Hot take: that guy at the bar who "corrected" me on climate science still haunts me

I was at a dive bar in St. Louis last year just trying to unwind after a brutal Saturday dinner rush, and some dude in a faded Cardinals hat overheard me talking to the bartender about how the heat waves been getting worse every summer. He leans in and goes, "Actually, climate change isn't real, it's a hoax by the government to control us," and then he starts rambling about how volcanoes put out more CO2 than cars. I was so caught off guard I just stared at my beer for a solid 10 seconds before I mumbled something about ice cores and walked away. The bartender rolled her eyes so hard I thought they'd get stuck, and we both just laughed it off, but it bugged me for days. Like, where do people even get this stuff from, and why do they feel so confident saying it in public? Has anyone else had a random stranger walk up and drop a conspiracy theory on them out of nowhere?

2 comments

2 Comments

wader7110d ago

The ice core thing really is the kicker though. Those layers of trapped air bubbles don't lie, and they show carbon dioxide levels spiking way faster than any natural cycle ever did. Makes you wonder why some people would rather trust a YouTube video than actual physical evidence dug up from glaciers.

wilson.olivia10d agoMost Upvoted

Oh wow, that's a good point @wader71. Here's something I don't see people bring up much though. Those ice cores also show methane spikes from ancient wetlands and volcanic eruptions that were way bigger than anything natural in the last 800,000 years, but people focus only on the CO2 curve. What gets me is how the ratio of carbon isotopes in the trapped air changed too, which points directly to burning fossil fuels not just extra plant growth or ocean outgassing. So even if someone questions the ice core dating, the isotope fingerprint is right there in the same bubbles, and that's harder to wave away with a YouTube video.