Blog 2 - Long-term geo-science history

Comprehension of the precedents contained in the long-term geo-science history

Gaps and inconsistencies in the current mainstream environmental discussion have been identified in the preceding EnviroConvergeBlog 01. These gaps potentially affect the optimism or pessimism that adults and students may feel for the future of the environment over the next twenty years. This Blog (EnviroConvergeBlog 02) expands on the first of these environmental gaps.

Environmental Gap 1

• Maslow’s needs - Safety.
• Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) - 13. Climate action.

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The short-term global warming narrative
Climate researchers such as Mann (2012) use temperature proxy data to produce narratives covering the previous 2000 years. In this process, Mann relates that the warmest period on record was the second half of the 20th century, describing this phenomenon graphically as a hockey stick. This research is promoted as a wake-up call that humans are heating the planet, and that the Earth will suffer increasing impacts if action is not taken to reduce emissions. This is the conventional environmental narrative that humans are causing global temperature rise. This position is supported in the popular technical media by Ryan (2019), attributed to the University of Bern, when producing the following figure (Figure 3.4) “Global warming/cooling rates over the past 2,000 years.”

Environmental Convergence Blog 2

These Environmental Convergence Blogs are part of a set of eight Blogs - Dr John K Lee.

Citation references, Paragraph and Section references are those contained in Dr John K Lee's PhD Thesis “Values and science in contemporary education: The study and impact of student orientation”. The Thesis document is available in the University of Newcastle repository, here: https://openresearch.newcastle.edu.au/articles/thesis/Values_and_science_in_contemporary_education_the_study_and_impact_of_student_orientation/28975331