Is global warming really happening?

Question

Channel 4 ran a documentary 8 March debunking global warning. Emminent scientists appeared to prove that carbon emmissions being emitted are so insignificant as to be inconsequential. Is the debate being sexed-up for other than altruistic reasons?

Earth's 4.5 billion year history is one long history of climate change. This fact is pretty much accepted by those who think global warming is a natural process, and those who think it's caused by man. In more recent history there has been: a mini ice age in the seventeenth century when the Thames froze so solidly that fairs could regularly be held on the ice; a Medieval Warm Period, even balmier than today; and sunnier still was the so-called Holocene Maximum, which was the warmest period in the last 10,000 years. Those who think global warming is a natural process point to the fact that in the last 10,000 years, the warmest periods have happened well before humans started to produce large amounts of carbon dioxide. A detailed look at recent climate change reveals that the temperature rose prior to 1940 but unexpectedly dropped in the post-war economic boom, when carbon dioxide emissions rose dramatically.
There is some evidence to suggest that the rise in carbon dioxide lags behind

Answer 1

Yes it was a really interesting programme last night and it put things into a more sensible prospective.
According to these top scientists global warming and cooling is a natural cycle for the world in a continual state of change. In recent years up to 1940 the world was warming then after this date the the world started to cool until 1975 and now it has started a period of warming again.
Another scientist without doubt the most pre-eminent scientist of Antarctic study stated that the North and South poles are continually in a state of expanding and contracting throughout the history of the planet.
A number of scientists had their names entered on a UN report on global warming as endorsing it's findings. However they didn't agree with the report but the UN refused to remove their names from the document . Also evidence that reported to the contrary on global warming was deleted from the report.
The whole thing is a disgrace with scientists who don't agree are being treated as pariahs with one even receiving death threats.
Also this hysteria is stopping black Africa from developing as these countries are now being told not to use their natural resources so keeping their citizens in the stone age. You can't run a factory on solar power or wind power it just doesn't work efficiently enough to be viable.

Answer 2

Global warming in a since is happening but not for the reasons stated by the federal government and the scientists.

Global warming as well as many other weather occurrences are done through the use of H.A.A.R.P. (High-frequency Active Aural Research Program) If you do a little research on it you will be very surprised at what you learn. Read more though than just their official web site...and if you can get a copy of "Angels Don't Play this H.A.A.R.P." it was written by a man who actually worked on the project.

Answer 3

The planet is getting warmer. The question is wether or not human culture is causing such a change in the environment that we will never (or have a hard time) recovering from it. It is possible that the warming earth is part of a natural cycle that has taken place before and will happen again. It can be assumed that our pollution of the planet is a negative factor and therefor all we can do to clean up the planet is all to the good. The debate is how much should we pay to change the trend.

Answer 4

you are making a common mistake, confusing global warming, which at some scale is certainly happening, and the cause of global warming which in my "opinion" is still a subject of debate.

So yes, the average temp. of the earth is increasing over the last 100 years or so. This cannot be denied, hard numbers from multiple sources confirm it.

The real controversy lies in the cause. As you well know many believe man and his pollution is the sole cause, or at least the driving force behind it, and there is some compelling evidence which shows as our carbon emissions etc.. increased so has global warming, and the change appears to have started more or less around the early stages of the industrial revolution etc.. all interesting and all pertinent.. but proof ? hardly.
Do not misunderstand me, I am all for curbing emissions etc.. to reduce the harmful impact we humans have on this planet, our home, and it should be done in case we our contributing to it in a major way.. and even if we are not.. because it hurts our health and the health of the planet. Nuff said
The earths climate has changed many many times in the past and presumably over relatively short periods of time, and mostly well before man ever arrived on the scene. These have been documented but the causes are not particularly well understood. Causes include everything from increased co2 in the atmosphere as a result of volcanic activity, variations in the earths orbit etc. etc.. the bottom line is there are any number of perfectly natural causes that have occurred many many times in the past.
I think alot of environmentalists and people who are rightfully worried about this want to use the human cause as a reason for curbing polution and it is sort of hard to argue that we shouldn't begin looking for alternative sources of energy and cleaner ways to live... but to answer your question... yes.. I think the debate is a bit sexed up for reasons other than pure scientific.

Answer 5

The short, global climate change (global warming) is real. I want to explain below the difference between "natural processes" and "human influence" to give you a better picture of why global warming is so important. Here's my long version below:

Over the geologic timescale, the Earth has gone through natural variations in the amount of carbon dioxide. The long-term inorganic carbon-silicate weathering cycle accounts for these discrepancies. First, carbon dioxide is dissolved in rainwater which reacts to form carbonic acid. From there, the rainwater falls on land or ocean. On land, carbonic acid reacts with rocks and combines to form a bicarbonate ion through the process of weathering. These weathered carbonate materials are then carried to the ocean and form minerals on the ocean floor. The rocks that form the ocean floor are gradually carried toward the continental boundaries by plate tectonics, where the carbonate rock is subducted under the continental crust. The rock is then heated as it descends into the mantle, releasing the carbon dioxide and allowing it to escape and return to the atmosphere through volcanic eruptions. This ongoing cycle regulates the carbon dioxide content of the Earth’s atmosphere and acts as a thermostat to keep the Earth’s climate fairly stable. The cycle also ensures that most of the Earth’s carbon dioxide resides in carbonate minerals on the ocean floor rather than in the atmosphere as carbon dioxide gas.

This natural process on Earth has been a large factor to keep the planet’s climate conducive to life. The carbon-silicate weathering cycle is a “negative feedback” process. Although the word “negative” has an ominous connotation, it actually describes a feedback loop which allows the temperature of Earth to remain fairly constant over time. For example, there was a period known as “Snowball Earth” where the Earth was completely frozen. When the Earth was frozen, weathering of rocks ceased to exist because it was too cold for precipitation, the beginning of the weathering process. Because there was no weathering, carbon dioxide was not taken out of the air and placed into rocks. This led to a build-up of carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere. The increased carbon dioxide triggered a stronger greenhouse effect that caused the Earth to warm bringing it out of the Snowball Earth period.

The last paragraph described Earth’s feedback mechanism to manage natural sources of carbon dioxide over geologic time. However, carbon dioxide input in the past century has increased rapidly due to anthropogenic sources. Global Warming or Global Climate Change postulates that a net increase in greenhouse gases will lead to increased warming of the planet. This theory is based on observations from ice core records and forecasted trends from global climate models. Global mean surface temperatures have increased 0.5-1.0°F since the late 19th century from the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. Also, the 20th century's 10 warmest years all occurred in the last 15 years of the century. Of these, 1998 was the warmest year on record. Records at Mauna Loa, Hawaii have kept these records since 1960, prior to that year; ice core data has shown the same increase in carbon dioxide.

How can we know how much global warming will impact the Earth? Well, the computer models are getting better but there is still a lot of uncertainty. However, models that I have worked with have shown the temperature increase becoming much more significant over the next 10-30 years.

Answer 6

anyone who has not enough time to read the many books written by eminent geologists and scientists who have pretty much proven global warming is a real and imminent threat caused by humans should watch the movie
"An Inconvenient Truth"

The scientific data on the side to prove that Global warming is true!! and its caused by humans!

go watch that movie all ye unbelievers, get ur facts correct before posting

to say "there is no global warming, especially not due to human influence " is akin to calling "the world is flat"...but then again thats what the conservatives did, in the middle ages.LOL

Edit:
to wozza59

its hard to argue with a person who obviously does not give 2 hoots about what the vast majority of the world scientists are saying. and ur comment about Algore using 6 times the national average in energy is irrelevant. the fact that he tells whats going on in the real world need not imply that he should abide by it. also, if u were to get into the moral side of things, why dont u take into account the fact that he spent millions on rain forest conservation in south america? why are u telling nly part of the story? who is the hypocrit here?

and the "graphs and statistics" that u so easily discard as of being no importance is the cornerstone of mathematics and science. surely you cannot expect maths to lie.

but if u still wanna believe that the global warming aint ha penning/not caused by humans, surely ur free to do so. after all, there are some people who exist on this world who still believe that its flat. lol

Answer 7

Do you understand what’s going on with this Global warming row?
I think I do.

We know from the events of September 11th 2001 that New Labour spin doctors use big stories as a smoke-screen for their more stupid announcements. Party Officials have admitted that whenever they had to announce some disappointing results they would let it be known that they were thinking of banning fox hunting. The newspapers would then be full of Foxy-Woxy and no one would notice that, say, everyone was leaving school with a stomach the size of France and a firmly held belief that apes built Watling Street.
New Labourites are like close up magicians. They wave one hand about to make you look at that, while they use the other to push the ace of spades up their sleeve. This Global warming story is plainly a front. It gets us all whipped up so we don’t notice that the jails are full of motorists who have been caught doing 31 mph, while a bunch of paedophiles are sent home from court so they can carry on looking at pictures of little Russian girls on the internet!
It makes me soooooooooo angry! who are we to think that the world could be affected by us!

Answer 8

After reading the many answers, pro & con, I have only this to add: If global warming is not real then why worry about it. If it is real-no matter the cause- shouldn't we try to do something to clean it up?
We humans have made a royal mess of our home and even without gobal warming, possibly being a factor, we should clean it up. Would you want to be part of the cause for future generations.
Oh yes! I happen to believe in gobal warming.

Answer 9

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Answer 10

Yes - it’s really happening.

I have worked as a scientist at the cutting edge of research, and I can tell you that some scientists are quite happy to twist their results to fit their own preconceptions by very clever use of statistics, usually for political or financial reasons. Luckily for us, these people are in the minority. In my experience, where there is a dispute, the generally accepted majority view usually turns out to be correct these days (the history of science is littered with exceptions to that - but its more true these days than ever). So the documentary certainly hasn't changed my mind.

See my answer to a previous question if you are interested in my views on global warming and what we should do about it. http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AuseOIEEmYyMlBTPY.sxLnsgBgx.?qid=20070307021254AAh56HB&show=7#profile-info-AA10889612