Anthropogenic Global Warming 101

A Primer on Physics, Evidence, and Acceleration

Daniel Brouse
March 3, 2026

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Introduction

This is a foundational course in anthropogenic climate change. It is not ideological. It is not partisan. It is based on physics, chemistry, and observational data.

At the end, there will be a short test.

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1. What Is the Cause of Anthropogenic Climate Change?

Answer: Humans.

More specifically, the rapid increase in atmospheric greenhouse gases resulting from industrial activity since the mid-19th century.

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2. How Do Humans Cause Climate Change?

Primarily through the combustion of fossil fuels (coal, oil, natural gas), which releases carbon that has been sequestered underground for hundreds of millions of years.

Additional contributors include:

• Large-scale land-use change and deforestation
• Industrial agriculture
• Methane emissions from fossil extraction and livestock
• Cement production
• Mass consumer consumption patterns
• Depletion and combustion of finite carbon reservoirs

The key mechanism is simple: increasing atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations alters Earth’s radiative balance.

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3. Can Anthropogenic Global Warming Be Proven?

Yes.

The isotopic signature of atmospheric carbon dioxide provides direct evidence.

Fossil carbon is depleted in ¹³C and contains no measurable ¹⁴C (radiocarbon), because ¹⁴C decays over thousands of years.

Observed atmospheric trends show:

• A measurable decline in the ¹³C/¹²C ratio
• A measurable decline in atmospheric ¹⁴C concentration (after accounting for nuclear testing effects)

These shifts confirm that the excess CO₂ originates from fossil carbon, not volcanoes, not the ocean, not “natural cycles.”

The molecules carry their own fingerprint.

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4. How Does Fossil Fuel CO₂ Cause Global Warming?

Through radiative forcing.

Radiative forcing (ΔF) quantifies the change in Earth’s energy balance caused by greenhouse gases:$$\Delta F = 5.35 \ln\left(\frac{C}{C_0}\right) \quad \text{[W/m² for CO₂]}$$ΔF=5.35ln(C0​C​)[W/m² for CO₂]

Where:

• $C$C = current CO₂ concentration
• $C_0$C0​ = reference (pre-industrial) concentration

This logarithmic relationship is experimentally validated and embedded in every modern climate model.

Temperature response follows:$$\Delta T = \lambda \Delta F$$ΔT=λΔF

Where λ is the climate sensitivity parameter.

This is not conjecture. It is radiative transfer physics.

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5. Is Climate Change Accelerating?

Evidence suggests nonlinear acceleration in multiple coupled subsystems.

Core Mathematical Insight

When growth processes are governed by feedbacks, the doubling time is:$$T_d(t) = \frac{\ln(2)}{k(t)}$$Td​(t)=k(t)ln(2)​

Where:

• $T_d(t)$Td​(t) = doubling time
• $k(t)$k(t) = time-dependent growth constant
• $\ln(2)$ln(2) = natural logarithm of 2

If feedback amplification increases $k(t)$k(t), doubling times shrink.

When doubling times compress, impacts compound rapidly.

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Evidence of Nonlinear Acceleration

By the early 2000s, multiple independent datasets showed signs of acceleration:

• SLR (Sea Level Rise) doubling time
• Surface and tropospheric temperature trends
• Greenland and Antarctic ice mass balance loss
• Ocean heat content
• Wildfire frequency and burned area
• Hydrological extremes

Observed impact doubling times appear to have declined from roughly ~100 years in early industrial phases, to ~10 years by 2010 in several indicators, and to ~2–5 years in certain high-sensitivity systems by the mid-2020s.

Under compressed doubling intervals of ~1.5–2 years, cumulative impacts can increase by a factor of:$$2^6 = 64$$2 to the 6th = 64

within a decade.

That is not linear change.

That is systemic instability driven by reinforcing feedback loops.

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Pop Quiz

If you encounter someone disputing anthropogenic climate change, you may offer them the formulas in advance.

Key Equations

1. Doubling Time of Climate Impacts$$T_d(t) = \frac{\ln(2)}{k(t)}$$Td​(t)=k(t)ln(2)​

2. Radiative Forcing$$\Delta F = 5.35 \ln(C / C_0) \quad \text{[W/m²]}$$ΔF=5.35ln(C/C0​)[W/m²]

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The Test

1. What is the cause of anthropogenic climate change?
2. How do humans cause climate change?
3. Can anthropogenic global warming be proven? If so, how?
4. How does fossil fuel CO₂ cause global warming?
5. Is climate change accelerating? What mathematical principle governs the rate of change?

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Bonus Question

True or false:
1 + 1 = 2

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Climate science is not a belief system. It is an applied branch of physics and nonlinear systems analysis.

The equations are public.
The isotopes are measurable.
The energy imbalance is observable.

Understanding them is optional.
Their consequences are not.

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Tipping points and feedback loops drive the acceleration of climate change. When one tipping point is toppled and triggers others, the cascading collapse is known as the Domino Effect.

RESOURCES:

Advanced course:

Nonlinear Climate Acceleration and the Convergence of Ecofascist and Eugenics Ideologies

The basics:

Climate Change Made Simple: Understanding Feedback Loops and Acceleration

The Nonlinear Acceleration Hypothesis: Easy-Read Format

Chaos Theory Basics (Quick Refresher)

Statistical Mechanics and Chaos Theory in Climate Science