Is there any proof for global warming?

Answer 1

Yep plenty:-
+ Bears coming out of hibernation months early;
+ Migratory birds not flying south for the winter
+ Insects such as butterflies emerging earlier
+ Melting glaciers (by melting that means retreating - in other words more glacier is melting than is being formed)
+ Melting Arctic and Antarctic ice caps, both of which are shrinking
+ Melting perma-frost (the depth you have to go down before you reach perma-frost is increasing as the upper layers of soil stay unfrozen for longer)
+ Rising sea levels (at least one low-lying island in the Bay of Bengal has already been submerged)
+ Average recorded temperatures have been rising since proper scientific records began over 200 years ago and are now rising at a faster rate than ever before recorded.

Very few dispute that Global Warming is actually happening. What is in dispute is what is causing Global Warming. The Earth is known to undergo periodic fluctuations in temperature (60+ million years ago Antarctica was completely ice-free; there have been numerous ice-ages etc etc). The degree that this present warming phase is natural or man-made is the matter in question but either way it has potentially harmful consequences for mankind which means it makes sense to do all we can to reduce the man-made element of Global Warming, whatever that may be.

Consequences are likely to include:-
+ disease warmer temperatures will permit tropical diseases to spread further into regions which are presently temperate zones, eg malaria mosquitoes
+ famine and crop failures as areas receive reduced rainfall
+ extreme weather such as flash floods, hurricanes
+ some predict that the increased glacial meltwater in the North Atlantic will disrupt the Atlantic Conveyor which brings warm water north from the Gulf of Mexico. This in turn could cause massive cooling in the northern hemisphere leading to another ice age (see the film "The Day After Tomorrow" which was based around the scientic evidence for such an event)

Answer 2

That depends what you mean by proof. Does the temperature of the climate fluctuate? It certainly does. The Earth has experiences several warming and cooling events in the past. For example, 55 million years ago, the planet was much warmer than it is now (about 27 degrees C on average, as opposed to today's 15 degrees C average). Since then the climate has been cooling to the last coldest recording at 11 million years ago, where the average temperature was close to 10 degrees C. It has been warming ever since. Between the two periods I mentioned (55 mya and 11 mya) the temperature went up and down several times, those that I mentioned are only the extreme points.

In short, yes, global warming may indeed be happening. The cause is still theoretical, but it is unlikely that humans have a large part. The sun remains the largest influence on global temperatures. Watch out for films such as "An Inconvenient Truth" because data is carefully presented (not manipulated, only displayed) in a way to make a political point. This is also true of warming deniers. The truth, as in most things, is likely in the middle.

I you would like a really in depth look at Earth's climate in the past, may I suggest you find the book:

Earth's Climate: Past and Future by William F. Ruddiman, 2001. I must warn you that this is a textbook and is likely to be expensive. See if you can find it in the library of a local university.

BTW, glacial melting does not mean anything. Glaciers have always melted. Other glaciers (Antarctica, Iceland) are growing. In fact, the south pole is currently recording some of its coldest temperature ever. There is still a lot we don't know about the Earth's climte.

Answer 3

Half a billion years ago, the earth was largely subtropical. It has cooled off a lot since then. I am not hugely worried. The geological timescales involved in the complex cycles of warming/cooling throughout the earth's history have shown a large flexibility in such matters, almost as much as the flexibility in the scientific belief over the past century about whether we are in a global cooling period or a global warming period.

Man doesn't require geological time scales to change this planet. We leverage our productivity with technology. That is new to this world. We cannot assume that things going forward will be as they have been in the past. We are not evolving genetically. We are evolving memetically. The mechanisms of the world have demonstrated that they can adjust at the speed of the geological and biological changes. The world has never been tested against the speed of memetic changes.

Greenhouse gasses are a scientific fact. We are creating them in large quantities. Their effect can be reproduced in labs by scientists anywhere in the world. In sufficient quantities, they could raise the planets temperature by hundreds of degrees. We know this because Venus is hundreds of degrees hotter than it it should be based on its proximity to the sun. The only question, is whether or not the Earth has a mechanism for removing the gasses as fast or faster than we create them. If it does, then we have nothing to worry about. If it does not, then the only thing that can save us is if we solve the problem ourselves.

Laugh all you want, but we don't know if the Earth has the necessary mechanism. We don't even have an idea of the odds. Anyone who tells you we do is full of sh*t.

Lifeforms come and go but the world lasts nearly forever.

Answer 4

Lots of it. There's no question but what the average planetary temperature has risen by a bit over a degree during the last century. But the average temperature(s) for many of the other planets has also done the same thing.

There's plenty of geological evidence to show that, in times past, the Earth has been a lot hotter (and a lot cooler) than it is today, so it's fair to say that global temperature changes in a cyclic manner. And it has done so since *long* before homo erectus ever appeared on the Planet.

The current 'Global Warming' panic centers around how -much- of this warming is caused by our pollution of the environment. Al ('I invented the Internet') Gore would like us to all believe that it's caused completely by man-made pollution. (And we really *should* be ashamed of ourselves at what we've done to the environment.) But his pseudoscience doesn't explain why the temperatures of the other planets are also rising. And besides, he has a vested interest in seeing the Kyoto Accords passed into Law because, if they are, it will provide a huge growth spurt to manufacturing in 3'rd World countries (who would not be bound by them). And he's heavily invested in a financial organization that specializes in making loans to 3'rd World manufacturing start-up operations.

Anytime you want to know what's *really* going on, follow the bucks ☺

HTH

Doug

Answer 5

Just a bunch of melted glaciers (that hadn't melted for hundreds of years). Plus record average high temperatures in places famous for being colder than dammit.

It's feasible that it is just part of the earths normal cycle of cooling and heating.

But it is definitely important either way for humans to be good stewards of this planet.

Polluting the atmosphere is bad, regardless of the facts regarding global warming.

Answer 6

How about the glaciers melting? They did scientific expedition to the North Pole and found that almost thirty percent of the glaciers had melted in the past forty years. Ocean levels rising and the global temp index has risen three degrees in the past twenty five years. I'm sure there is more but I don't know

Answer 7

Not really, although there has been a warming trend, numbers are nothing unbelievable and on track with past trends. The environment, much like the economy is cyclical. I am not saying that we aren't damaging the environment. But I am not sure the results are anything like people claim they are.

Answer 8

Yes. Scientists across the Glob have been maintaining data on maximum temperatures recorded every year/every month/every week. This compilation of data is clearly showing that maximum temperature is increasing continuosly every year giving a cause of concern.

Answer 9

Well, the government is giving money to farmers since their crops aren't growing the way they should.... Glaciers are melting... Record temperatures are being made... Yes, there's a lot of proof.

Answer 10

ohh ya plenty
like the melting of glaciers at the pole. Growth of vegetation in the tundra.....