Why do so many people not understand "global warming"?

Question

AAAARRRGGHHH!!! There is nothing you nor I can do about "global warming". Global warming IS A NATURAL OCCURRENCE that has happened for thousands of years. The Earth heats up then cools down, and guess what, the cycle repeats.

Think about this.

A single volcano puts out more "greenhouse" gases in one month than all the cars in the world puts out in 50 years.

Volcano's have been going off for thousands of years as well.

It's the media that has exploited this fact to bring it to a political head for someones gain in one area or another, that's it nothing else.

How many people don't know this fact?

Answer 1

I hear what you are saying and understand your argument completely. Also, what a lot of people don't understand is that here in 2006 the emissions from 50-60 years ago are just NOW reaching the ozone and affecting the atmosphere. That means that the earth is now being affected by the emissions of World War II, the time when all cars used "leaded" fuels, before scrubbers on factories, before real exhaust systems on cars, etc.

I wonder if the earth is going to recover on its own from any human damage as time passes, and emissions from the 1980s, 90s, and 00s reach the atmosphere. Isn't it possible that the earth will be able to absorb the lesser emissions? I think it's possible.

There is one thing that supports global warming theory, and that's the human-caused destruction of the ozone molecule in the highest levels of the atmosphere. Aerosols and other man-made emissions that contain CFCs react with natural oxygen in a perfect way.

"Whereas CFCs are safe to use in most applications and are inert in the lower atmosphere, they do undergo significant reaction in the upper atmosphere or stratosphere. In 1974, two University of California chemists, Professor F. Sherwood Rowland and Dr. Mario Molina, showed that the CFCs could be a major source of inorganic chlorine in the stratosphere following their photolytic decomposition by UV radiation. In addition, some of the released chlorine would become active in destroying ozone (O-3) in the stratosphere. Ozone is a gas located primarily in the stratosphere. Ozone absorbs harmful ultraviolet radiation in the wavelengths between 280 and 320 nm of the UV-B band which can cause biological damage in plants and animals. A loss of stratospheric ozone results in more harmful UV-B radiation reaching the Earth's surface. Chlorine released from CFCs destroys ozone in catalytic [chemical] reactions where 100,000 molecules of ozone can be destroyed per chlorine atom."**

That's where the whole "Antarctic ozone hole" theory comes in. We know that ozone makes up our upper atmosphere, and we know that 1 CFC molecule can destroy 100,000 ozone molecules (thousands of these molecules are releases every time we use, for example, an aerosol spray can that contains CFCs). We also DON'T know what "makes" ozone naturally, so there's the possibility that destroyed O-3 molecules aren't replenished in the stratosphere, especially if CFCs are continually released. Now, whether or not CFCs used here on earth ever make it to destroying the ozone in the stratosphere above the continent of Antarctica is up for debate. As I said before, if there is an ozone hole above Antarctica, it is doubtful that any emissions in the past 40 years have anything to do with it. Consider the pollution of the Industrial Revolution and consider how long it must have taken that pollution to reach Antarctica!

If there is a hole in the stratosphere above Antarctica, though, it's easy to see why there is a global warming theory; greenhouse gases come in, melt the polar ice caps, the ocean warms, etc.

You are right, though Sparky, that global warming does seem to have happened naturally in the past, I don't think even environmentalists would argue this. What they would say, though, is that just because warming happens naturally from time to time doesn't mean that humans have a green light to make it happen artificially.

Besides, what is the harm in keeping the earth clean, even if the global warming theory IS bogus? We'd all be better off for it, and the technology exists right now to significantly reduce emissions and other forms of pollution. It's just a matter of convincing government to stop caving in to big business and pass laws that require cleaner fuels, bio-diesel, etc. It really ticks me off that in 20 years Brazil will be completely independent of Middle Eastern oil, and the US is so damn tied up in it so that the rich can get richer (including Arabs), even in the middle of a War.

Thanks for the post!

Answer 2

There are a number of things, not least of all the fact that there are many people who fervently claim that the age of the Earth is at most 7000 years, and that the cycle of warming and cooling is not listed in the Bible, so therefor it never happened. The data you are using (or 'being fooled into believing and thus losing your soul!') requires an acceptance of the age of the earth being many millions of years just since the arrival of the atmosphere, let alone its very formation.

Secondly, a lot of the attention that is being brought to bear on the issue is to affix blame or 'liability' to specific commercial interests, so again it never happened and it is never going to happen.

Thirdly, the people you specifically are talking about have convinced themselves that this phenomenon is controllable by controlling people. Worse still, they are trying to say the change can be controlled by relatively insignificant changes in lifestyle and economic structure, which is perhaps the most dangerous. If the condition of the atmosphere is anywhere near as altered as current data would state, the proposed action would just be enough to demolish the global economy, pushing the industrialized world into the Third World, unleashing war, famine and pestilence, yet not removing enough greenhouse gases to make any significant change. This would simply lead to the end of the world before global warming completes its cycle of ending the world.

Fourthly, yes, you are correct, this cycle seems to have occurred many times over the countless millennia, but you fail to mention that it seems to occur (through the fossil and stata record) at the same time that global extinctions occur, where 95% of all animal and plant life is quickly eradicated. Not quite the harmless occurrence you would have us believe, is it?

Answer 3

You need to work on your "facts" before you complain about how many people don't know them.
One volcano does NOT put out more greehouse gases than all the cars in the world for 50 years. Don't know where you got that, but it's wrong.
In the absence of human intervention, the earth does indeed have cycles of cooling/warming and self-regulates -- but that self-regulating cycle runs on NATURAL amounts of CO2 and other gases in the atmosphere. The warming cycles in the past have also been of a much smaller magnitude than what we're experiencing right now. We've upset those natural amounts horribly -- we put out billions of tons PER DAY of greenhouse gases from our power plants, automobiles, etc. We also destroy the natural way the earth has absorbed excess CO2 in the past by cutting plants that take it in. So we add greenhouse gases in far greater amounts than any natural source (including volcanos), and we remove the plants that could normally remove excess CO2 from the atmosphere and lock it up in the ground. What do you think is going to happen?

Answer 4

It is absolutely real. It's caused by pollution. Basically pollution keeps the heat from the sun inside our atmosphere. It's a problem now because they have discovered that it causes the polar ice caps to melt and that is why we have so many violent storms and draughts all over the world.
(It's like pouring way too much cold milk into your coffee really fast - don't try it.)

This has never been a question until just last year when Michael Crichton wrote a fictional book called "State of Fear" in which he insuated that it was just the natural cycle of the world and humans don't cause it.
Then the oil companies got together and formed a fake organization (CEI) to start spreading the Myth that global warming does not exist.

The links below contain all the facts about Global Warming that have been proven thousands of times by trusted scientists.

You can help to stop global warming by voting for people who don't work for the oil companies, by shutting off your lights when you're not using them, using energy efficient lightbulbs and recycling.

Carpooling and NOT driving SUV's helps alot too.

Answer 5

Yes there is something that you can do about global warming.....

It's not that many people don't understand. I know that a lot of this stuff happens naturally (rises in sea level, floods, droughts, heat waves, hurricanes, tornados, high or low agricultural yields, glacier retreat, reduced streamflows, species extinctions, increased diseases) It is going to take people to help reduce the effects of global warming. You know that when the media is involved, everyone gets nervous & excited.

They are simple things, but there can be a big difference if everyone does them!


Re-cycle glass bottles, jars, newspapers and magazines and tin cans. Save them and take them to local re-cycling centres.

Re-use plastic shopping bags and envelopes, don't get new ones

Persuade you mum or dad (or whoever does the gardening) to have a compost heap.

Put a brick in a plastic bag into your toilet cistern, then the toilet will use less water each time you flush. Don't worry that's plenty of water to get rid of...

Use paper on both sides. Try and buy products that don't use much packaging.

Give unwanted gifts and clothes to a charity shop.

Only fill the kettle up with the amount of water you need to boil that time.

Don't leave the TV or video on standby.

If you get lift to school in a car, take your mates along for the ride.

Ask whoever does your washing to use the machine at 40 degrees, this helps conserve power.

Switch lights off when you're not in the room

Get a clockwork mobile phone recharger

Cycle to places!

Have showers instead of baths.

Hope you understand my view...............

Answer 6

Yeah there is no such thing. This is just a natural cycle the earth goes through. When the Vikings discovered Greenland many years ago it was covered with tress and other plants. That's how it got its name. And maybe the earth becoming a greenhouse isn't a bad thing anyways. If you look in the Bible, before Adam and Eve were kicked out of the Garden of Eden, they world was covered in a greenhouse effect. The fear these people are doing is to just create a panic and cause far and make money. Just like they did with the Y2K scare. Like when the Larsen Ice Shelf broke loose we were suppose to see water levels rise. Well nothing happened. Besides a majority of the ice is already in the water so there wouldn't be anything noticeable anyways. Just more of their fear tactics and another excuse to waste our tax money.

Answer 7

I believe I had heard that before. So easy to forget though when skewed media coverage is primarily what we are exposed to. Most people are too lazy but it's always best to research things for yourself. People would be very surprised by the amount of things they believe that are not true. I suppose are helping it along is still not in our best interest but considering it's going to happen anyway there's no need to get riled up over the hype.

This reminds me of a George Carlin quote I once heard years ago. He was talking about all the talk of how humans are destroying the world, etc. He then went on to say that the earth is much more resilient than what we give it credit for and one day it will just shake us off like a bad case of fleas.

Answer 8

Why do so many people not understand that Global Warming is only a theory and that the earth's core temperature is only 1ºF higher than One century ago? Why do people not understand that when Rome was attacked 2000 years ago, the climate conditions were the same as today? Why do people not understand that it's completely possible that the Arctic and Antarctic glaciers have been contracting and swelling since the beginning of the planet? Why do people get pissed when other people don't accept a theory as cold, hard truth?

Answer 9

The same people who put those chemicals in the atmosphere are the same people who don't care i Know i can't afford a hybrid but i will not little or use spray deodorant HA HA! i think the media reports everything else like who is wearing this and that and not enough on the destruction of the planet earth.

Some advice to all you non-believers don't bring more babies to the earth if you don't Know where they are going to live!!

Answer 10

Seriously? We are having an effect on the global climate. It isn't just cars. It's factories, the systematic elimination of our natural air filtering systems (rainforests), raising livestock, chemical plants, trucks, airplanes, trains, and cars and a million other things in combination. Ignoring the problem and leaving a planet that is less and less able to support human life for our children would be the biggest travesty imaginable. We can change it! We just have to want to.