homehome Home chatchat Notifications


The Gist of Climate Change explained in one Amazing XKCD Comic

Randall Munroe is back with yet another intelligent comic. This time he drew out a very complex subject in simple terms.

Tibi Puiu
September 14, 2016 @ 4:12 pm

share Share

XKCD global warming

Credit: XKCD

If I had a nickel for every time I’ve heard ‘but the climate has and always will be changing,’ I’d be filthy rich. That would actually be convenient since I’d be wealthy enough to surround myself in a bubble that renders me immune to the perils of man-made climate change like rising sea levels, droughts, floods, and the food shortages that will come with it, cataclysmic freak weather and so on.

The gist of man-made climate change is simple. Since the industrial revolution in the mid-19th century, humans have been spewing carbon dioxide, methane and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere at an accelerated rate. Today, the average CO2 concentration in the atmosphere is above 400 parts per million (ppm), up from 315 ppm in 1954 and 276 ppm in 9,000 BCE. All of this carbon traps heat and warms the planet. This warming happens at a global scale and at a rate that is unprecedented unless you count mass extinction events.

Yes, the climate is changing due to the natural variations in the planet’s weather patterns or the sun’s activity, but the effects aren’t nearly as far-reaching and intense as what we’re seeing today. In other words, it’s enough to take a few steps back to see the bigger picture, preferably on a geological timeline. Then, the net output between the contribution of human activities and the planet’s natural variability becomes clear.

The ever witty and resourceful Randall Munroe from XKCD has a nice comic that explains climate change very neatly. What’s interesting about the comic is how Munroe plotted his timeline, choosing to graph time on the vertical axis and temperature on the horizontal axis. Typically, you’ll see the plot in the reverse in most science papers, but Munroe’s framework allows him to draw some cool comics while making the temperature variation the center of the reader’s attention. Very crafty!

The timeline starts around 22,000 BCE when humans barely became dispersed all over the planet and more than 10,000 years before agriculture was invented. Since then, humans have gone through various periods of significant climate change, including a big and little ice age, as well as multiple volcanic eruptions. We’ve survived and even flourished despite these events, but as the timeline shows the climate never swung so abruptly from one extreme to the other. It’s always a smooth transition which at least gives species some time to adapt. What we’re living through is anything but smooth. I’ll leave you to the comic.

 

share Share

A Dutch 17-Year-Old Forgot His Native Language After Knee Surgery and Spoke Only English Even Though He Had Never Used It Outside School

He experienced foreign language syndrome for about 24 hours, and remembered every single detail of the incident even after recovery.

Your Brain Hits a Metabolic Cliff at 43. Here’s What That Means

This is when brain aging quietly kicks in.

Scientists Just Found a Hidden Battery Life Killer and the Fix Is Shockingly Simple

A simple tweak could dramatically improve the lifespan of Li-ion batteries.

Westerners cheat AI agents while Japanese treat them with respect

Japan’s robots are redefining work, care, and education — with lessons for the world.

Scientists Turn to Smelly Frogs to Fight Superbugs: How Their Slime Might Be the Key to Our Next Antibiotics

Researchers engineer synthetic antibiotics from frog slime that kill deadly bacteria without harming humans.

This Popular Zero-Calorie Sugar Substitute May Be Making You Hungrier, Not Slimmer

Zero-calorie sweeteners might confuse the brain, especially in people with obesity

Any Kind of Exercise, At Any Age, Boosts Your Brain

Even light physical activity can sharpen memory and boost mood across all ages.

A Brain Implant Just Turned a Woman’s Thoughts Into Speech in Near Real Time

This tech restores speech in real time for people who can’t talk, using only brain signals.

Using screens in bed increases insomnia risk by 59% — but social media isn’t the worst offender

Forget blue light, the real reason screens disrupt sleep may be simpler than experts thought.

We Should Start Worrying About Space Piracy. Here's Why This Could be A Big Deal

“We are arguing that it’s already started," say experts.