Do you think that "man" is to blame for global warming, or is nature taking it's course?

Question

Think about it, we've had ice ages and drought thousands of years ago when there were far fewer emissions.

Answer 1

Climate change is a natural cycle. We are speeding it up enormously.

Answer 2

If man is causing greenhouse gases to build up, it is primarily in the upper atmosphere. By burning fuel above 30,000 ft, nature is caught off guard. There are no plants up there. Jet engines burn 2-5 tons of fuel /hr. Each ton burned produces 3.66 tons of CO2 as well as a little over a ton of water. Many thousands of hours of jet travel is occurring every day. CO2 will drift down to the earths surface slowly and instantly be taken up by growing plants or the oceans into the CO2 buffer system. Both uptakes are unlimited overall. The gradient is downward since that is where the usage occurs.( On the surface of the Earth). The question is how long does it take for the CO2 to get down to the surface? It is also not clear how much the jet stream mixes with the lower atmosphere air. It is highly unlikely that fuels burned on the surface of the earth add significantly to greenhouse gases.

Answer 3

“CapNemo” likes to go to all the global warming questions and paste in a statement pooh-poohing the threat. His statement is misleading and incorrect.

He says it’s only increased by 1 degree (F) in 125 years. This is a misleading number, because it is a global average: land and sea. We don’t live in the middle of the ocean and that’s not where the polar ice caps are melting. The temperature change over land surfaces has been twice that, and most of it in the last 40 years.

He says, “The average temperature in Antarctica is 109 degrees below zero.” If you go to his source, it says, “Temperatures reach a minimum of between -80 °C and -90 °C (-112 °F and -130 °F) in the interior in winter and reach a maximum of between +5 °C and +15 °C (41 °F and 59 °F) near the coast in summer.” OK, now the observation that the caps are melting makes more sense. It melts at the coast, in the summer, DUH! (Note by the way that his average number (-109) is only 3 degrees lower than one of the minimum numbers. I wonder, what kind of math did he learn?)

Then he says, “Back in the '70s all the hype was about global COOLING”. All what hype? I was around then. I don’t remember any hype. And if you go to his source, it says, “This theory gained temporary popular attention due to press reporting … The theory never had strong scientific support”. He tries to mislead us, by implying that a temporary flurry pf press reporting is comparable to what we are seeing now and that some hype without scientific basis is somehow similar to a consensus within the scientific community about global warming.

The truth is that those 2 degrees are HUGE in the scale of average weather change. But the real problem is the speed of change and that it's accelerating. Scientists are predicting a temp 4 to 8 degree (F) increase over the next 75 years. “This may not sound like a great deal, but just a fraction of a degree can have huge implications on the climate, with very noticeable consequences." (http://www.channel4.com/science/microsites/U/ukweather2080/5_predicting.html ). Yes, scientists predict, that's their job. They've gone to school years more than we have and spent their lives studying this stuff. This representrs humanity’s BEST GUESS at where this is all going. Of course, you can believe it snows in hell, or any other stupid thing you want. No one can stop you from believing what you'd rather hear, than what is the most probable outcome.

The link between CO2 and global warming is undisputed at this time. The amount of CO2 in the atmosphere has increased by more than 50% over the last 115 years (250 to 381 ppm, http://awesomenature.tribe.net/thread/fcc70c8b-be7e-489b-85f7-6c6c08031c65 ). In the last 30 years, it increased at a rate 30 times faster than at any period during the last 800,000 years. In other words, this change is totally unprecedented. (http://awesomenature.tribe.net/thread/fcc70c8b-be7e-489b-85f7-6c6c08031c65 ). What else is totally unprecedented about the last 115 years? Industrialization and the population explosion. Duh. This is not rocket science; it is simple arithmetic!

"If Bert Drake is right, the good news is that, within the foreseeable future, Maine residents will be able to stop banking their foundations and to store their down parkas and snow blowers in the barn permanently. The bad news is that a lot of those barns will be underwater" (http://awesomenature.tribe.net/thread/fcc70c8b-be7e-489b-85f7-6c6c08031c65 ). Yes, this is opinion. Who is Bert Drake? He's an SERC researcher who's been studying this for 17 years. If we aren’t going to believe our scientists, who then shall we believe??? Oh, I know. Let's believe CapNemo!!!

If global warming wasn't a real threat, why have 178 nations ratified the Kyoto Protocol to limit CO2 emissions? Why are the US and Australia the only two holdouts among the industrialized nations? (http://environment.about.com/od/kyotoprotocol/i/kyotoprotocol_2.htm )

CapNemo’s statement reminds me about the frog in the pot on the stove that doesn’t move as the water gradually gets hotter and hotter. From this seemingly insignificant 2 degree change, we’ve already seen enormous consequences. (http://www.davidsuzuki.org/Climate_Change/Impacts/) How much hotter does it have to get for some people to wake up and face the music? And in the meantime, while you’re pondering all of this, be sure to check the dates on people’s references. Things are changing so rapidly that older information is no longer useful.

Average Northern Hemisphere Temperatures for last 1000 years:
http://www.co2science.org/scripts/Template/0_CO2ScienceB2C/images/subject/other/figures/mannetal_nh1000.jpg

Answer 4

Everybody remove your heads from out off the sand, we are speeding up the process of global warming with polution and the destruction of the rain forests. But we can do are bit to slow the impact, remember twenty years ago we were told there was a hole in the ozone layer, we have now replaired this hole which scientist then reported would never close, by working together and banning CFC products which destroyed the ozone.

Everybody can do there bit, turn down the thermostat 1 degree, fit energy effiecient light bulbs when they need replacing, use public transport or walk short distances, car share if you have to use your car, and do not leave applicance on standby. These are small changes that everybody can make in there lives.

Do not think I am one person what can I do, think if I make a difference anybody can.

There are many things people can do to reduce green house emmiosions, please be socially responsible we only have one planet we can live on.

Answer 5

There have been warm and cool periods in the planets history, there has also been a time when carbon di-oxide levels have been vastly higher than they are at present. However the present high levels of carbon di-oxide in the atmosphere are due to industrial processes, and have been rising since the beginning of the industrial revolution. Carbon di-oxide is a greenhouse gas, which means it contributes to Global Warming.
We rely on the Greenhouse Effect to keep the planet warm enough to live on, it is the runaway Greenhouse Effect that is a problem, as when this condition exists, global warming is the result.
There is sufficient evidence that the heightened level of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere are responsible for the present rise in global temperatures, which are taking places far more rapidly than has previously been the case, (about 50 time faster). This rapid rise in global temperature is a problem to plants and animals, as they have less time to adapt to changes, and may not have enough time to evolve sufficiently to cope, if that happens they become extinct, with unknown effects on the ecosystems. There is also the fact that greenhouse gasses stored in various natural reservoirs will as things warm be released due to rising temperatures, thus accelerating the effect.

In his answer 'capnemo' refers to global cooling, he should consider the term "aerosol effect" as this is a phenomenon caused by industrial processes, and can have some effect in areas of high industrial pollution. This is however is a localised effect. he also says that 1 degree temp rise is insignificant, if it were an even temp rise might be, but this is an average rise, the rise in temp is far greater at the poles than other parts of the earth, they are shrinking, sea levels are rising perceptibly and there is the risk that as a result of the vast amounts of freshwater released, that the gulf stream may shut down. That would make for very cold UK winters.

Answer 6

Thinking that it is just a natural cycle is one way of avoiding taking responsibility for the damage we have and still are causing!
Other ice ages where prompted by cataclysmic events..they just don't appear out of nowhere! The environment, of which we are part, works as a system in constant stable fluctuation. If you start messing up with it, then you throw it out of balance and it needs to dramatically change and/or adapt and find another balance.
We are not separate from nature, we are a part of it though destructive!

Answer 7

international Warming IS A FARCE AND became DREAMT UP by using GOVERNMENTS TO CON greater TAXES OUT individuals. They now use climate substitute as their mantra. maximum everybody is conscious that climate variations each 10 -11 years often times extensively. 1947 - Snow from October to March 1953 - extreme Spring tides flooded London 1966 - ? 1976 - Heatwave from March to October 1987 - typhoon felled tens of millions of wood 1997 - ? 2007 - Lewes, Yalding Flooded additionally each 11 years we've unusual climate simply by sunspots that are storms on the floor of the sunlight. those additionally shrink to rubble our transmissions of radio and tv.

Answer 8

The difference is, this time it's happening within such a short space of time - differences within a lifetime are something to be extremely concerned about. As an example, when I was a child it was always freezing in January (I live in the UK) - snow and ice everywhere - I used to go skating on the local pond. Today the temperature is 16 degrees and the flower bulbs are shooting up all over the place.

It's all down to man.

Answer 9

True, but the projection for the future carbon dioxide levels is unprecendented and has never been seen before in the known history of the earth. Scientists have measured CO2 levels from throughout the earth's history using ice boring.

Answer 10

That is a very interesting question I must say. Not a lot of people ask it and I have been waiting for this opportunity to answer it. Thank you so much.

It is of my opinion that human kind is a part of the earth and not in total control of it. What we are experiencing right now is just another transition in the global environment, just like the one that wiped out the dinosaurs. I am not saying that humans will be wiped out, but there will be changes on a global scale that will effect all life on this planet. All I can tell you is you will need to buy a new globe within the next 500 years.

Answer 11

Global warming is cyclic; we've only just started to chart the effects of this phenomenon, and have perhaps exaggerated our responsibility somewhat. Chopping down the "lungs" of the planet in the name of "progress" can and must never be acknowledged as such. Rain forests are there for a reason; oil, gas and coal reserves were not there by accident; the wind blows, the tides ebb and flow; uranium decays emitting particles and heat. All these things are natural and for us to use wisely.

Our problem is we choose not to do so!