How much slower would global warming be if there were no humans on the planet?

Question

Since the last ice retreat was a mere 5 to 25 thousand years ago which is a blip in Earth time how much difference would all of the human activity in speeding up warming and does it matter anyway? Where is it all heading? Would there be no irreversible global warming without us?

Answer 1

Thats the 64 trillion dollar question.

nobody knows.

Answer 2

You are right. The environmental trends that caused the ice age or that cause global warming can effect change without help from humans.

There are factors that humans can crontrol and factors that humans cannot control. Global warming is a complex issue.

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 **** 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 3

You mention that retreat of the last ice age thousands of years ago. That's pretty solid evidence of global warming which was NOT human caused.

Likewise the warming that's occurring now started hundreds of years ago. Furthermore there's evidence that increases of greenhouses gasses such as methane and carbon dioxide may be an effect of warming rather than a cause. The historical charts that Al Gore uses show that CO2 increases after temperature increases, not before. If so Gore and the global warming evangelists have it backwards.

Answer 4

The speed of the warming would be 10 times slower. Animals are unable to adapt to this elevated speed of warming. We are warming the planet in 100 rears that would normally take 10,000 years.The problem with humanity is we want everything and we want it all now regardless of the consequences. Humanity is life in the fast lane like a run away train.

Answer 5

The truth of the matter is we don't know. I suspect it wouldn't be measurably different, but perhaps a degree or two. I'm sure any global warming isn't irreversible . It will cool again, probably all too soon.

Answer 6

There have been periods of warming and cooling since the world stabilized, some very dramatic and mostly long before any humans were even extant.
See also: http://www.tcsdaily.com/article.aspx?id=010405M

BTW, there was this flea that crawled up the leg of an elephant.......

Answer 7

the difference would be noticable to say the least



MANS EFFECTS ON THE ENVIRONMENT

(this is limited to effects of people in the country,industrial effects on the environment and the internal combustion engine as well as the over all effects of cities ,is another story)

DEFORESTATION

expanding populations and expanding farming ,that has to keep pace with the expanding populations are very strong forces that encroach upon the rainforest's
clearing them for farming and settlement areas .

Rainforest's always are in third world countries and always in third world countries corruption and the need for money s highest

the jungle gets smaller by the day
more and more farmers move in .and burn the trees
it is an impossible situation
as long as there is poverty in these regions the destruction will continue

ON THE GROUND
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 ,
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,and flash floods because of deforestation

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.

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 Source(s) i am a Permaculture Consultant for the department of Ecology for the regional government in Guerrero Mexico