Sketch Wrote:
Quote:
but the correlation between the increase in CO2 emissions and the rise in temperature is compelling enough that the serious scientific debate over whether a human contribution exists is pretty much over.
I thought correlation didn't prove causation.
You're right, correlation doesn't prove causation. But statistically significant correlation is the best science can usually do when you have a really complex set of variables. Pretty much every medical study can only show correlation, for example. Statistically significant correlation is a pretty good predictor of causation.
Probably the major point of the movie though is that scientists have been able to track the arcitc's average temperature going back thousands and thousands of years. They've also been able to track the amount of CO2 going back that far. Basically, when plotted on a graph showing both over time, the two lines mirror each other- for every drop in temperature (i.e. an ice age) there's a drop in CO2, and vice versa. We also know that atmosphereic CO2 holds the earth's heat in, and doesn't let it escape into space. And, for the past 50 years, our CO2 emissions far exceed anything we've produced before, probably by an order of magnitude. It's literally off the charts.
It's not strict causation, no, but it's really damn compelling.
