What evidence is there that Global Warming is caused by man?

Question

When prominant scientists say that man-made global warming is a myth it falls on us to evaluate the evidence.
According to the popular theory which blames man for global warming, we are putting too much CO2 into the atmosphere and this greenhouse gas is trapping more heat, thereby warming our planet.
There are several problems with this explanation. 1. ice-cores, 100'000s of years old, demonstrate that throughout climate history CO2 is liberated as a result of natural global warming. It is NOT the cause of the warming. 2. the increase in CO2 is measured in parts per BILLION. CO2 is not even a very effective greenhouse gas. 3. water vapour is several magnitudes more effective. If we are seeing a greenhouse effect then the stratosphere should be warming much faster than the planet's surface and there should be greater cloud coverage. This is not happening. 4. since there have been several ice-ages and temperate ages it makes more sense to blame sun activity for climate change.

Answer 1

Good for you for thinking for yourself and not following the crowd.
Global Warming/Climate Change is not as big a problem as some would have you to believe.
A recent article in the New York Times has even asked Al Gore to stop all the hype:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/13/science/13gore.html?_r=1&oref=slogin That same article talks about Al Gore's claim that the oceans could rise 20 feet is exaggerated by 18.08 FEET! The latest UN study on the subject says the seas could rise a MAXIMUM of 23 inches. Al was only 18.08 FEET off. That, my freind IS hype...

If you look up any global temperature chart on the net, you'll find the earth's temperature has only increased by about 6/10 of one degree (C) - that's 1.1 degree (F), in the last 125 years. So yes, the globe is warming up, but it's not overheating like some would have you to believe. http://data.giss.nasa.gov:80/gistemp/2005/2005cal_fig1.gif

The latest research shows that the methane from cows and pigs is a major factor in the increase of "heat trapping gas". It's actually 23 times more potent as a heat trapping gas than is carbon dioxide. http://www.greenpeace.org/international/campaigns/climate-change/science/other_gases According to the newest UN report on Global Warming, "Livestock are responsible for 18 per cent of the greenhouse gases that cause global warming, more than cars, planes and all other forms of transport put together." http://news.independent.co.uk:80/environment/article2062484.ece

So if Al Gore and all the alarmists really want to do something about climate change, they MUST become vegetarians and shut down cow and pig farms. I mean seriously, if they truly believe that global warming is as disastrous as they are preaching then they need to stop eating meat, period! I doubt that will happen. If not, then they are the hypocrites that some of us already suspect they are.

Also Al Gore preaches to you to conserve, but he does not practice it himself. He uses 20 times more energy in his Nashville mansion than the national average. http://www.tennesseepolicy.org/main/article.php?article_id=367
One thing he has not learned is that you MUST practice what you preach... at some point you will get caught as he has.

Answer 2

Let me see if I can respond to those claims.

1. "ice-cores, 100'000s of years old, demonstrate that throughout climate history CO2 is liberated as a result of natural global warming. It is NOT the cause of the warming."
Yes, there is "natural" global warming because of unknown factors. I don't know what you mean by "liberated" but you might be refering to the ups and downs of CO2 levels in the past 600,000 years. But in that graph during the last several hundred years CO2 levels have exceeded 300 parts per million. Also, temperatures have roughly gone up and down SIMULTANEOUSLY. Now, please tell me that this is just a mere coincidence which is the point environmentalists are making.

2. "the increase in CO2 is measured in parts per BILLION. CO2 is not even a very effective greenhouse gas."
First, it's MILLION not billion. Second, go back to the second answer.

3. "water vapour is several magnitudes more effective. If we are seeing a greenhouse effect then the stratosphere should be warming much faster than the planet's surface and there should be greater cloud coverage. This is not happening."
I think you mean trophoshpere which is lower than stratosphere. The trophosphere is the one warming and you're right the stratosphere is not warming because the CO2 in the trophosphere is blocking the heat from getting out.

4. "since there have been several ice-ages and temperate ages it makes more sense to blame sun activity for climate change."
Yes, that's true. Look at the answer in #1. There are other factors, perhaps like the distance from the earth to sun. However, environmentalists point out that we are SPEEDING up the warming.

If you really think of it, we and animals are the same in that we eat, sleep, puke, and die. However, what animals CANNOT do is drill oil out of the ground and burn it. Yes, that can explain why there is added CO2.

Global warming is not the only thing to fear. Global SUFFICATION is something we should fear even more because of the added CO2 in the air. It's like putting a bag over your head and all you have left is carbon dioxide.

Answer 3

Let us look at CO2 ,granted we are burning enough that there should be some dead people around but the plants are taking care of the problem. The amount of CO2 is less than .25% and for the amount of things we burn it is nothing.
Then the big methane problem. The environmentalist have issued all kinds of figures ,where did they get these measurements. Methane is a very light gas,and will go very high in our atmosphere ,now tell me how they measured any thing. In fact if there was ever a lake of methane in our upper atmosphere it is not there now. Where did it go??? If these 2 major green house gases are a lie then there is no global warming.

Answer 4

Your statement is absolutely correct. The only evidence cited by global warming alarmists is based on computer models, not actual data.

Also, your first respondent stated that the majority of warming in the 20th century took place in the last 20 years.

If he were to go to www.usgs.gov and scroll to their climate data section he would see that the majority of warming in the 20th century took place before 1940. There was actually a sharp enough cooling between 1940-1970 that the nut-jobs that are screaming about warming now where screaming about ice-ages then.

Estimates differ, but current estimates of anthropogenic CO2 in the atmosphere vary between 2-4 % of total CO2. When Mt. Pinatubo erupted in the 1980s it put more CO2 into the atmosphere in one afternoon than all CO2 put in by man since industrialization began (this points out that CO2 is not the driver, especially since global temps dropped by as much as 2 degrees C for four years after the eruption).

Answer 5

Exactly, blame the sun.....

Reading the popular media can lead a person to conclude that "global warming" is:
o- either a hoax to promote business opportunities, politicians agenda and scientists grant money.....
OR
o- a problem related to overpopulation, industrialization and fossil fuels whose solution options lie in solar power, wind power, geothermal power and nuclear fusion....

However, the correct answer may be altogether different:

NASA has released never-before-seen images that show the sun's magnetic field is much more turbulent and dynamic than previously known. The international spacecraft Hinode, formerly known as Solar B, took the images. Hinode was launched Sept. 23 to study the sun's magnetic field and its explosive energy. National Aeronautics and Space Administration scientists said the spacecraft's uninterrupted high-resolution observations of the sun are expected to have an impact on solar physics comparable to the Hubble Space Telescope's impact on astronomy. "For the first time, we are now able to make out tiny granules of hot gas that rise and fall in the sun's magnetized atmosphere," said Dick Fisher, director of NASA's Heliophyics Division. "These images will open a new era of study on some of the sun's processes that effect Earth, astronauts, orbiting satellites and the solar system." Hinode is a collaborative mission led by
the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and includes the European Space Agency and Britain's Particle Physics Astronomy Research
Council. NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., managed the development of the Hinode's scientific instrumentation provided by industry and federal agencies.

>>> as regards alternative energy methods, I favor development of the technology for nuclear fusion using lunar Helium 3

Answer 6

Because of standards, there is less pollution in the atmosphere than there was 20 years ago. There is an argument whether the warming is man made or natural. I suspect it's somewhere between the two extremes but no one knows how much we contribute. The media has chosen to sell the idea that it's our fault (no Monica Lewinsky stories to cover) and people tend to believe it for some strange reason as if the media is infallible.

Answer 7

There is something called global dimming, which you wanted proof of.

In the end, it doesn't matter if climate change is manmade or not, what I care about is the fact that greener power saves me money, so I want more of it. Cheaper fuels and cheaper power from nature or from efficient appliances. The rest doesn't matter so much as the economics of it all. Big oil does nothing but drain money from the pockets of the little guy who needs it to get around.

Answer 8

The fact is that the temperature increase has been most dramatic over the past 20 years, and is getting worse at an even more rapid rate. This coincides with the increase pollution of the environment and the depletion of natural environment by human beings.

Answer 9

Because Al Gore says so. The computer simulation that he had made proves it... lol.

Answer 10

ecologists and scientists who work for politicians ,get paid by these politicians and they have downplayed the facts because solutions are expensive and means change and change effects many peoples incomes,and upsets profit margins,so most of the world is kept in the dark of the real things that are going on.



go to the countries on the equator ,check what has happened in history
and listen to what is going on in the many disaster areas on this planet today,(and there are more than ever each year )
: i have seen lands that have been turned from jungle into desserts by people in a matter of a couple of years ,because of the slash and burn method used by settlers and expanding agriculture,and i have seen rivers dry up because of deforrestation in many places in Africa and Mexico ,

i live now by the side of a river in Mexico where,in 30 years 5 species of fish have become exstinct .
and part of the year the river is dry this is for longer every year because of over use of water by agriculture and as a result of deforrestation.

there are natural cycles in the planets life
but a lot is influenced by mans existance ,and this is increasing with overpopulation,putting strains on Natural resources and increasing contaminations as well as destructions of essential componants the ensure living conditions for all life forms

in North Africa,India,Mexico ,millions of people are effected by land loss and desertification


in recent times thousands of people have died because of exessive heat,usually old people.in India ,Mexico and France,
deforestation causing desertification,the desert conditions causing very cold nights and scorching hot days

in china, thousands of what used to be farmers are running for their lives from the dust storms that have burried their towns and turned their lands into dessert,the globe where they were got to hot for them .
and instead of producing food they are now needing it from some where else,and they will drastically effect the world food prices when they start buying water in the form of grains ,at any cost destabalising governments, in some countries ,could be the result

,the Sahara is growing by 7 kilometers a year
and all of the desserts we know are a results of mans actions ,and they are increasing ,not getting less ,in the dinosaurs days ,there were no desserts.

collectively this planet is drying up because of bad farming practices like,over grazing and fertilizers,

as far as the food production is concerned, Global warming or some of its effects are serious,rising seas result in landloss

each degree rise in temperature means 10%crop loss

more landloss because of desertification every year,we have less areble land to produce food ,for an extra 70 million people ,

and there is less and less water (because of deforestation),to irrigate this production ,
and there are less and less farmers to do it..
who are overpumping deep carbon aquifiers
who are plowing more and more unstable lands because they have lost so many million hectares to desertification ,
because of bad farming practises ,such as using fertilizers and heavy machinary or over grazing

RISING SEAS
The northpole is melting ,and we will know it without ice in our life times.
this does not affect the sea level because it is ice that is already in the water.but the melting ice from Green land and the south pole ,are another matter.

Global warming is in theory reversable,but it will mean global co operation between all countries ,and taking into account human nature and the world politics ,it is unlikely that this will happen,

At least not untill we are all in the middle of planetary disastres and it becomes a battle for the survival of humanity every where.

SOLUTIONS
if you want to help the planet ,plant a tree every week ,if everyone on the planet did we we would be able to reverse the destructive processes

reduce carbon emisions,and they are already working on that by alternative forms of energy and regulations on carbon producing materials,aerosol cans,burning rubbish,industrial chimneys,powerplants etc.

the capture of carbon and the production of water and assist the aquiferous manta.

the world bank pays large subsidies for reforrestation to capture carbon and the best tree for this is the Pawlonia

Waterharvesting projects ,such as millions of small dams.to redirect over ground waterflows from the rains into the ground to supply subteranian water supplies.

the protection of existing forrests.

stop building more highways,urban planning to include vegetation stop building cities encourage people to return to the land to conduct their business from there which now has become possible thanks to the internet.

education to motivate people to auto sufficiency by building more home food gardens.

education on environmental awareness
education on family planning to curb over´populaion

Agricultural education and improvements to follow the principals or sustainability and soil management.

more environmental or land ,design to prevent bush fires,such as--fire breaks

,more dams.regulations and control for public behaviour

alternative effeciant public transport to discourage the use of the internal conbustion engine

recicling wastes,limit water use



Source(s) Lester E Brown is the director and founder of the global institute of Environment in the United states .he has compiled a report based on all the satalite information available from NASA,and all the information that has
come from Universities and American embassies WORLD WIDE ,
his little book--a planet under stress , Plan B has been trans lated into 50 languages and won the best book award in 2003