Is global warming for real?

Question

I know that alot of you "eco-warriors" are going to throw all this data at me and try to make this look like a stupid question, but hear me out.
Is it really global warming or just a phase? After all, in the 1970's scientists were certain that the earth was cooling down to the point that they said we were on the verge of a new ice age. I even hear alot of scientists, when confronted with the issue of the end times state that the earth is only going through one of it's natural stages. What do you feel is the real story? Input from all sides are welcome.

Answer 1

Well, temperature records dont lie - and we can see that the last ten years on record have been the hottest ten years EVER. So, that may be an indicator...

I think that the earth is indeed going thru one of its normal cycles - but I also beleive that mankind is helping it along at an alarming pace...
There is X amount of carbon ON the earth, and X amount IN the earth. When we mine coals and oils and burn them, we introduce more carbon into the atmosphere than there was beforehand. With biofuels, this doesnt happen - the carbon inside plants was obtained from the atmosphere, and it is burned and placed back into the atmosphere...

Answer 2

There are certainly arguments on both sides, however the evidence that supports the claim of global warming is mounting and certainly indicates that a large number of influential people i.e. (scientists and government leaders) believe it to be so.

The best argument for global warming being a fact is that insurance companies have altered their criteria in many areas to take into account global warming. One example I just heard yesterday was that European insurance companies are no longer insuring ski lodges that are below 5000 ft elevation due to the lack of sustainable snow caused by global warming.

Further, even if one does not choose to believe in the doom sayers regarding global warming, there is a common sense argument I would like to offer. The Earth is a finite closed system. By over polluting the atmosphere in a way that the natural systems can't cope eventually will cause the system to break down. Any one who has had a terrarium or a fish tank knows what happens when proper balance isn't maintained.....everything dies.

Therefore, arguing whether or not global warming is real seems to me to be a mort canard. If we all would accept that there will be, and already has been, negative consequences from our polluting habits and try to change them now for the better, then we as a collective wouldn't have to have this discussion.

Answer 3

yea global warming is for real, I don't know how old you are but I can tell you after more than fifty winters I can not only feel the change, I see it all about me. If I were a younger man I would be buying a lot of land in the James Bay area, even west of the Hudson Bay because by the time I die of old age the water resources,and the land resources will be scarce here in the great lakes area. A lot worse south of the great lakes. If I knew I had another sixty or seventy years in my life then preparation for those twilight years would be served now with the purchase of land within a days travel to one of those two bays.There would be safety in the zones temperate atmosphere by then. There would be better security in owning land mass there than a good old age pension to depend on here.
Think about it. Right now the land up there is so cheap it's considered useless. By the time you reach old age it will be a valuable asset.

Answer 4

I personally believe the Earth is getting hotter, but I don't know enough to say if it is part of the Earth's natural weather cycle, if pollution made it happen, or if it is a little of both. Frankly no one else can really say either since scientists have really only been tracking weather on a Global scale for the last few hundred years or so. Based on the overall age of the planet I think that this is just much too small of a sample size for us to make any kind of accurate predictions about future weather patterns.

Answer 5

Well, I see your point. I think there isn't much debate about whether or not the planet is warming. It is, however, the real debate is about is it just cyclical or is it being humanly effected. There is science on both sides. I think it is happening but have not seen anything that convinces me it will continue at its present rate or will reverse. Like you I remember the "Coming Ice Age" of the 70's so I have decided a decade does not a trend make when it come to the whether.

Also there is the element of how much do we REALLY effect it. How much can we. Most of what I have read is we have little real effect.

The planet is alive and goes through changes slowly. I think it is still too early to know anything for certain and would be against the US spending or requiring US business to spend a fortune on trying to change it.

Answer 6

Don't feel some thing you learn and best one million/two of what you spot. Of path, Global warming is truly. The final Ice age has long past away, has it no longer? So, we need to have worldwide warming. Do persons give a contribution to worldwide warming? Probably a few small quantity, in spite of everything we ARE Warm and we breath in oxygen and breath out CO2, we need to be side of the quandary. What is Al Gore going to do approximately it? Kill a complete lot of persons? Invariably that's what Socialists do once they take manipulate of a nation. Is that higher than destroying their economic climate and inflicting hundreds of thousands to starve to demise?

Answer 7

OH MY GOD THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A POLAR FROG! WTF. But global warming is real just not from humans. I think its around something like 97-98% of it is due to plants and animals. Plus the earth is still unfreezing from the last ice age. Every 100 years the coast moves up 0.5 in. Head for the hills!
Sure the warming trends tell cannot be denied, however that trend has been the same for thousands of years. I dont think many cavemen had SUV's... In my opinion its a calculated means of advancing the democratic agenda. And Im a dem. Oh well.

Answer 8

If you read CNN and the US geological society reports, global warming IS REAL! The temperature of the earth is rising. Cold weather animals are migrating more north, the polar bears are running out of land, the yukon economy is being effected, some species of polar frogs are extict and water levels are rising.

Is it another one of the Earth's natural stages? Perhaps. But if the temperatures continue to rise as scientists predict, to levels that do not support life, how will we as humans adapt.

I think we never believe this stuff until we see it, but some of the results are already upon us. What's next?

Answer 9

Yes I beleive global warming is real. My mom was telling me storys about when she was a kid in the late 60's early 70's that this was going on and that we should try to be more preservitive. Look at my state right now its dec 14th and its almost 60 degrees outside. Thats not right at all it should be cold and maybe some snow on the ground. So to me it is real.

Answer 10

Yes, Global Warming is real. The air is getting poluted, making the ozone layer thinner and thinner, so more sunlight and heat can come through. This makes the world a lot hotter and drier. One day if we don't do something soon, some parts of the world will have huge lakes from melted ice and glaciers.