleading and jumping to left-wing conclusions, based on feelings rather
than facts.