How can everyone be so up in arms about "global warming"?

Question

There is little to no conclusive scientific evidence that suggests that the world is heating up. There haven't been effectve record keeping methods until the last few hundred years. In fact, in the 1970's there was a scare about "Global Cooling". Pseudo-science is all that it is! What do you think?

Answer 1

global warming is not caused by humans. i wrote a essay last semester to prove it. there are several other things it could be, the most believeable being that the earth goes through a climate cycle. and the reason they are up in arms over it, is exactly your point, they have only been keeping record of the climate recently, and have only been recording during a warming period. they havent experienced a cooling period yet.

Answer 2

I will try to be brief, not my strong suit ;).

1) How can everyone be so up in arms about "global warming"?

There is a significant risk of deadly weather changes and economically devastating sea level changes. But by all means let's gamble! Wahoo!

2) There is little to no conclusive scientific evidence that suggests that the world is heating up.

That is an outrageous lie. Global temperature rise is established fact.

3) There haven't been effective record keeping methods until the last few hundred years.

That is another outrageous lie. There are excellent ice core records, etc. going back nearly half a million years and somewhat spotter records going back a few billion years. Yes I said billion.

4) In fact, in the 1970's there was a scare about "Global Cooling".

It was hardly a scare. People noted a short period of cooling in the 1970's, part of the natural variation you naysayers are always harping on. Some crackpot came up with a global cooling theory, which was soon discredited.

5) Pseudo-science is all that it is! What do you think?

I don't think you should talk about yourself that way, even if it is true.

Answer 3

Deep ice cores have given us a very good record of carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere that go back 400,000 years. They are presented in the source below. The levels have fluctuated a lot, but in the last 100 years or so they have gone far above the highest natural high in that 400,000 year record. We know that burning coal, oil and natural gas produces carbon dioxide and almost nobody doubts that widespread use of these fuels is the cause of those increased carbon dioxide levels.

Also, all scientists agree, even those few still stating that global warming isn't a problem, that carbon dioxide in the atmosphere traps heat from the Sun and more will trap more heat.

So put 2 and 2 together. Can we continue to add more carbon dioxide to the air forever, pushing the concentration up to any level we want, as log as it isn't toxic to breathe, without warming up the world? I don't think so. The only question is how much can the world take before the climate changes enough to disrupt civilization? Do you want to just keep adding it until we mess up the world, and then try to clean it up; or do you want to at least try to stop adding it now, before things get so bad that even an idiot can see the damage?

Answer 4

A very vocal minority with an agenda repeatedly points out the same incomplete data as evidence of global warming. But you're right, there is no conclusive proof.

The environmentalist movement has done a wonderful job of discrediting good science to advance their agenda. Additionally, they've effectively demonized industry (especially U.S. industry, despite it being the cleanest in the world) so that people won't trust them.

American's love the underdog, and the earth and environment have been heavily played in the media as just that, the underdog.

What most people don't seem to understand is that industry has no financial interest in destroying the environment and depleting resources. There's no profit in running out of oil, trees, breathable air, clean water, or anything else. In fact, that would destroy industry.

U.S. industry, for the most part, has done some of the most unbiased studies on environmental concerns because their business models must adjust if there is change.

Environmental organizations are political animals, and should be viewed as such. They contribute vast sums of money to political causes, just like industry, and are likewise supported by politicians. The difference is that environmental organizations have nothing to lose for being dead wrong about the issues.

Answer 5

Please, people, do a little bit of reading...

They have been taking ice cores dating back a very long time and analyzing the chemical composition and how quickly the layers formed and the conclusions are quite obvious that the rises in greenhouse gases over the last century or two are an anomaly in the geophysical record caused by human industry.

Also, as warming increases, ice sheets melt, eventually raising sea level and desalinizing it, which may alter or knock out some of the currents that keep our temperate climates in balance. Of course it's all just theory. Nobody really knows the end effects of global warming... Likely it'll kill some of the warm currents that keep our temperate climate, which will lead to a colder climate, which will eventually stabilize back to a normalish-climate at some point. But who knows. Since we haven't seen an ice-age in modern times, we can only guess by postulating based on what we can dig out of the geological and ince sheet evidence.

Thus far inclonclusive.

Answer 6

Go to the websites of ALL the oil companies in the US. They all mention GHG (Green House Gasses). Wouldn't the oil companies be the first to discount the greenhouse effect?

I have included a link to Occidental Petroleum's (Ticker symbol OXY) annual health and human safety report, and that of Exxon Mobile as two examples.

I have also included an article that mentions a study performed by scientists at MIT and one from Harvard University. The Harvard University study concludes that increases in CO2 has led to an increase in global pollen count that will have an increasing effect on asthma and allergen sufferers. I hope you seriously don't believe that the science at the worlds most elite universities is a pseudo-science.

Stop looking at politics and look at science. Cite your sources, look at the credentials of the person making the claim and all counter arguments. Finally, look at the general scientific consensus. If the person speaking doesn't have a PhD, they have no idea what they are talking about.

Answer 7

We probably are headed for an ice age, but it will take thousands, maybe millions of years before it becomes a problem. People are concerned about global warming becuase industries are producing chemicals that harm the o-zone layer, causing more sun rays to hit the earth. Though the science behind this may be true, there is no cause for concern. One volcano eruption probably causes more damage to the atmosphere than all cars in America over the span of a year. The o-zone is probably the healthiest it's been in a long time.

Why are people afraid? Media hype caused by enviornmentalists. The theory is that the increased temperature will cause the ice caps to melt, causing the ocean to rise, and dramatically effecting the earth's land by flooding it. the o-zone's been in horrible shape long ago in history and this never happened, so why are people afraid now?

Answer 8

Are you a scientist? It's an interesting phenomenon, because within the scientific community this isn't a debate. Global warming, climate change, is happening. It is most likely because of the increase of greenhouse gasses. There is debate about whether or not it's our fault, because of burning fossil fuels and what not, or whether it's a natural cycle, or something else. However, if you read the newspapers, you would be led to believe there's a huge debate about global warming because the few nuts who disagree get equal representation.
Science dealing with long term trends can't rely on record keeping. There were no records of dinosaurs, but we don't doubt their existence because we find the bones. We find other remnants in ice cores that tell us about temperature and levels of greenhouse gasses. If we're willing to believe things that aren't written, like the existence of dinosaurs, why not this?
Global warming is happening. Any scientist who says otherwise isn't worth their spit.

Answer 9

Hello!
Axel F and Ben S- stop wearing your cowboy hat! Feel the heat! Cooling period known as global dimming caused by global warming! DUH!!!! Stop living in Texas!!!!

There is little to no conclusive evidence because some people dont sit, ignorant and wont take time to study science and climate change! For years scientists told us :-

.... they are right to warn us the prospect ahead is alarming unless we act soon. They accept there are uncertainties but say human activities are having a clear effect on natural climate change, and that the Earth could warm dangerously.

Their critics say the evidence so far is not conclusive, and think the human impact is so small as to be negligible. But recent findings suggest there are real causes for concern at the speed with which the Earth is now heating up. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is starting work on its fourth assessment report, which should ready by 2007. We've reached the point where it's only by including human activity that we can explain what's happening- Dr Geoff Jenkins, Hadley Centre.

One rapidly changing phenomenon is the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2), the main greenhouse gas given off by human activities. Analysis of an ice core drilled from the Antarctic shows the level fluctuated over the last 500,000 years between about 200 parts per million (ppm) during ice ages to more like 270ppm in warmer inter-glacial periods.

Before the start of the Industrial Revolution about 200 years ago, the level of CO2 in the atmosphere was around 270-280ppm. Peat bogs are rich in carbon and methane. It reached 360ppm in the 1990s and recently climbed to a high of 379ppm. The year-on-year average rise is currently 2ppm.
There is concern that Greenland's ice sheet could disappear within the next 1,000 years if global warming continues at its present rate. Studies forecast an 8C increase in Greenland's temperature by 2350, and researchers believe that if the ice cap melts, global average sea level will rise by about 7m (23ft).

Even if global warming were halted, they say, the rise could be irreversible. This is because it can take decades or even centuries for actions to produce effects. Another worry is whether peatlands could release vast amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere.The release, triggered by the higher atmospheric carbon levels, would be an example of what is called "positive feedback", when warming itself causes a further temperature rise. Scientists say the rate of release is accelerating at 6% a year, which they think means that by 2060 the peat could account for greater carbon emissions than the burning of fossil fuels. The permafrost of northern Europe and North America is known to contain large quantities of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, which could also be released as global warming thaws the tundra.

Do you want me to go on and on....?

Answer 10

People are up in arms because they think we need to start doing things NOW to combat it. It's really no big deal to me or you because the earth will still be in pretty good shape 60-70 years from now. There are other people who are concerned about what our planet will be like for our kid's kid's kids.

Sure, the planet's average temp is only a few degrees above historical levels. The questions is what happens if this continues? Have you seen those pictures where they show glaciers in the entire area and then a photo from today in the same spot that shows water or dry land? It means glaciers that have been around since the ice age have disappeared forever in only 30 years.

I am not even close to being a Save The Earth freak, but the stuff they are saying makes sense to me.