>>9430033>Anthropomorphic climate changeIt's the goddamn FURRIES that are doing it!
Jokes aside, global warming was a mistake in its name- the whole host of other effects associated are far more easy to see, quantify, just a little bit more difficult to explain. Heat content of the ocean, for example, has been rising- this is the objective value of heat estimated in the ocean (pic related) which has been steadily going up. This kind of metric is a little more difficult to explain the methodology for collecting the data, and often the layman won't even necessarily understand the concept of heat when not referring to heat as the comparative feeling of being hotter or colder than a certain thing.
I think a really poignant example that people can understand pretty intuitively is the effect of atmospheric CO2 on the acid content of the ocean. Laymen understand, for the most part, that acidity and pH are properties of a liquid. What the properties do is kind of more technical, but since many people know there are things that are basic, and things that are acidic, it can be expanded upon.
When the pH lowers (acid rises) in the ocean, what's really going on is CO2 and H2O are reacting to create Carbonic Acid. Carbonic acid, when present in higher concentrations in the water make it much more difficult for organisms to create calcium carbonate shells- these creatures include sea sponges, mollusks, some crustaceans, corals, etc- they all are facing grave danger from not being able to form proper structures.
The problem if those species become more vulnerable to predators, is that you'll quickly get a positive feedback loop. Take mollusks for example- weak/sparse shells = more predation. More predation = higher fitness for the predators. Higher fitness = more predators = more predation, and this happens up the food chain. Eventually prey is sparse, and you see a killing off of the next level up predator generation with no food- it's cyclical.
