of cooling & warming, how does that not mean the increased CO2 emissions aren't going to make it worse than usual? The Ice Age was entirely caused by natural forces but it was still too severe to support existing mammals. Is this along the same lines but we can actually predict it and do something about it?
2006-08-23 08:58:30 · 6 answers · asked by strpenta 7 in Politics & Government ➔ Other - Politics & Government
Grandma's Right & Dr. Cheesehead-This was a sincere question and you're answers were very rude and of no usefulness at all! I feel sorry for anyone who tries to get some sense into you!
2006-08-24 09:45:26 · update #1
It's part of the all-or-nothing mentality showing.
Some people argue that either it's 100% human-caused, or human activities have nothing to do with what's going on. They can't even conceive that a middle ground exists. So, they think that if we can't prove that its 100% human-caused, we should ignore it.
As opposed to acknowledging, as you have, that even if the cycles may be natural, artificial activities can still affect them, and that those artificial activities are within our control. And that maybe it's a good idea not to make things any worse.
But first you have to break them out of their lock-step closed-minded all-or-nothing delusion.
2006-08-23 09:06:46 · answer #1 · answered by coragryph 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
You can get a very basic education on Global Warming watching 'An Inconvenient Truth'.
There is no doubt that global warming is happening, none. And NO what we are experiencing is not part of a natural cycle. Ice ages came and went, they all happened within bands of temperatures dictated by the amount of CO2 (mostly) in the atmospheree at the time. That amount has more than TRIPLED during the last century, and by the end of this century (if current policies remain in effect) it will have reached levels FIVE times higher than the world has ever seen.
Imagine putting a kettle on the stove, does it boil instantly? no, it doesn't. It needs to absorb and (most importantly) retain the heat that it is being applied to it. After a while of it retaining more heat than it can lose it starts warming up and eventually it boils. The same thing is happening with Earth, over the last 150 years we've put tremendous amounts of CO2 into the atmospher, while CO2 does not produce heat it retains the heat the earth normally receives, heat that normally would be reflected into space. This heat will take a while to warm up the planet (remember the Earth makes for a VERY big kettle), the oceans are already warming up, the glaciers from Greenland to Antarctica are melting. It is not a matter of looking at the signs anymore, it is now a matter of dealing with a train that is about to become a runaway train and we are in it. Once we have lost control of it, we will never be able to stop it.
Can we do something about it? YES we can reduce our 'Carbon footprint' for tips on how YOU can help go to
http://www.carbonfootprint.com/
2006-08-23 16:21:07 · answer #2 · answered by Eli 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
I believe it is naive to think that the temperature of the earth is going to always stay constant. Variation is bound to happen. You must also factor in that we don't actually have accurate and consistent data for more than MAYBE 50 years. However, that doesn't mean that we should ignore our impact on the environment. Pumping the levels of CO2 into the air at the rate we are now can't really be a good thing.
That being said, the earth is very resilient. Take a look at the ozone layer. A mere 20 some years after banning CFCs scientist agree that the hole in the ozone has stopped growing and many believe it is actually starting to repair itself.
Some food for thought...
What if global cooling were going on? Would we be trying to increase the greenhouse effect as to raise the temperature?
2006-08-23 16:16:59 · answer #3 · answered by Gold_Fish_Cracker 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Their are some who believe that we are in the last period of an Ice Age, and that the warming is going to happen no matter what we do. Instead of trying to prevent something that man can't we should prepare for the eventuality of the situation.
Plus if you look now.....many of the chemicals that replaced CFC's that supposedly caused the hole in the ozone layer are supposedly causing global warming....where does it end.
2006-08-23 16:05:04 · answer #4 · answered by jpxc99 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I stand fully against global warming. Always have, please put me in the column as anti-global warming. Al Gore told me that this is a bad thing, a very bad thing indeed.
2006-08-23 16:05:10 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
The hottest July was in 1937,Was that global warming back then?
2006-08-23 16:02:12 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋