A Climatology Parable

John and Bob walked into the garage, turned the car on, and closed the garage door...

Hours later...

John, "Hey Bob, do you think its getting warm in here?"

Bob, "Maybe."

John, "No maybe about it Bob, it sure is warmer! In fact, I think the fumes from the car exhaust are causing some sort of 'effect' that is raising the temperature!"

Bob, "Okay John, you're right, it is getting warmer, but it has nothing to do with the fumes from the car. It's just the sun beating down on the roof like normal. The garage always goes through cycles of heating and cooling."

John, (cough) "I think we should turn the car off and then it will cool down."

Bob, (cough, cough) "John, I just told you, these poisonous fumes aren't causing it to heat up in here, it's just the noon-day sun!!!"

Hours later...

Bob, (barely conscious) "See John, (cough, wheeze, cough) I told you these poisonous fumes wouldn't increase the temperature that much... (hacking up blood) trust me John, we aren't going to die of heat stroke."

;-)

John, "It could keep heating up... we could die of heat stroke! We've gotta turn this car off!"

Bob, (cough, hack, cough) "You are plain silly! It is just the sun, it will never get hot enough to be (wheeze, hack) dangerous, and even if it does, that won't be until long after we've left the garage!"

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I gotta admit, the science behind Climate Change is opaque to me. I have no idea how to evaluate whether humans are the cause of global warming. I have a BS in Social Studies! But it does seem a little silly to be arguing over climate change when surely we can all agree that emitting toxins into our air and water supply is a bad idea?