Global warming is happening, but is it really something we can prevent?

Question

Why don't either side of the argument consider cosmic forces as the reason why the earth is heating up? For instance the earth's orbit is elliptical and could be expanding or contracting causing periods of extended warmth and/or extended cold (ie Ice Age). If this is the case, we might not be able to prevent it and so cutting back co2 emissions might not be the answer and we might just have to deal with and adapt to a warmer planet.

Answer 1

As a biologist, I believe that there is no preventing global warming. The earth goes through natural cycles of about 100,000 years where there is a spike in the warming period. It just happens that now, when humans populate the earth, is when the current uptrend in climate coincides. You can't prevent global warming just like you can't prevent the tides from changing. However, I also believe that even though it's a natural cycle, we as humans really do add to the effect, though it may be small.

There is no harm in cutting CO2 emmissions or recycling or using solar power etc. Just because global warming isn't a human caused trend doesn't mean we don't have to treat the earth a little better.

Just a thought. :D

Answer 2

This is the major issue that needs to be accounted for. If you look at the long range weather patterns of Earth as analyzed from the ocean floor and arctic ice caps, it can be seen that the planet has been heating up and cooling cyclicly for billions of years. However, these changes occur over millions of years in time. We only have specific, accurate weather data for the past hundred or so years, which is VERY little time in comparison to the complete data set.

The best example I can give is, imagine a noisy sinuisodal wave, with a period of 10 seconds. Now imagine that you are given a random section of that wave, but only of a range of 250 nanoseconds. That is the proportional amount of time that we are looking at with weather data - 100 years in 4 billion years of data. You can see why it is so difficult to say, either way, whether or not we are viewing a natural or an unnatural change - the slop of the data points that close together, with that small of a range, could just be a noisy section of the sinusoid and does not mean it is going to project out exactly.

I hope that makes sense, because it is difficult to explain. But there are many leading scientists on BOTH sides of this issue, and too often, only the side that advocates Global Warming is shown. I think that the reason for this is fear of the unknown. However, while many people think that if you don't know, you might as well be safe rather than sorry, there is also a drawback with that as well - specifically in America, where the restrictions are becoming so high that many jobs are being outsourced to developing countries, whose government doesn't restrict any environmental regulations, resulting in much cheaper labor prices. Countries like China and India, MUCH larger than America, are consequently going to have a much larger impact on the environment as they continue to industrialize. And yet, many politicians care little about them and only about cleaning up their own countries.

If it is going to be done, make sure that the whole world is doing it. It's like trying to reduce the amount of smoke and air pollution in your neighborhood, while allowing your neighbor to burn his huge heap of trash in his backyard every week.

Answer 3

Ah, such an easy question, but such a difficult answer! At this period in time, global warming is deffinitely real, it is happening. Many argue that it is a natural cycle and nothing can be done about it. Others say that it is entirely caused by humans. One needs to look at ALL the evidence. E.g., the glaciers in the Rocky Mountains are hundreds of thousands of years old; throughout the entire life of these glaciers, this is the warmest it has ever been. One of these is the famous "grasshopper" glacier in Montana, near the Yellowstone National Park. In recent years, the glacier has been melting and releasing the frozen grasshoppers. Al Gore is correct: there is global warming and, from the evidence, it is man caused. Look at Iceland and Greenland, the Arctic and Antactic; the periods of melting have coincided with the industrial age. The last mini-ice age was a scant 800 years ago, when the Thames River in England froze over. Another cold age occured in Colonial days, when rivers in New England froze over. Since then, there have been none of these cold periods.
CO2 is not the only thing causing global warming; other gasses are also involved. But, as scientists pointed out in the 60's, another cause is much simpler: all these heated houses and buildings. The scientists discovered that there was more rain falling in areas such as St. Louis now than before a city was built there. And how much heat do you think all the millions of cars produce?
Other factors, of course, are involved, such as sun spots. Who knows how much is caused by man? The evidence clearly states that much of it is caused by man. So, taking steps now cannot hurt.
One must consider also: Easter Island used to be covered by jungles. The Sahara Desert used to have rivers and forests. They got to their present condition solely as a result of human activity.
At the current rate of global warming, crop failure, water shortage, extinction of various plant and animal life and frequent heat stroke amongst humans will be the result in the near future.
Many plants can now be grow further north than a scant 50 years ago; many animals are now found much further north or higher in the mountains now than a mere 50 years ago.
Maybe we can't prevent global warming, but we can certainly mitigate its seriousness.

Answer 4

Yes, global warming is really something we think we can prevent. It is humans who are making this happen but some other things are involved too. For example, the sun might be moving closer to the earth and no one knows about it. We can prevent it from getting worse but I'm not so sure we can stop it. Hopefully it can stop because things are totally getting out of control!

Answer 5

The most practical way to prevent global warming is to not use as much of the stuff that creates greenhouse gases. On a local level, you can help by using less energy. The electricity that is needed to power our electronics comes from power plants, which burn fossil fuel to produce electricity. Here are a few specific ways that you can help lower emissions:

• Turn off lights when they are not in use. Although the light bulb itself does not emit gases, the power plants that are powering it do.
• Whenever possible, use a fan instead of air conditioning.
• Keep your car tuned up. When it is running properly, it emits fewer harmful gases.
• Walk or ride a bike when you can.
• Recycle. Un-recycled garbage ends up in a landfill, which produces methane. In addition, recycled goods require less energy to produce than products made from scratch.
• Plant trees and other plant life where you can. Plants take carbon dioxide out of the air and release oxygen.
• Don't burn garbage. This releases carbon dioxide and hydrocarbons into the atmosphere.
The most effective way to stem the emission of greenhouses gases is to develop non-fossil fuel energy sources. Hydro-electric power, solar power, hydrogen engines and fuel cells are all ways to cut down emissions.

Answer 6

I wouldn't say its so much something we can prevent but there are things we can do to help slow the process - at least I think so. But I really don't think I'll ever live long enough to see the 'terror' they claim can happen. I mean there is scientific evidence that what happens directly on the earth can affect the cosmos as well and therefore it creates a chain reaction. i do what I can to recycle and all that good stuff you're suppose to do but it's not because I'm worried that the earth is suddenly going to ice over. :-)

Answer 7

The way I see is that our generation will be long gone before we feel the effects of global warming... Our children and their childrens children probably wil live to see it. Maybe the humans will go to an adaptation, survival of the fittest, evolution change thing to deal with the warming...
Today we are aware of the effects, but it will take time and definitely the effort of all the major industrial nations to make a change. One person,company,or one nation cant do it simply alone... As for nature your right we can not control those forces, but we do contribute to them, leading to global warming.

Answer 8

regardless of the international warming subject, human beings at the instant are not paying that plenty interest to it. I even have been in contact with this long till now Al Gore made a action picture of it. residing in Connecticut I made an argument of it an prolonged time in the past. And in my Valley residing house city, I presented medical data why we are experiencing this climactic exchange and the thank you to end it. the city and the state are nevertheless sitting in this, going on 3 years. as a results of fact the politicians won't take the main suitable action, it is as much as the customary public to do the main suitable ingredient. particularly of utilising black asphalt on your driveway and parking plenty, use mild colored gravel or cement to replicate the warmth returned into the ambience. exchange the black colored rooftops to a mild color. Burn sparkling fuels and keep your vehicle tuned. those are purely some techniques. there are a number of greater. the nice and comfortable button is that it took a number of years for the climate to prevail in this component. What we can do is end it is by utilising residing genuine opposite the rage. We won't stay long sufficient to determine the polar ice caps end melting, yet your grandkids and their teenagers will.

Answer 9

I have heard a study done that says that humans have only a 17% effect on what the greenhouse gases may be. Obviously, that means that 83% has nothing to do with us. However, I do not believe that we should just screw around. Everyone should get hybrid cars (or something else that involves fuel-cell technology) and recycle. We are stewards of this planet and we need to take care of it.

Answer 10

Yup, it looks like were all gonna have to adapt. Someone told me just the other day, that 1 volcanic erruption is more than the emissions we produce. I don't reacall on what scale. And really, we haven't been around that long, who knows what kind of cycles the earth goes through. Evolution, Polar bears were brown bears, looks like there gonna be brown bears again. And maybe penguins will fly. Not in our lifetime and who knows when.