Just get a copy of Gore's book:
An Inconvenient Truth or a copy of this one
The Weather Makers.
But be sure to get this:
Global Warming: Passing the 'Tipping Point'Feb.11, 2006 This is from "The Independent", London but it's reprinted in whole in Common Dreams.
Once you've read Gore's book and the article above, you'll know that Climate Change is in full bloom and that we humans are responsible.
You'll be able to say with confidence;
A sample of 1,000 of the 10,000 scientific articles in professional journals on climate change were studied to see if there were really "two sides" to the global warming issue. THERE ARE NOT TWO SIDES. Every single article supported global warming caused by MAN, us, the things we pollute with.
Scientific articles in in professional journals are 'refereed' meaning they have to pass muster to meet the required scientific quality of the journal. Maybe nobody tried to submit an alternative explanation and none were rejected. That's a problem right there. They lack evidence. Maybe a bunch were submitted and bounced. In either case, these scientists don't have a political agenda, they have standards. THERE ARE NOT TWO SIDES TO THE ARGUMENT. Global warming is a reality.
The news media, to their eternal shame (and I hope they're sued for this), has about a 50-50% reporting on YES - NO on man caused global warming. They either don't know about the scientific journals or they don't care. The spokes people for the NO it's just a "cycle" are tightly associated with energy concerns, period. They bark for master as told. They cannot publish real theory or findings because THERE IS NO SCIENTIFIC BASIS FOR THEIR ARGUMENT AGAINST MAN MADE GLOBAL WARMING.
The article from "The Independent" is great journalism. The science editors there were sitting around talking and they realized that the global warming tipping point, point of no return, had actually been passed in the previous month or two. Different people collect data and they don't share in real time but the British journalists had it all and they did the math. They ran over to a conference in London and presented this to the scientists who happened to be there. The scientists had a big gasp and now the consensus is WE ARE PAST THE TIPPING. We can only mitigate, diminish to a degree the impact.
WHAT WILL HAPPEN FOR SUREFor sure, the ice on the two poles, North and South WILL ALL MELT
For sure, Greenland's glaciers will melt into the sea.
For sure, this will cause a 20 (TWENTY) foot rise in sea level. NO QUESTION AT ALL ABOUT THIS.
THE VERY LAST DROP OF ICE WILL MELT AROUND 2095 BUT THERE WILL BE PROBLEMS ALL ALONG THE WAY.
20 FOOT RISE IN SEA LEVEL MEANS:- No more Florida Cities of any account: Tampa, Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, etc etc. all gone, period, underwater by mid to late century. All gone, bye, no more.
- New Orleans, under lots of water, not there.
- No more Netherlands. They can't build big enough dikes to stop the 20 foot rise.
- No more Bangladesh, 140,000,000 people. A 3 foot rise in sea level coming soon will make 10% of the country uninhabitable. Millions will be on the march soon, but to where? Oh, that's right, India, Calcutta is closest and it's 9 feet below sea level.
- No Shanghai
That's a partial list
What to say to people like this? Get loaded up on your facts, particularly the scientific journal example. There is no alternative science here. Get loaded up on the loss of cities and other population areas. Get loaded up on the causes of this. They're all there in Gore's book and only the paid flacks are attacking it. It's heavily source checked and endorsed by the top scientists as accurate.
THEN let it rip. I like diplomacy and persuasion but these people are deliberately ignorant. Their ignorance is perpetuating a stall on doing anything which is going to kill millions and cause the economies of most countries to crash. Imagine the USA as Florida cities disappear. Don't take any shit, make them defend their position. Tell them it's not funny or amusing and that we only have 2-3 years to really mount a holy crusade against the worst outcomes. Do not take any shit. These people are the reason this is happening.