Why is climate modeling important?
Global warming is happening. Are we to blame or is it a natural warming trend? Is reducing our CO2 emissions going to have any effect on dampening this process or is it too late? How much is the earth’s temperature going to increase in the next century and will the earth be inhabitable for anything more than (as the story goes) cockroaches? Climate modeling has the potential to answer these questions. It is even more important given the influence the scientific community can and does have on government decision making. To combat global warming, tough decisions need to be made by policy makers that may involve sacrificing short term benefit for long term gain. Policy makers, though, are responsible for the well being of their constituents and will only make these tough decisions if they are given valid scientific evidence that shows the dire consequences of not acting now. This is what climate modeling is attempting to do. Climate modeling can also be an important tool for trying to pre
