Do you believe global warming is real?

Question

Why or why not? And if yes, are humans the primary contributer to it?

Answer 1

Obviously it´s real ! that´s why experts make studies and it will happen if people does not take actions and to the second question obviously humans are the # 1 contributor to this situation if humans are not contributors who is then ? animals, nature ?

Answer 2

Yes, the earth is warming, and has been for thousands of years, since the last ice age. Oh sure, there are ups and downs. For instance, in 1100 through 1300 or so, it was warmer than it is now. Never mind that the Vikings weren't driving around SUVs in Greenland.

Then we had several hundred years called the Little Ice Age where things got cold again. Then it started warming up again and has been through today.

Other planets in our solar system are warming up too? The ice on one of Mar's poles is melting away. Are the Martian's driving around in millions of SUVs?

It's possible humans are playing a role in the warming. Perhaps it's warming a little faster than it would be if we weren't dumping millions of tons of CO2 and pollutants into the atmosphere.

But I'm completely unconvinced that man is responsible for the current warming trend, and that the consequences will be dire.

The people pushing this are not the scientists, but the politicians and hysterical media, because it fits nicely in with their agendas and world views.

This is all no different than Paul Erlich's Population Bomb book. He predicted that in the 1980s, the world couldn't sustain the population, and there would be mass starvation and ecological disasters. Nice theory, but not based in reality. Same with man made global warming.

Answer 3

What is real, is the Earth needs a good owner.

Whether it is Global Warming, the ozone layer, disappearance of rainforests, extinction of species, acid rain, burning rivers, air pollution... there will always be a wake-up call to alert us to the dangers of human activity.

The important question is, have we learned to change the way we do things?

Considering the fact that most of the water we drink is now coming out of disposable plastic bottles, I don't think so.

OK, so the spectre of flooding coastal cities still isn't enough to do the job. Maybe we need to craft a theory that human activity is causing all the comets and asteroids in the galaxy to head straight for Earth... maybe that'll do it.

I don't care what the theory is or whether it's real. People need to be motivated by something, or they will continue to make this planet more expensive to live on and less habitable at the same time.

Frankly - we are not likely to change until someone expresses, in dollars and cents, the actual cost of doing nothing.

The question needs to be put to economists. When people feel the pinch, they'll listen (trust me).

So, is Global Warming real?

Tree Huggers say "Yes," and Hummer Huggers say "No."

Hoards of scientists are happy to back up either answer for a reasonable fee.

Do I think it's real?

My opinion is not likely to sway anyone else's.

I hope this time, MOST people think it's real, whether it is or not...or we will continue to degrade the only home we have.

Answer 4

"Yes it's real but the planet would be warming even if there were no pesky humans on it. Global climate was warmer in the year 1000 than it is now and they didn't have SUVs in those days.

If humans are contributing to warming it's a minor contribution compared to natural causes."

actually humans have (at this point) made the problem twice as bad, there is a huge (multiple times the amount of any heat age in the past) increase in co2 which will inevidably cause temperature to rise higher than it has in hundreds of thousands of years.

in other words we control the apocalyse

Answer 5

Yes, but this is a complex issue.

There are several important factors contributing to global warming, but I don't think we really know the PRIMARY cause.

First, we know that the amount of greenhouse gases has been increasing for about 100 years, and we're pretty sure this is due to burning of fossil fuels.

Second, we know that the earth goes through warming and cooling periods over thousands of years, and (historically) we are entering a warming period.

Third, we know that the surface temperature of Mars has also been increasing, and we're pretty sure this is due to increased solar activity.

Fourth, we know that oceanic currents can contribute to overall climate change.

Fifth, we know that as snowpack in the Artic and Antartic melt, there is less light reflected back from the sun, and the earth will warm.

The bad news to all of this is that greenhouse gases is the only issue that humans can control. So, the earth is going to warm, regardless of what we do. However, if we actively work to reduce greenhouses, we can delay and lessen the affects. The question is: Will it be enough?

Answer 6

Sure, it's demonstrably real. Remember "global" warming means a worldwide average. What it may mean, ultimately, is not sure. Bad news for low-lying cities, probably agricultural
readjustments. While the shift is occuring there will be severe weather events. Not so sure is what populations and goverments do in response. Wars over available resources in some areas; famine, war, and displaced people mean plague. . The Pentagon has funded a large study to provide scenarios for dealing with that. A larger concern should be "how fast". One scenario is "The
Great Climatic Flip-flop" or Abrupt Climatic Change (look them up on the internet).
"Are humans the main (or a major) cause of it?" Probably not.
The climate had been slowly moving that direction for a couple hundred years-but the rate of increase is itself speeding up. We might be contributing to that with gases, poisoning the oeanic plankton, and destroying tropical rainforest.

Answer 7

This is science and what counts is the data.

"I wasn’t convinced by a person or any interest group—it was the data that got me. I was utterly convinced of this connection between the burning of fossil fuels and climate change. And I was convinced that if we didn’t do something about this, we would be in deep trouble.”

Vice Admiral Richard H. Truly, USN (Ret.)
Former NASA Administrator, Shuttle Astronaut and the first Commander of the Naval Space Command

Here are two summaries of the mountain of data that convinced Admiral Truly, short and long.

http://www.globalwarmingart.com/wiki/Image:Climate_Change_Attribution.png

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

It's (mostly) not the sun:

http://www.stopglobalwarming.org/sgw_actionitems.asp

And the first graph aboves shows that the sun is responsible for about 10% of it. When someone says it's the sun they're saying that thousands of climatologists are stupid and don't look at the solar data. That's ridiculous.

Science is quite good about exposing bad science or hoaxes:

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/ATG/polywater.html

There's a large number of people who agree that it is real and mostly caused by us, who are not liberals, environmentalists, stupid, or conceivably part of a "conspiracy". Just three examples of many:

"Global warming is real, now, and it must be addressed."

Lee Scott, CEO, Wal-Mart

"Our nation has both an obligation and self-interest in facing head-on the serious environmental, economic and national security threat posed by global warming."

Senator John McCain, Republican, Arizona

“DuPont believes that action is warranted, not further debate."

Charles O. Holliday, Jr., CEO, DuPont

There's a lot less controversy about this is the real world than there is on Yahoo answers:

http://www.worldpublicopinion.org/pipa/articles/home_page/329.php?nid=&id=&pnt=329&lb=hmpg1

And vastly less controversy in the scientific community than you might guess from the few skeptics talked about here:

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

"There's a better scientific consensus on this [climate change] than on any issue I know - except maybe Newton's second law of dynamics. Global warming is almost a no-brainer at this point,You really can't find intelligent, quantitative arguments to make it go away."

Jerry Mahlman, NOAA

Good websites for more info:

http://profend.com/global-warming/

http://www.realclimate.org

"climate science from climate scientists"

By the way, I can't believe anyone is still recommending the "swindle" movie, which has been thoroughly refuted.

It is simply a political statement which distorts science.

"The science might be bunkum, the research discredited. But all that counts for Channel 4 is generating controversy."

http://environment.guardian.co.uk/climatechange/story/0,,2032572,00.html

Gore's movie may be a little over dramatic, but it has the basic science right. This movie does not.

Channel 4 itself undercuts the movie in a funny way. If you go to their website on the movie you find links to real global warming information. They also say "Confused now? Ask the Expert." The link for questions goes to a respected mainstream scientist who supports (mostly) human responsibility for global warming.

No one with any knowledge about global warming believes it.

Answer 8

Yes. Check out what is going on in Perth, Australia, or the melting Killimanjaro peaks, or the huge ice shelves that are breaking off in the antarctic, the mass species die offs, the weird weather, floods, etc. I think global warming is a cycle, BUT I also believe that we humans have sped up the process a LOT. But, then again, we humans dont' know everything.

Answer 9

Global warming is very real .. you only have to look around, for example .. the plight of the polar bear. As far as human contribution goes .. I personally believe that humans are very responsible for world environment issues and will go as to say that humankind is the biggest pest by far to ever inhabit this planet.

Answer 10

Yes it's real but the planet would be warming even if there were no pesky humans on it. Global climate was warmer in the year 1000 than it is now and they didn't have SUVs in those days.

If humans are contributing to warming it's a minor contribution compared to natural causes.

Answer 11

do no longer evaluate some element you study and in basic terms one/2 of what you notice. Of course, worldwide warming is genuine. The final Ice age has long gone away, has it no longer? So, we ought to have international warming. Do human beings make a contribution to international warming? on the completed some small quantity, after all we are heat and we breath in oxygen and breath out CO2, we would desire to be a factor of the main significant project. what's Al Gore going to do approximately it? Kill an entire lot of ladies folk and adult adult males persons? constantly that's what Socialists do while they take control of a rustic. Is that greater than destroying their economic device and inflicting thousands to starve to death?