It was good to see Insight last night on SBS. Stephen Schneider faced a vocal group of climate change skeptics and discussed with them the reasons for the scientific evidence for global warming. Much of the debate exposed a number of issues including the small scientific knowledge of much of the audience.
An example of this included the pH scale and acidification of seawater with dissolved CO2. Wikipedia has a couple of fine entries on these topics - and I quote:
"Ocean acidification is the name given to the ongoing decrease in the pH of the Earth's oceans, caused by their uptake of anthropogenic carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.[1] Between 1751 and 1994 surface ocean pH is estimated to have decreased from approximately 8.179 to 8.104, a change of −0.075 on the logarithmic pH scale which corresponds to an increase of 18.9% in H+ (acid) concentration.[2][3] By the first decade of the 21st century however, the net change in ocean pH levels relative pre-industrial level was about -0.11, representing an increase of some 30% in "acidity" (ion concentration) in the world's oceans."
My geologist son then whipped out his calculator ( far more complex than the basic ones I used at school) and proceeded to verify this figure using the appropriate logarithmic calculation, and came to a very similar conclusion using the numbers on the show.
A general lack of scientific knowledge in the community is understandable. Having 2 practicing scientists at home now makes me very wary of how my discussions are framed. I know (even with my own science degree) how much I've forgotten over the years and how much more experimentation and evidence has been gathered. Hence the need to get good and detailed evidence when framing these debates, not belief.
Watch the program at : http://news.sbs.com.au/insight/episode/index/id/302#watchonline
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thank You for your comment. I appreciate you taking time to read and reflect on my blog.
Greenstone Girl