global warming?

Question

We hav global warming happening,why isnt anyone doing anything about it and is it gonna be like that movie 'day after tomorrow'

Answer 1

Let's set something straight right off...there is no debate about global warming among knowledgeable people who have no political agenda. Virtually all climatologists recognize the Earth is warming globally.

Further, even the debate about what's causing GW is pretty much over. Only a few die hards still subscribe to the idea that this GW is just a normal, natural swing in Earth's temperature that has been ongoing for millions of years.

Now to answer your questions.

Global warming is a natural, cyclical event that happens every millions of years or so. Lest you wonder how we can tell, we can actually measure the Earth's temperature back 650 million years by measuring certain isotopes of oxygen embedded in the deep core of Antarctica's ice. When plotted out against time, the measured temperatures clearly show the natural cycle of global warming.

We had an ice age that ended about 10,000 years ago or so; that ended the cool part of the cycle. Now the Earth is heating up again and glaciers and such around the globe are melting. As they melt, their water runs into the oceans, which raises their level and desalinates the ocean waters. Further, some of that additional heat in the atmosphere is being transferred to the oceans, heating them up as well. The warmer waters feed additional energy into storm cells and turn the cells into more and more powerful hurricanes and typhoons.

BUT HERE's THE IMPORTANT PART, even though global warming is a natural cycle, the rate and instensity of this global warming we are now experiencing is not. Something is causing carbon dioxide in our atmosphere to far exceed levels previously recorded for past cycles of global warming. If we plot CO2 in parts per million over time, we find today's levels "off the charts" as Al Gore puts it. Further, the trend line indicates CO2 will continue to increase at an unaturally rapid rate. All this means global warming this time around will soon far exceed whatever levels it reached in previous cycles due to natural causes.

Some of mankind are in fact "doing anything about it." Al Gore, for one, is taking his "An Inconvenient Truth," a critically acclaimed docu-movie about global warmiing, to anyone who will listen. The Kyoto Accords, subscribed by just about every nation in the world, but the U.S., call for drastic reductions in CO2 and other emissions. (The U.S. pushes about 25% of all the world's CO2 into the air through automobiles etc. and smoke stacks; yet it has rejected the accords.)

Climatologists predict major climate shifts (e.g., rainy areas will become dry and vice versa) and more extreme weather; all due to global warming.

Answer 2

Is global warming real? Well, that is up for debate. The earth has certainly warmed over the last 100 years, but the Earth's temperatures vary greatly. More than anything, the earth's mean temperature is regulated by the Milankovic Cycles. These cycles basically predict how close or far the earth is from the sun during its seasons.

It is possible that anthropogenic CO2 production causes global warming. However, geologic data doesn't seem to support this notion. We have data showing CO2 levels much higher than today when temperatures were much lower than today. How does one explain that? Well, the Milankovic Cycles, that's how.

There's also something called the "Medieval Warm Period" when the Earth experienced a few hundred years of unusually warm weather (backed up by both geologic and written farming data). Obviously, people in England didn't have smokestacks or cars in 1150 AD.

So, I'm very skeptical about global warming, in general.

The movie "Day After Tomorrow" was terrible. It was so scientifically inaccurate.

Answer 3

There is no such a thing as "global warming": what we have is a climat change.
Winters are getting wetter and colder, summers are getting dryer and warmer.
The problem is that a very small change in the workings of the world can lead to a drastic change in the future (like in the movie), but this may not happen for a long time (at least in this generation).
Only ALL governments working together COULD do something, but they do not care. They are too concerned by the quick profits they make now to care for what will happen in a century.
Nobody can do anything by himself: we have to work all together, something that will not happen: we can't even work with our neighbourgs.
Sea water has risen by 0.4 degrees in the last 20 years, the northern jetstream has tilted by 3 degrees and the Gulfstream is changing course by 0.5 degrees. The plancton has changed is deep sea level location, the fish are changing seas.
The balance of Earth (which is a chaotic system) can break up anytime. Just hope it won't happen while I am here...

Answer 4

The American Government doesn't want to anything about it, they claim doing something will hurt the American economy and they're all in the pockets of the oil industry.
To this end the oil companies fund a lot of psuedoscience done for propaganda purposes which never passes peer review to say it isn't happening, or it's natural or some other bumpf.
The peer reviewed journals however are awash with papers documenting the effects, New Scientist has published 25 in the past 3 months.
Projections show that about a billion people will die from the effects. Mostly in Africa, but hey as long as American voters can be hoodwinked...

Answer 5

What is the difference between global warming and climate change, when the Earth is getting warmer? Who told D-Dawg that the ice-caps were growing, doesn't he/she read anything?

The climate has altered drastically over geological time and even over the last 1000 years. In the 1300s it was about 3 degrees warmer than it is now and the 1300s didn't lead to global catastrophe.

What we have to worry about is overusing the Earth's resources and poisoning the biosphere. However, if it takes the frightening possibility of global meltdown to slow down the Mega-corporations' exploitation of land, sea air, animals and humans that is OK by me!

Answer 6

Lots of people are trying to do something about it, ands there is lots of evidence that directly connects rising CO2 levels with the changes we can measure. Ignoring the base metrics of average temperatures at various points on the globe, changes in migration patterns and ecosystems are great guides to the effect, as is the shrinking of permafrost at the northern polar region, and never mind the coral reefs in Honduras, whose decline has been ascribed directly due to the combined (CO2 based) acidification and warming of the waters there.

Oh, you should check out the data coming through on global dimming also - turns out the full extent of warming has been masked by particulate pollution in the atmosphere - this is now in decline, which may lead to an increased rate of warming.

Answer 7

Global warming is a farce.

We just broke two temp records last week. The original records were set in 1952 and 1982. So...........

Warming can be a natural trend in a long cycle.

Answer 8

in case you desire to obtain grant money for climate study, do you think of which you will get a cheque in case you say," i want the provision, as i think of that i will instruct that the figures that the present paradigm is predicated upon are incorrect" ? the super environmentalist, David Bellamy, has been silenced, and refused airtime. there remains no shown causative hyperlink between the quantity of Co2 in the ambience, and an enhance in worldwide temperatures. The WWWF photos of the polar bears swimming have been taken in the Arctic summer season; while the ice cap partly melts, as they could not upward thrust as much as photograph in the wintry climate. The ice grew to become into too thick! The East-Anglian uni study figures. "Oh! The figures do not experience our expectancies. Oh nicely. save quiet. because of fact all of us understand that we are precise." while the perception, and the religion is extra important than squarely dealing with the valid doubts of a brilliant sort of non grant-supported scientists, technology has been superceded by ability of non secular zealots. As Oliver Cromwell colourfully reported." I pray thee, in the bowels of Christ, evaluate that thou mayest be incorrect."

Answer 9

Its interesting that everyone is worried about it. The earth has been mush hotter then this before its just we haven't been here when it was. Also I read on yahoo that its helping a endangered butterfly come back to some areas on yahoo news.

Answer 10

what sources tell you that nobnody is doing something?

if you mean that we're not doing a major change(e.g. make a very large forest filled with trees which produce a lot of oxygen or stop of the use of styrofoam or CFC's) why don't you try it?

of course it would take a very very very long time to do those things.