Global warming? What do you think? Will we be able to control it or is the end near?

Question

"Yes.. the globe is warming.. It's a fundamental debate whether it's man-made or natural" - The smartest man on earth, George W. Bush *snort*
What do you think?

Answer 1

Global warming is not something that we have 100% control over.

The geological record of the earth's temperature is very clear - for millions of years the earth has been going through repeated cycles of warming and cooling. The Earth has been warming up since the end of the Pleistocene (about 10,000 years ago) due to complex influences that we don't completely understand, but they include the angle of the earth's rotational axis to the sun, the average distance to the sun, reflectance of the earth's surface, and atmospheric conditions including CO2 and dust.

Even if there were no humans on Earth with all the CO2 and pollution we are creating were removed, the earth would gradually becoem warmer without any human influence. Eventually, for reasons we don't understand, the Earth would then begin a cooling cycle again - the period of each cycle is irregular but they seem to last about 100,000 years.

So the best we can hope for is to help slow the RATE of global warming. I think the evidence is undeniable - the rate of global warming is unprecedented, due to the impact of 6 billion people in a very industrial society.

One of the contributors (and certainly the one we humans are responsible for) is the amount of C02 in the atmoshere. Fortunately, the Earth has a natural buffer that keeps CO2 levels in check - vegetation. As the CO2 levels increase, chloropyll-based green plants increase their rate of photosynthesis which converts CO2 to to O2. Also, forest fires have been a significant source of CO2 in the atmosphere for thousands of years. As CO2 levels increase and 02 levels decrease, forest fires will not burn as efficiently, meaning that nature already has ways of keeping atmospheric CO2 and O2 levels in balance.

But our consumption of fossil fuels (coal, oil, and gas) and even wood and peat, means that we are producing CO2 faster than nature can recover. On top of that, everything humans do creates heat and that needs to be dissipated in the earth's atmosphere.

With the technology we have today, probably the single most reasonable thing we can do to prevent the rate of global warming increasing so quickly is to replace all of our fossil fuel-powered electrical generating plants with nuclear plants.

The biggest opposition to nuclear plants seems to be the question of radioactive waste. Now here's a fact: a coal fired power plant (most of the world's electricity is produced from coal, esp China, Australia, and USA) produces more radiation than a nuclear power plant.

Of course the only way to completely eliminate our impact on the Earth's temperature is stop using all forms of energy, as every one of them creates heat and other side effects.

Answer 2

First off, the end is not near. Even if the Earth warms 20 degrees and all the polar ice melts and sea level rises 200 feet and New York is under water, that is not the end of the world. Life will go on. The world economy would be in shambles, but people would move inland and survive. And nobody, not Al Gore, not anybody, is saying it will get as bad as that. So just get over the "end of the world" mentality.

The only fact that everyone agrees about is the concentration of CO2 is now at about 380 PPM and increasing. The highest natural high of the last 400,000 years is about 300 PPM. Everybody, including George W. Bush, agrees that we have caused that increase in CO2.

Everything else, from the amount of warming we can expect to current temperature of the Earth to the amount of melting ice is debated. Some people say that even a concentration 5 times the natural level (which would be 1,250 PPM) would not harm the environment. We would not reach such high levels for a thousand years, even if we keep doing what we are doing now. Some people say that even the 380 PPM will eventually melt enough ice to raise sea levels, although the worst predictions I have seen call for a 20 foot rise, not the 200 that might result from all the polar ice melting.

Answer 3

We can control it if everyone is willing to obey. However, greenhouse gases cause global warming. One thing for sure is water vapor is a NATURAL greenhouse gas. We can't do anything that. On the other hand, CO2 is definitely a man-made greenhouse gas. You should know petroleum is a hydrocarbon. Hydrocarbons contain carbon and once they break up, they produce CO2. This chronic emissions of CO2 increase the greenhouse effect, therefore increasing the average temperature in our globe. I think global warming will be one of the hardest tasks to accomplish other than containing nuclear fusion since it's impossible. If we don't change our daily routines, then we can only resort to hydropower, wind energy, solar power, and nuclear energy. There are disadvantages of each since each option will somehow hurt the environment. We can't do anything about biofuels because that'll decrease crop and soybean crop production. We can't use liquefied natural gas since it's expensive as well and not everyone can afford it. Ethanol-85 could be a choice but it's costly as well. We have nothing to do but actually stop our consumption of gasoline.

Answer 4

Well, first you gotta ask yourself if you are a believer or not. Although there is hard supporting the phenomenon, many believe it to be over or under exagerrated. If you do think Global Warming is a big thing, and worried you can't do anything about it, than worry not.

There are many small steps that you can take to help prevent Global Warming. One, you could replace at least one of lightbulbs in your house with flouresent ultra low voltage bulbs, since they conserve much electricity. If every family did this in the U.S alone, you would be saving at least 100 million tons of coal.

You can control Global Warming if you do certain things. Not drastic, but simple.

As for what I think, well when I see a graph that shows a tremendous spike in temperature in the last years that hasn't ever happened before, whadda you think?

Answer 5

well analogy... might be the time interval will have to be a little bit shorter than ten years cuz the international warming fashion has no longer been occurring for that lengthy (a minimum of no longer while in comparison to how lengthy the earth's been right here). alas so much politicians could alternatively use the primary 9 solutions earlier than even since the 10th one when you consider that they're all less complicated however wont quite support whatever

Answer 6

You are basically asking, "Can humans exist without disturbing the environment?" No. But thank goodness for evolution.
The world as it exist today is a result of billions of years of plant life polluting the atmoshere with oxygen. Oxygen is a free radical, and it's unnatural for it to exist in this universe on its own. It's always bonded to another molecule.
The fact is no form of life can exist without causing change to its surroundings. However, life will always evolve or adapt to the new conditions. Unless a giant meteor hits us or something.

Answer 7

I think the rise in temperature is a little natural and a little man-made. I think we really need to curb throwing CO2 into the air, as well as other junk. Sadly, I don't think we'll get a handle on it, and we will see lots of destruction in the coming years.

Answer 8

yes, Bush is wise. now, to stop co2 emmissions will take drastic steps. first, we have to stop driving, stop coal fired power plants, stop having babies, kill all the animals, and plant lots of trees. then we have to move south and eat bugs. no campfires allowed. in a hundred years or so, the problem should be fixed.

Answer 9

Some nasty problems, but the end of the world no.

Answer 10

Let me give you some advice...Pull down your pants and slide on the ice.....