Do you think that global warming is just us coming out of an ice age?

Question

From the 1600s to the 1800s there was a small ice age called the Little Ice Age. Do you think that we may just be expriencing warming from coming out of an ice age, be it that one or even a larger one? And if you say it's humans, why? Besides the whole C02 spiele.

Answer 1

The world has been warming since the last major glacial maximum and will continue to warm for some time to come. Don't believe the media in there doom and gloom predictions. If humans are as smart as they say, then we should be able to adapt to the changes. They did it for the last ice age. Also ecologists say that "change brings diversity". The only accurate climate data we have is for the past say 200 years and that is not statistically enough data to predict a major climate change. Humans are contributing to the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere and the greenhouse effect, BUT YOU WILL NEVER STOP CLIMATE CHANGE!
The greatest time for diversity and evolution in the history of the planet was when the Earth was much warmer and there was more CO2 in the atmosphere. Ask the dinosaurs. Sorry there all dead, climate change again. Guess you cant blame us for that one.

Answer 2

No. You're assuming that there is some "normal" temperature range that Earth is returning to, like a stretched spring returning to its normal length. While at first glance this may appear commonsensical, in reality it has no foundation in either the record of how climate has varied or the fundamental physics of the atmosphere. There is no such thing as a "normal" state that Earth gravitates back towards, and there is no reason to think that a cold period will be followed by a return to warmer conditions.

Earth's climate responds to forcings, and in the absence of any forcing the climate will not change. Something has to make it get colder, and something has to make it get warmer again.

Answer 3

The melting glaciers are almost certainly that, a natural end of an ice age.

But the high and still rising level of carbon dioxide in the air is definitely the result of human activity.

Now put 2 and 2 together. Carbon dioxide is a known greenhouse gas that would be expected to cause warming, and glaciers are melting.

But...
not all glaciers are melting, and some are growing, so it is still not definite that we caused it and can stop it.

Answer 4

I don't care much of the global warming, earth WAS warmer (really a lot more than now) and WILL be warmer, we have no possibility to choose.
However the real question is "What can we do to keep our society and world economy stable ?"
Big countries think only of "MONEY" !
With a world climate changement USA will be a desert and we will cultivate Greenland.
Main cities on the coasts will be submerged by water, are you ready for that ? Are you ready to use a boat instead of a taxi in New York ?

Countries are just afraid to loose money, that's why everybody listened to Stern's climate report in November 2006. (he is an economist BTW)

Stern predicted that we will need 3% of world PIL to keep the climate and economy as stable as possible now.
But in 40 years we will need 20% of world PIL to do the same trick.
So the countries are just afraid to loose money.

Answer 5

Natural warming trends of the planet usually take place over the course of thousands, more often millions of years. The release of methane hydrate gasses from the permafrost and the seabed have been thought to cause at least one of the five mass extinctions in history.

As methane is released into the atmoshpere it is converted naturally into CO2. There is a massive bed of permafrost in Siberia releasing methane even today, and several spots in the ocean are now deadzones due to methane release. The burning of fossil fuels adds heavily to this process.

However, as mentioned earlier the natural release of methane/CO2 resulting in a trend of warming takes place over very long time spans. Even the amount of time between ancient Egypt and today is considered too short in the span of geological time. Even 50,000 years is impressively fast to many scientists.

The increase of CO2 over the last century does not correlate with historical data of natural CO2 buildup over millions of years. It is happening much faster today than it has at anytime in history, and the natural methane/CO2 releases that are occuring around the world today do not add up to suggest that the current global trend of warming is an entirely natural process.

Answer 6

I think global warming is more an energy distribution process than any real warming simply because real warming requires a lot of energy. The sun provides a more or less constant supply of energy to the surface of Earth but a lot of warmth is supplied to that surface by energy from the interior of Earth. This is not yet known to science however, so don't tell anyone. The interior of Earth is very hot as you know and don't you think some of this heat leaks out? And if or when heat leaks out of the inside of the planet where does it go?

Answer 7

IT could be but the thing with all this CO2 was not when the dinosaurs were here as the plants have continually taken care of the CO2 . Where do u think our original fossil fuels came from. There not man made and the recycling of the CO2 and the plants keeps the C and gives us back the O2 . IT is hype trying to cripple the US .

Answer 8

i do blieve that global warming is just the secound part of an ice age, which is when the temperature increases. so the next stage is a big ice age which will go on for at least 2millions years. some sciencetist believe that if youwere on the edge of an ice wall at an ice age it will be twice of the twin towers, which i am sad to say are not their more. some either adapt to this or die.

Answer 9

Millions of tons of crap DAILY into the atmosphere is nothing to sneeze at. Pun intended.

We are screwing ourselves over for a buck.
Shooting ourselves in the herd.
Stepping on our own ducks.
Cutting off our nose to spite our finch.
Kicking ourselves in the aardvark.

We're ruining it for everybody and everything, and people who can't accept it are three fries short of a Happy Meal.
Have a nice day.

Answer 10

not a chance. If we were in an Ice Age the upper Midwest and Northeast would be covered in glaciers