Global Warming. Fact or Fiction?

Question

Is Global Warming for real? Provide an explanation for your answer please.

Answer 1

I think to a certain extent, global warming is both fact and fiction.

Yahoo! Answers is designed to let people get their opinions out there, so please don’t stop reading this just because this doesn’t line up with your beliefs.

Global warming is cyclical. There are cooling and heating periods of the earth trough time. I’m not saying we can just trash the earth and not worry about it. I believe we are supposed to take care of this planet, but some environmentalists are taking it way too far. I have evidence to back my view that it's not a problem.

The earth’s main source of energy is the sun. The sun shines on the earth, giving the earth energy to warm the planet, but light just bounces off the earth and radiates into space. This cools the planet. If that were the end, the earth would be a freezing wasteland. But there are certain gasses (greenhouse gasses) that trap the light from the sun. The gasses are principally water vapor, methane, and carbon dioxide. Now this is what worries most scientists. Since the industrial revolution, we have been putting a lot more carbon dioxide into the air. Also, the population of the earth is greater than it has ever been, so more people breathe out carbon dioxide. Between these two factors, there is a lot more carbon dioxide in the air than there used to be. As a result, there is a lot more carbon dioxide that can trap a lot more light that would otherwise radiate into space. This causes global warming, right? Well, not exactly. Please keep reading and let me explain why. Studies prove that carbon dioxide amounts produced by human activity, are only 3% of the natural processes on the earth. That is not a significant amount. Also, when humans burn fossil fuels, many other gasses are released besides carbon dioxide. Some of these gasses reflect light instead of absorbing it. This actually cools the planet. So any human produced carbon dioxide is “cancelled out” by the cooling effect of other gasses.

The hole in the ozone layer is thought by some to be linked to global warming. This is not true, as you will hopefully see soon. Ultraviolet light has so much energy that it kills living tissue. Cells that are exposed to it die at a high rate. Ozone is a gas that is made up of three oxygen atoms, forming a filter. It filters ultraviolet light so it does not kill everything on the planet. As you can see, it is a big problem to have a hole where ultraviolet light gets through. So let me tell about the ozone hole.

On October 8, 1993, scientists discovered a “hole” in the ozone layer. It was greatly disturbing, and much research and money was poured into it. The scientists discovered that, under certain conditions, chlorine atoms break down ozone into oxygen. They found these chlorine atoms in the ozone layer above Antarctica. Many sources put chlorine into the atmosphere; one source got a lot of attention: Chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs. CFCs are incredibly useful in these ways: they are used as medical sterilizers, for refrigeration, and used to efficiently put out fires. Plus they are non-toxic! Well, now they are banned. We can still use them, but cannot make them anymore. Eventually the supplies will run out. You might be asking, how do CFCs get into the ozone layer? Well, in August, a weather phenomenon in Antarctica occurs. It is called the Polar Vortex. Winds steadily blow upwards, and temperatures can reach as low as –130 degrees Fahrenheit. Chlorine containing ice particles get blown up into the ozone layer, and the chlorine can then destroy the ozone layer. By November, the Polar Vortex is gone.

So in the end, the ozone hole is a seasonal phenomenon that happens four months out of the year. Also, how many people live in Antarctica? Hardly any do. So the CFC ban will reduce the depth of the ozone whole (it won’t completely eliminate it because it was there before CFCs were used) for four months were hardly any people live. The ban won’t save lives; it will actually result in death. Think about it. Third world countries will not receive food due to lack of efficient refrigeration. Fires will last longer and be larger without the CFCs to put it out quickly. Infections will increase due to inefficient medical sterilizers. Use the cost/benefit analysis, and you will see that a CFC ban is a bad decision.

I do not believe that the ozone hole is related to global warming because of this: there are two layers in the atmosphere: the homosphere and the heterosphere. In the homosphere, there are (from bottom to top) the troposphere, stratosphere, and mesosphere. In the troposphere, the temperature decreases with increasing altitude. But in the stratosphere, the temperature increases with increasing altitude. Once you get into the mesosphere the temperature decreases with increasing altitude again. Why does the temperature increase with increasing altitude though? It is because that is where the ozone layer is located. As you know, ozone molecules filter the heat, causing them to heat up. This increases the temperature of the ozone layer, and therefore the stratosphere. Now, if there was a decrease in ozone, I would think that there would be less ozone to filter ultraviolet light, and therefore less heat being transferred to the ozone layer. So, as you can see, a decrease in ozone would result in a cooling effect rather than heating. It is absurd to believe that the ozone hole has to do with global warming.

If you have seen charts illustrating the rise in temperature over the last few years, look at the range of temperature change, and don’t be fooled by the drastic change. Some graphs show lines that look like huge changes, but the temperature change is so small it is written in decimal numbers. I would recommend the book How To Lie with Statistics by Darrel Huff.

I hope that whoever reads this will learn something about the earth, and realize that global warming is not a problem.

Sorry that I wrote so much, but you wanted an explanation for my answer. :)

Answer 2

You're asking the wrong question. Global warming and global cooling, as well as global just right are all facts. The question is: Do humans cause global warming? The answer to that is NO. No proof so far has been found to show a connection. There's a lot of propaganda and a lot of money behind the hoax. Don't fall for it. Think for yourself. Read on the subject and you'll see through the lies.

Answer 3

Although most people consider it fact, most meteorologists do not. There have been warm periods before the industrial age. Even as recently as the 1930s. There has been warmer times and colder times in the middle ages. The weather is just to variable to call global warming a proven fact. Did you know that solar storms can change the heat output of the sun? This could have a much larger warming effect than anything humans can do. In recent years solar storms have increased the suns heat output. And it will likely decline again. No one can know for sure.

Answer 4

Fact, but not to the extent that many environmentalists indicate. The Earth has a cyclical heating/cooling pattern, and we are now in a warming pattern that is only exacerbated by Global Warming phenomenom. All one needs to do is look at the various ice ages over the past 100,000 years to know that there is a cycle at work here. Even more recent is the so-called "Little Ice Age" which lasted from about 1350-1900.

Answer 5

Every 5-10 years it freezes in the winter in Central California. The pipes in my barns freeze and split like handgrenades hit them. This year we have pipes bursting more than we have had in the last 30 years. It always seems to occur when the night sky is clear and cloudless. So, no global warming here!!

Answer 6

It is both, I believe that global warming is happening, but it is not as bad as they say it is. All of this bad weather/unusually weather is due to a natural earth cycle, which is masking the real effects of global warming.

Answer 7

There is some evidence that there is a warming trend. There is also evidence of increase greenhouse gasses. However, scientist still have disagreement about the interrelationship between these two factors. I think we need to address the issue as it is a possibility. Unfortunately, poor science in the media and educational institutions have drawn premature conclusions.

Answer 8

New Report Has 'Smoking Gun' on Climate:

"Human-caused global warming is here, visible in the air, water and melting ice, and is destined to get much worse in the future, an authoritative global scientific report will warn next week."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070123/ap_on_sc/warming_climate_report_6

Answer 9

I believe it is warming. But is it caused by humans? If yes then please explain the article NASA released last year (Scientists Confirm Historic Massive Flood in Climate Change) about flooding caused by huge climate changes 8,200 years ago.

"The flood we looked at was even larger than anything that could happen today," said LeGrande. "Still, it's important for us to study because the real thing occurred during a period when conditions were not that much different from the present day."

Answer 10

many prominent scientists believe that what we've heard as "global warming" is really the cyclical warming and cooling of the Earth. So, I say, global warming as we've been told it is, is fiction.