Global Warming?

Question

We watched Al Gore's movie in my drama class. I'm curious, what do you think of global warming?

Answer 1

Despite 23 years of studying climate I've not actually watched An Inconvenient Truth so it's not something I can comment on. It was supposed to have been sent to me on DVD but it's not arrived, I'll watch it one day.

Putting aside natural global warming which no one is questioning and concentrating just on manmade (anthropogenic) global warming...

There is very real evidence to show that humans are having an effect on the climate. Sometimes this evidence and the effects of global warming are exaggerated (something the media are very good at doing), sometimes the evidence can be correctly disputed and some of the evidence that was previously used to indicate global warming has been shown to be flawed. However, the continually increasing amount of evidence and ever increasing sophistication of obtaining and analysing the evidence has brought us to a point where it would be very naive and irresponsible to deny global warming.

Understandably there are people who deny global warming, by and large their 'evidence' is fatally flawed and is usually something that has been picked up from a third party and very rarely includes any explanations or citations. Interestingly, there is much better evidence available to dispute global warming than that which is commonly put forward.

To address your point - what do I think of global warming. Yes it's real, humans have contributed towards it in the last 200 years, it's also partly due to natural variations and it's something that we need to seriously address now. It's unlikely that we've reached a point where we can't undo things but we're getting closer all the time (it's called the tipping point). If we don't act before reaching that point then the damage caused will be irrepairable.

Even if it's done only as a precautionary measure then we need to make changes now. Such changes don't need to impact on our lifestyles, it's not necessary to live in a tent and walk everywhere. Some common sense measures, long term strategies, offsetting programmes and realistic alternatives mean we can continue more or less as we are now whilst combating global warming.

Answer 2

Climate change is as old as the earth itself. The earth has cooled before and warmed many time. If not, why did previous ice ages retreat?

The problem with Al Gore's film is that some folks walk away with the impression that humans are the primary cause of climate change and that we can control the climate. Our CO2 emissions are a minuscule factor compared to natural causes. Even the UN IPCC acknowledges that the earth would be warming even if there were no humans.

Al Gore's film is alarmist and incredibly exaggerated. Doesn't Gore predict a 20 ft sea level rise in a century? The IPCC predicts about 2 ft maximum.

Answer 3

What I think:

1) The Earth is heating up, not at a very fast rate, but inexorably.

2) The heating will continue no matter what we do (this is based on the fact that global warming has happened several times before and the maximum temperature reached was always hotter than today's temperatures).

3) Given 1&2 above, the Earth and the human race would be best served if we used what ever resources are avaialable to us to get ready for the inevitalbe changes that global warming will bring with it.

Answer 4

I think Al Gore is partly right. I believe we are having a climate change. But I don't think the whole thing should be blamed on carbon dioxide emissions. I think a large part of it is due to so much commercial development in the world which requires that acres and acres of trees be cut down. Trees and plants put out a lot of oxygen. So it makes sense that when they are eliminated, there is less oxygen and more carbon dioxide. I wonder if he's thought of that.

Answer 5

Gore's movie is basically right, but a little over dramatic.

The big difference between his seal level rise estimate and the IPCC estimate is that he figures in the melting of the ice caps and they don't because it's not absolutely proven. The IPCC document is very conservative. Many scientists think sea level rises will be higher.

Still, the IPCC document is considered the most authoritative analysis.

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

Gore's movie is just an introduction for the general public. As such it's a little flashy.

Answer 6

Having read and researched many articles on this subject I'm inclined to believe it. The ocean levels are rising due to polar ice melting. Where there used to be ice there is now bare earth or vegetation. Many many lakes and bodies of water in the USA, let alone around the world, are drying up. The shorelines are hundreds of feet away from where they used to be. I've seen pictures of dream homes built on the lakeside or water's edge only to view an "after" picture where the water line is now 100's of feet away from the home. Makes the place look so bad. Look @ the wicked wild weather around the USA. It's gotten so violent and meteorologists blame it on unique weather changes. Many blame it on global warming.

Answer 7

The Al Gore movie is 90% right.

Here are some inaccuracies:

- greenhouse gases are not all "pollution" also they do have a bad impact on the mankind. CO2 does not harm our biological health
- the predicted rise of sea level will not be as high as predicted by Al Gore. His estimate is well above the IPCC one.

Answer 8

I hope you critiqued the production. It's not even a very good propaganda film, and about all it really documents is Mr. Gore's lust for power. The distorted presentations of data are nothing less than unconsciable.
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