In the 11th episode of the „SKEPSIS” series, Mihai Dima, PhD, teaching staff at the Faculty of Physics, and Raisa-Gabriela Zamfirescu, PhD, teaching staff at the Faculty of Sociology and Social Work, propose a sociological conversation on the topic of climate change, a burning issue that sparks up debates everywhere.
- Misconceptions about climate change
When asked how plausible he finds the idea that „climate change is exaggerated”, Mihai Dima, PhD, expert in Environmental Physics and Climate Physics, explains that “temperature, as opposed to other measurable variables, is the one that can be measured most precisely”. This aspect, combined with the variety of the methods used to measure temperature (in weather stations, from satellites, from the sea sea, from airplanes), minimizes the risk of significant errors.
„Data consistently show that the average temperature has significantly raised in the last decades”
According to Professor Mihai Dima, the average global temperature has increased by 1,1°C compared to about 150 years ago and 2024 might be the warmest year since the beginning of measurements. Consequently, „there is no doubt that the registered temperature data reflect significant global warming that is higher in the last decades”.
- What are the causes of climate change?
Out of volcanic eruptions, solar radiation and human activity, solar radiation not only does not increase, on the contrary, it tends to decrease, which does not make researchers think about this as the determining factor of climate change.
On the same note, volcanic eruptions tend to have the opposite effect to that of climate warming. Through the dust particles emitted in the atmosphere, a volcanic eruption blocks the Sunlight, therefore the effect is that of „climate cooling”.
Thus, the only plausible cause for the increase in temperatures is human activity, through gas emissions that have a greenhouse effect on the atmosphere, says Professor Mihai Dima.
- Is global warming natural?
A common perception that Professor Mihai Dima has encountered many times, claims that climate change is part of a natural cycle of 100, 200 years that will stop at one point and be followed by a downward tendency.
Scientific researchers, however, could not find data that confirms this hypothesis, explains Dima, which makes it just another „opinion without scientific foundation”.
The entire episode is available down below, where you can learn more about the topic, as well as the misinformation circulating about global warming and the stance that the scientific community has on it.
Launched in October of 2023, the „SKEPSIS” series is a project aimed for the public, where UB researchers analyze, from a sociological perspective, scientific truth and public scepticism regarding some of the most controversial topics of the moment. The series explores the deep structures that influence our ways of looking at things and acting when our health, identity or future is at stake.
The guests of this series, aimed to explain the evolution of trust and scepticism regarding current subjects, are professors, PhD candidates, and researchers from the academic community of the University of Bucharest.
The format of the episode includes the presentation of the topic, followed by a dialogue between the moderator and the guest speaker.
The video materials in this series are created by the Communication and PR Department of UB, and the results of the research are part of the project „SKEPSIS- Fabrication of uncertainties regarding vaccination and climate change. Comparative study on the legitimacy in two counter-scientific speeches”, implemented by the University of Bucharest and financed by the Ministry of Innovation, Research and Digitalization in Romania, PN-III-P4-ID-PCE-2020-1589.
