Global Warming are we causing it..or is it just nature at work? Is change of this nature inevitable?

Answer 1

Nature has fluctuations--- some quite radical, but MUCH more gradual than what humans have done to the planet.
We are in for some very scary stuff. The planet will survive--- but will be a FAR less pleasant place for everyone on it!
See "An Inconvenient Truth"--- PLEASE! Some criticize the film saying it is exaggerated---things won't move that fast. But even if that opinion were true, the time-line is critical. Whether 5 years, 10 years, or 50 years--- what is that in real time?
We need to act NOW!

Answer 2

I have done a little research and found something that is never mentioned by either side of this argument: The Little Ice Age. This was a period that began around the end of the 14th century, although experts offer a 200-year error factor here. It ended in the mid 19th century---well before the Industrial Age hits its stride. Having read about the massive amount of destruction during the Little Ice Age, in terms of human suffering, due to the inability to grow crops, immobility due to massive freezes well off the coastal areas of port cities, Summer-less Summers---well, it made me think that if there is a Hell, it might be frozen, instead of burning hot. This would not be for me.

Solar activity has been well documented for a long time. During the Little Ice Age, there was little and, sometimes, no Solar activity, in terms of Sun Spots. What a Sun Spot is, is an area on the surface of the Sun, where gasses erupt out into the Solar Winds. They are cooler than the rest of the Sun's surface and, thus, appear black to us. In the mid 1800's, Solar activity increased and along with it, the Earth's surface temperature. There were also the occurences of volcanic eruptions, which emitted enough sulfur and ash to reflect the Sun's rays and send Winter well into the Summer months. But, volcanoes, like ice depth and glacial conditions did not begin to be well documented until the end of the 19th century.
Solar activity and Sun Spots are, scientifically, the discernable variable. So, the concept of Global Warming was not caused by human activity, although we are contributing to it. This is something that is not debatable. What is debatable is HOW much we are actually contributing. No one has a definitive answer to this question. NO ONE. With or without us, the Earth would be warming today and into the unforeseeable future. Unavoidable. Finding ways to not contribute to it---to not take the risk of the unknown consequences (i.e.: tampering with Nature) should not be avoided.
So, everyone can do whatever they can do to make the Earth, their community and living environment better, but there is nothing that can be done to stop the Earth from warming. Nothing.You can close every factory, eliminate all fossil fuel emissions and stop cows from farting, but the Earth will continue to warm, just as it has been doing for the last 150+ years.

ps: I fully support strict measures to clean our air and water, plant more trees, economize on fuel emissions and research for alternative fuels and all of the things that will make the Earth healthier, but there is little, to nothing that we can do stop the warming of the Earth, other than plan ahead for future generations who might be affected by the effects of it.

update: Weatherja...I never said there were not human contributions...in fact I said there were. Re-read, please. In the same light, I am cautious about the way you use the word "significant". It is my contention that the Earth would currently be warming if we produced zero CO2 emissions. In regards to the 150 year trend, you can start by going to Little Ice Age in Wikipedia and spanning out from there. Interesting stuff.

Answer 3

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Answer 4

Ridge50 - could you please quote a source that documents that, without anthropogenic effects, Earth would have been on a warming trend during the last 150 years? Because I can think of at least 1 source that argues the complete opposite (and likely more if I dig into the references of that paper).

Can you actually deny that increasing CO2 over 100 ppm from natural levels does not induce significant warming on the planet?

Answer 5

Evidence point to the fact that carbon emissions are responsible. Core samples from the antarctic indicate that such radical shifts in global environment are not natural.

Answer 6

I think we are partly to blame, but probably not wholly. Apparently there was significant global warming in early medieval times, to the extent of the melting of most of the ice caps, which is now happening again.

Global warming and cooling happen naturally anyway. Wherever we live there was once probably a tropical swamp, then tundra, then desert ...

And species come and go. Extinction just happens. Personally I find it quite humbling to contemplate the big picture and realise how unimportant I am. We're not in charge of the planet, and, looking at it objectively, the sooner homo sapiens is extinct the better; we must be the most destructive species ever.

Answer 7

Its because of humans interfering with everything
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