by Brian Merchant, Brooklyn, New York

Data that scientists have extracted from ice cores in places like Greenland have provided some of the most compelling evidence that the climate is rapidly warming. But it’s not a widely understood concept, simple as the fundamentals of the process are. Many climate skeptics have taken advantage of this confusion to turn ice core research on its head — and argue that it proves that humans aren’t causing climate change. How could this possibly be? Watch the great video above, courtesy of the esteemed climate de-crocker Peter Sinclair, for a great introduction to ice cores, and how crafty deniers try to exploit the data they reveal.
Dr. Richard Alley is one of the nation’s leading climate scientists, and his pioneering work with ice cores has been invaluable to the field. He’s also really fun to listen to — his peppy presentation-style and vast store of knowledge make him one of the unofficial spokespersons for climate science.
It’s unfortunate that we’d need such a thing in the first place, but since business allied-Congressmen are tethered to the notion the climate change is a hoax (publicly anyways), it’s a good thing we have scientists like Alley who can do double duty and vocally support his work.

Regardless, the video above does a good job of explaining why ice core research is so valuable — it’s like a frozen historical atmospheric record we can match to various events throughout time. And that record is telling us that the increased amount of greenhouse gases concentrated in our atmosphere are causing the planet to warm.