
#333 — Sanity Check on Climate Change
Making Sense with Sam Harris
Understanding Natural Climate Variability and Human-Induced Change
Differentiating natural climate variability from human-induced change is a complex task. However, by examining historical CO2 levels and temperature records, we can gain insights into the extent of human influence. Temperature records dating back to a thousand years indicate that current temperatures are the highest. Ice cores from Greenland and Antarctica provide additional data, with the latter offering records dating back almost a million years. These records reveal periods of both warmth and cold, including a comparably warm period seven thousand years ago and multiple ice ages. Notably, evidence from ice core temperature records during ice ages supports the idea that carbon dioxide plays a significant role in driving climate change.