‘Potentially the worst drought in 1,200 years’: scientists on the US heatwave
Overly dramatic articles like this do a disservice to helping convince people to be more proactive about climate change.<p>There’s obviously no data going back 1200 years and the temperature proxies used, like ice cores, or tree rings, haven’t been consistently reliable.<p>The truth is, no one knows what the annual temps of major cities were before about 1870.<p>Real scientists lack the hubris to be sure of basic truths like whether dinosaurs were warm blooded or cold blooded, how general anesthesia works, how great whites mate, or even why we sleep, much less the exact ebbs and flows of 350,000 daily temperatures.<p>So for these scientists to say they have an understanding of what the previous thousand years temps were before that, turns the science into faith and adds fuel to those who argue climate science is more religion than science.<p>Focusing on the last 50 years is more than enough quality data to definitively prove the world is getting hotter, start there. Then provide a list of 3 basic things people can do to help lower temps themselves.<p>ie,
Campaign for nuclear power.
Eat less meat,
Adjust your thermostat,
Change your tires,
Buy an electric car,
Buy better bulbs,
Plant trees with friends.