Is global warming real?

Question

Just looking at Al Gore's question above --- not sure how to answer it -- just wondering do you think global warming is real? I'm undecided at this point --- Thanks

Answer 1

This is a huge controversy, a complicated question - politically.

There are two sides, seemingly opposite, and they both have a lot at stake here. One is "the environmental issues camp" that is claiming that the warming is real. For a long time they didn't have conclusive evidence to support their claims, but for the last two or so years the research reports have been coming in and they strongly suggest that global warming is real. Most of this evidence is very "scientific": charts and such that require some scientific knowledge before you can readily comprehend the conclusion to which they point. This plays against the environmental issues camp. They are mostly scientist and let's face it, it's a rare gift amongst them to be able to publish their finds in a layman's language.

An other aspect playing against environmentalists is the time frame. Global warming will affect us some where in the future - or so it seems. There will be more extreme weather. There will be droughts. The glaciers will melt. The sea level will rise. Not tomorrow, not next week or the 25th of May 2008 but somewhere in the next 20-50 years or by 2060. For most people this is unforeseeable and they don't feel they should be concerned about it. "Anything can happen in 30 years." "Why should I care if something might happen after I'm long dead and buried." But the things the experts ask for us in prevention on global warming are affecting our everyday life. Some are small things, easily done like more energy efficient light bulbs etc, but some of the stuff has more profound effect: we need to consume less, much less oil in the west.

Third obstacle is the level of rise in temperatures itself. It's hard to realise what it actually means when the average temperature will rise by 2-5 C. That's not much, is it? The trick is that this is statistics. Rise in the average temperature means that the extreme temperatures have changed too and that change might be anything but little, and it's the extreme temperatures that have the hardest impact, the rise in the average is just a symptom. Let's put it this way. If you have your left hand in boiling water and your right hand frozen inside an ice block, statistically your average feeling is OK, wouldn't you agree?

The other camp is the economy, "the capitalist camp" if you may ;) They have a lot of money at stake here. Many things that are required to be changed in the industry etc are very, very expensive and this will affect their income for years to come. They would lose some ways of making money as the production methods are environmentally damaging or the demand for certain products would crumble. They would have to invest huge amounts of money into research and development and with deceasing income that is not easy. As you might notice, the time frame is at work here too.

As for the evidence and your question. Yes, the global warming is true, there really is no doubt about it anymore. The big debate is whether we should or shouldn't do something about it and whether or to what extent it is our own doing. But I don't think that ether of the two issues actually matter. The atmosphere is warming and this will have an effect on our and our children's' life. In part it as a natural phenomenon, I'm sure about that, but I also sure that our behaviour has affected it too (Come on, let's get real. All those pollutants in the air...). I would ask why shouldn't we do what we can to lessen the impact? It's already too late to prevent it from happening, but we still can do something. Plan for the worst, hope for the best is a good advice. You don't want to caught with your pants down with this one. The possible worst is too horrible not to be taken seriously. Remember Katrina? If they had been fully prepared for the worst possible kind of hurricane, would we have seen those images about New Orleans suffering in the news? The big storm may never come, but it sure would have helped a lot if they had been prepared for it when a lesser storm hit the region.

NOTE: I got 24 700 000 hits when I googled the words global warming and evidence. Most of the sites where old and it took some time to find the latest news. So be careful when you search and read about this in the net. Many things have changes as the latest research came in.

Answer 2

Yes, Global Warming is real. Many people don't know it but we are technically still in an ice age, we're just on the outside border of this one. So this leads to the questions of: How much of the warming is caused by human activities? The world is naturally warming, problem is, the rate of warming is ever accelerating due to increasing greenhouse gas emissions and the world, or the way we like to live in it, is not able to support the effects which we are causing. The real question is: is the fact that we effect the environment any different from the way other organisms do? Isn't that completely anthropocentric to believe that we are separate from nature, and not a component of it? I mean there are many animals and especially insects that release great amounts of methane, a GHG, when digesting their food. I believe that although we are a part of nature, we are conscious of the effect we have on the environment and we are able to avoid them. Many of the detrimental effects which we produce are a result of non essential and avoidable activities. That is where we need to suck it up, and put in the needed money to change the way we are running our world.

To Sexygemini: I admire your support for the environment, but Tsunami's are caused by geological movement, not by global warming or any human activities, short of us putting bombs in the ground and disrupting tectonic activities.... which is not the case.

To Gekko: I agree that the best way to answer scientific questions is to go out and do research, but there is nothing wrong with asking others, for some of us are the people who do the research. Yes, a lot of environmental issues, along with other sciences, are ambiguous, however there is a lot of scientific evidence to prove or disprove them. Therefore I would call any answer to this question an opinion unless they do not know the evidence to back it up. As for Al Gore, he is a politician, not a scientist, but he does have many scientists as advisors. Also any public awareness for such a worthy and underappreciated cause as the environment is always appreciated. I mean no one is attacking the celebrities which promote WWF, right?

To Heather W: The Sun is getting larger, but it's effects on Earth are not increasing enough to cause the changes which we are currently experiencing. The two are not directly correlated.

Answer 3

Anyone who isn't sure if global warming is real has probably been living in a cave or under a rock. Or -- even better -- with their head in the sand! Get it? The old ostrich thing? Denying and trying to hide from a problem doesn't make it go away!! And it's CERTAINLY not going to make global warming go away. Humans are ruining this planet, plain and simple. If you don't think so, you seriously need a reality check! Sorry, I'm just stating the truth, and sometimes the truth hurts.

Answer 4

Global Warming is the biggest crock of pseudo-science since eugenics in the early part of this century. Of course the earth is gradually warming, we are leaving, recently in planetary terms, an ice age. For most of the Earth's history, it has been far warmer than anything mankind has experienced- the US Midwest was a shallow sea much like the Mediterranean for most of the time of the dinosaurs, or almost a hundred times longer than man has existed- and that wasn't even the warmest period of all. Man produces a tiny fraction of greenhouse gases in the Earth's atmosphere. It is sheer folly to assume that the tiny fraction of the Earth's history that we have existed is somehow the "right" state of the Earth.
But then, this wouldn't be the first time that power-hungry morons used pseudo-science and hysteria to brainwash young people and rule a country... eugenics worked quite well for Hitler...

...and yeah, in response to below, all the papers on eugenics were peer-reviewed too. The scientific peer system can be one of the hardest to overcome if you're bucking the status quo- try searching about eugenics sometime... but then those who cannot learn from mistakes are doomed to repeat them.

Answer 5

If you want to know the real truth, don't ask on Yahoo Answers, all you will get is opinions. Check out the GISS http://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/
Look at individual weather stations, almost all of them that you click on show DECREASING temperature over the past. And, interestingly, many of the weather stations don't go back far enough to reflect the temperature decline around the 40's, so if you averaged them all you would see an increase because half the stations wheren't around then.
Also, last I checked, Al Gore is a politician, not a scientist. People please, stop quoting Al Gore or his movie as a source!

Answer 6

global warming is caused by natural events, not by human intervention, the biggest rise in global temperatures happened between 1907 and 1949, long before there were enough cars to make a difference. using data from 70 years, while the earth has been around billions of years, does not make sense. there have other global warming events, the last one 7000 years ago. al gore is using this myth to advance his political career, shame on you, al gore you know better, using fear based on doubtful data is nothing new to the democrat party, shame on all of you!!!

Answer 7

It is real, BUT NOT CAUSED BY MAN. The earth has hot and cold cycles. In the past 100 years the earth's temp has risen LESS THAN ONE DEGREE Celsius. Until the scientists can get accurate models and more reliable data about the history of the earth's cycles there will never be any real PROOF that man is causing Global Warming.

Answer 8

No, it's not.

At least, not in the manner most people think of it. Simply put there is no way to know if global warming is really the work of humans or not. Some glaciers have been receeding since the late 1800. See the first link.

First off, if global warming were real then the temperature would be rising equally all over the world and it obviously is not. What we are seeing is an increased temperature in major cities and that makes sense. A larger city uses more brick, concrete and asphalt and all of these materials retain heat and slowly radiate it back.

Secondly, there have been no recorded increase in ocean levels.

I'll say that again because it bear repeating.

There have been no, none, nada, zip, zilch, not a single recorded increase in ocean levels. Not year over year, month over month, decade over decade. Why? Because the only ice that is melting is the ice that is already in the ocean and water, whether frozen or liquid, has the same mass. If the continential glaciers were melting we would most definately be seeing an increase in coastal water levels.

"Dr Wolfgang Scherer, director of the National Tidal Facility (NTF) of Flinders University, South Australia, which undertook the review, told BBC News Online that the much larger increases in global sea level predicted by some climate models were not apparent in their regional data.

"There is no acceleration in sea level rise - none that we can discern, at all," he said."

That comes from the second link.

"Global sea level and the Earth's climate are closely linked. The Earth's climate has warmed about 1°C (1.8°F) during the last 100 years. As the climate has warmed following the end of a recent cold period known as the "Little Ice Age" in the 19th century, sea level has been rising about 1 to 2 millimeters per year due to the reduction in volume of ice caps, ice fields, and mountain glaciers in addition to the thermal expansion of ocean water. If present trends continue, including an increase in global temperatures caused by increased greenhouse-gas emissions, many of the world's mountain glaciers will disappear. For example, at the current rate of melting, all glaciers will be gone from Glacier National Park, Montana, by the middle of the next century (fig. 1). In Iceland, about 11 percent of the island is covered by glaciers (mostly ice caps). If warming continues, Iceland's glaciers will decrease by 40 percent by 2100 and virtually disappear by 2200. " That's from the third link.

What I like about this one is that they openly state that the global temperature and weather has been changing but they still manage to toos in the obligatory greenhouse gas comment.

But wait! What about those glaciers on top of the mountains! I've seen pictures where they are vanishing or almost completely gone! That HAS to be proof of global warming.

BUZZZ!!!! Nope but thanks for playing. All that's proof of is the effects of deforestation. Remove the forest from the bottom of the mountain and instead of feeding the glacier with cool, moise forest air you instead starve it with hot, dry air.

In other words, put an ice cube in the path of a hair dryer and see how long it lasts.

In all honesty, I would say that global warming is 100% real and that it is 100% natural and as such there is not a single thing we can do about it.

That means that instead of spending billions of dollars on figuring out how to stop it what we should be doing is trying to figure out how best to cope with it.

We can't even predict weather 10 days out so I can plan my weekend and yet some goobers think they can tell what the weather will be like 10 decades from now?

Please!

Let me say this in closing. Read the arguments of those who believe in global warming very carefully as I highly doubt you will find a single verifiable fact. What you will find is sensationalism and grandstanding but not a single shred of fact will you find.

For example, look at this tid bt taken from a particularly vapid poster a bit above me:

"Humans are ruining this planet, plain and simple. If you don't think so, you seriously need a reality check! Sorry, I'm just stating the truth, and sometimes the truth hurts."

Actually, she has not stated anything that could in any way even remotely be taken as being truth unless it's her truth that we are talking about.

We're not ruining this planet at all. More and more food is being produced, humans are living longer and more enriching lives. 100 years ago the average lifespand was 35 years and a simple cut could kill you. Today the average lifespan is almost double with some people living into their hundreds!!!!

Humans are ruining the world? Not likely. Some of those with their heads in the cloud may think that "living in harmony with nature" sounds great and all but I'll take my antiseptics, medicines, air condition and mass prepared food any day of the week.

Answer 9

yes global warming is real. With all the fumes in the air from fossil fuels it heats up the earth causing bad weather. Hurrican Katrina and all the other bad storms could possibly be caused from global warming, but since I am not a scientist I can not know that for sure. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_warming

Answer 10

The overwhelming body of evidence to date indicates that global warming is real. There is virtually no debate remaining among real scientists in the peer-reviewed literature.

The fact that politicians and business leaders can get so-called "scientists" to say otherwise is not surprising--you can still get someone to testify that the earth is flat if you look hard enough or pay well enough. That's why the peer-review process exists.