Final answer:
The decline in the number of pirates does not cause climate change; instead, human activity leading to increased greenhouse gases is the true cause, with significant environmental and societal impacts.
Step-by-step explanation:
The assertion that the decrease in the number of pirates caused climate change is a misunderstanding of cause and effect and demonstrates the logical fallacy of assuming correlation implies causation. The real cause of the rise in global average temperature is the significant increase in greenhouse gases due to human activities such as the burning of fossil fuels, deforestation, and industrial processes. This consensus is supported by 97-98% of the most published climate researchers and the academies of science in all major industrialised countries. The impact of these changes is severe, leading to shifting patterns in temperature and rainfall, more extreme weather events, and rising sea levels, which threaten to disrupt ecosystems and human societies.