What are the causes of Global Warming?

Question

What will happen if we don't do anything about it?

Answer 1

global warming is because of the green house effect of some green house gases say carbon dioxide methane carbon mono oxide and many more.
effects of global warming are
-rise in temperature
-melting of polar ice caps
-disordered season change

Answer 2

The cause of climate change is not 100% known, and the effect of greenhouse gases are now being called into question as the science shows temperatures rising before the CO2 levels rising, which means that high CO2 is a result not cause of global warming.

There is some research being down that are looking into the effects of cosmic rays from the sun on the earth's temperature and this looks promising. Will it give us the ultimate answer? No, but seeming we can't say for a fact what killed the dinosaurs, or cure the common cold, then we probably will also be in doubt over all the causes of the Earth's climate changes.

Answer 3

The maincauses of global warming appear to be greenhouse gasses (man made) and sun spot activity(natural). Im not on the indepth knowlegde of the greenhouse gas effect, nobodys explained it to me in great enough detail for me to be confident in it. The theory of reflection of the rays is very simplistic, ie the gasses reflect the suns rays and they become trapped leading to warming. These gasses are not limited to CO2, these play a smaller role than many other emmisions, some have also said that CO2 is a result of global warming, not the other way round (due to oceanic emissions).

There is a better correlation between cosmic radiation and global temperatures than any other factor. Wether that is caused by a thickening of the troposphere or the suns magnetic rays being either possibility. Cosmic rays have many effects such as cloud formation which in turn has an effect on solar rays reaching us plus many other factors in our environment.

Dire or extreme predictions of Global warming should be taken with a pinch of salt, because they are the ones that hit the headlines. Odds are, that very little will happen in the next 100 years to threaten civilisation as we know. Water level raise of around 1ft-2ft is pheasable and a temperature raise of around 3degrees (Surface Temperature) in the next 100years with a 2 fold increase of emissions every 10 years*. The exact effect of these is speculation and models predict everything from the very mundane to the extreme. Its likely if temperatures increase then floods and droughts will be more common. Predictions of ice ages and the earth becoming a fireball are on the fringes and don't really reflect scientific consensus.

To be honest I find the population explosion and dwindling resources to be problems that will hit us sooner. Being a scientist I am kind of on the fence on this issue, though I do lean toward the man made side of the argument just because I think we do too much meddling and polluting that isn't neccessary.

Answer 4

there r many gases in the air. the greenhouse gases affect earth. if we don't do anything about it the world would be a diaster full of pollution. human beings harm the ozone layer everyday n it cause global warming.

Answer 5

Politicians and celebrities rabbiting on about topics they know nothing about (for example global warming), is a major source of hot air.

Answer 6

No one knows the causes for sure. If you listen to Al Gore it's us but then again, the companies he owns are in the business of preventing what he's claiming is happening. There has also been a constant increase of the output of the sun for the last three decades. I'm not sure what the net result will be. You hear anything from things getting warmer to us going into another ice age. Quite frankly, I think both results are exaggerations.

Answer 7

Since you capitalized the G and the W, I assume you are talking about the political game being played, and not the weather phenomena. That's caused by the Liberal desire to control everyone and everything, and Al Gore's desire to build his own personal fortune. If we do nothing, things will proceed pretty much the same as if we give maximum effort. Humans simply aren't powerful enough to do everything that is claimed, so obviously, there's nothing we can do to halt the natural solar process. The SUN is heating up on one of its regular cycles. The only thing we could really do about it is to send up a bunch of mylar mirrors to reflect some solar energy away from the earth. But nobody is going to do that. It's too simple, too cheap, and too easily reversible in case we're wrong about it all.

Answer 8

The true cause of global warming is unknown.

However there are several theories including:
Sunspot activity changing how much energy is delivered to the earth (more energy = more heat). Which could also explain why the martian icecaps are melting.

Carbon polution effecting the way the earth, the atmosphere, and space interact in a way which traps additional heat in the atmosphere.

Answer 9

everybody is so preocupied that co2 ,or polution is the only reason of climate change
many people forget about desertification
desserts are like a fire they gobble up the edges with the heat and so grow.

forrests regulate the climate ,they absorb heat during the day and release it at night ,that is why desserts are freezing at night and cooking during the day

Forrests produce water ,and regulate the atmosphere we breathe (they absorb carbon )as well as protecting the earth from the sun

if forrest are being exchanged for ashalt,concrete and desserts
what is gonna keep this planet habitable for us

Global warming is a very complex collection of many effects

this text 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 and the ozone part of global warming,is another story,

climate change is caused partly by desertification ,and most desertification is caused by man
the thinner ozone layer helps to speed this up.and this is caused mainly by air polution ,also as a result of mans actions

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 some have died as a result

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 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,

each degree rise in temperature means 10%crop loss

and there is less and less water (because of deforestation),to irrigate this production ,
and there are less and less farmers to do it..
and there are 70 million more peole every year that have to eat and drink and wash

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 many languages and won the best book award in 2003


http://www.eco-gaia.net/forum-pt/index.php/topic,203.0.html

http://www.greenpeace.org/international/news/ippc-climate-warning-020207

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6321351.stm
i am a Permaculture Consultant in Guerrero Mexico

Answer 10

The scientific data clearly shows it's mostly man. The sun is also a small (10%) contributor.

Here's a short version of the data.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Climate_Change_Attribution.png

And here's the best summary available.

http://www.ipcc.ch/SPM2feb07.pdf

Don't depend on "logical" or political arguments. This is science. Look at the data. It's why the vast majority of scientists think its real.

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/306/5702/1686

Left unchecked, coastal flooring and damage to agriculture. Rich countries spending hundreds of billions, maybe a worldwide economic depression. In poor countries a lot of pople (not all) dying of starvation.