Would global warming be happening without us?

Question

It's a proven fact that the world goes in cycles. It gets really cold (ice ages) then warms up, then gets cold again, and keeps continuing in this pattern. Are we making the cycles happen faster?

Answer 1

No.

"Global warming" is misnamed. It should be called 'artificial climate change' or something like that.

The earth does go through cycles as you mention. We were on a cooling trend when the overuse of fossil fuels and other damaging practices started an unexpected trend in the opposite direction.

Climate scientists point out that this is bad for humans and other species (larger mammals, especially) who have evolved to take advantage of the way things were going. The Earth itself, as you point out, doesn't care, because it will certainly be here regardless of whether we go extinct due to our own actions or not.

Scientists who are not climate scientists (and are being paid by interested parties) like to try to counter what the climate scientists say by claiming that the cooling trend wasn't in place, and that the warming reversal is 'natural' in some way, thereby implying that human intervention doesn't make any difference.

The facts are that we have generated an artificial reversal in the general cooling pattern, and even if we take drastic action instead of arguing about it, we may still not be able to fix the situation. We can only try, but the potential consequences of not trying are so horrible that it makes sense to do so.

Thanks for asking.

Answer 2

Since historically for many millenia the two consistent factors in global temperature appear to be the sunspot cycle (number and intensity of sunspots), and the long term cycle of interchange of water between the arctic ocean (and other oceans) and the glaciers, I do not see how man can have the arrogance to say his efforts are significant in Global warming and cooling compared to these.

I do not see any studies on how much our "greenhouse gases" compare to those naturally produced, and how much are sequestered in the oceans, in the plant cover, etc.. either.

We really need a lot more actual science, and a reduction to 0 of those who want to socially engineer the world to their liking using "Global Warming" as a means to produce panic and stampede people into doing it their way.

I do have a suggestion, however, and that is to shut off ALL the flaring off of natural gas, and then sending it to the places that need gas for heating. Use it, not waste it. The use will be less than the wasting, I am sure. It can be liquified and transported. Be less CO2 then!! Slightly! But lot more happy people.

But I think if you look at the input of energy from man compared to the energies involved in warming and cooling the globe, man's effect will be down within the noise.

And man's gases here will NOT change what the sun does, nor the long term interchanges of massive amounts of water between the Arctic and the northern glaciers. In my opinion. I believe we are talking about several orders of magnitude difference.

This is not to say reforestation and similar efforts are not good. I would reforest my property (forest fire 20 years ago cleared it!) if I could afford the cost of trees and water nowadays. But it will not override the sun's output or change it...might even absorb more heat with the darker trees instead of the light grasses and soils here.

Finally, I would remind that the other planets are also experienceing "planetary warming" right now without man even being there!! Right along with the earth. So how could man on earth be affecting the natural warming and cooling of, say, Mars? Or changing its cycle?

Answer 3

No, we could not have any effect on the climate cycles even if we tried. When people rant and rave that there is proof of human influence on the climate, they are putting their faith in the results of climate models. There is no climate model that has ever made a prediction that has came true. Currently water vapor in the atmosphere captures 95% of the heat radiated from earths surface, with or without CO2. Of the remaining heat that escapes water vapor, the CO2 that existed in the atmosphere before human civilization already has been capturing the majority of the heat. Adding additional CO2 has a diminishing effect on a logarithmic scale.

The climate models that are used by so called climate scientists, are called GCM or general circulation models. They can barely project trends for a couple of months. The dynamics of the upper and lower atmosphere coupled with cloud cover are completely beyond the capabilites of this rudimentary style of simulation.

Good science involves finding correlations in nature and attempts to use hypothesis, theories and physics to explain the observed phenomena. The CO2 buildup over the last 100 years does not correlate with the measured temperature flucuations observed, even if you use a climate model in reverse. The only thing that correlates with the temperature trends of the last 100 years is solar activity. The only scientists that have made any climatic predictions that have came true are solar physicists. I would keep some warm clothing around for the coming decades if I were you.

http://www.schulphysik.de/klima/landscheidt/iceage.htm

Peace Out.

Answer 4

Climate change in either direction (warming or cooling) has happened without human influence many times in the past and will continue.............HOWEVER, what is happening now is unprecedented in recent history and pretty clearly related to our influence on the atmosphere. What is really interesting is that we now know a lot of what caused periods of glaciation in the past and all evidence suggests we would be several thousand years into the beginnings of a new ice age now if it weren't for our effects causing warming. In fact, that is one of the big reasons that skeptics talk about how just a few years ago scientists were talking about the coming ice age and now have shifted to global warming. This Scientific American article lays out the argument really well. Enjoy!

Answer 5

i think were making it happen faster, and we are amplifying the effects. GW would happen anyway at some point, but i do not think it would happen this severely, or set itself upon us this quickly. We have increased the amount of carbon dioxide going into the air exponentially during the last hundred or so years, and Earth cannot keep up.

And it isnt just Global Warming, it is(using the delightful euphemism our government concocted), Global Climate Change. This means that not only are the hots hotter, but the colds are colder too. this is why in some places(like where i live) we had only two seasons this year, Winter & Summer.
And they say "We've had winters this cold before", but they are not in the recent pattern of weather. you have to go back 40-120 years to find similar conditions. Not to mention the obcenely large amount of hurricanes weve had.

Yes we have had an effect, and it is wearing the Earth out.
we already have had a MAJOR effect, and it isnt going to get any better unless we do something

Answer 6

unstoppable global warming - every 1500 years

humans have a negligible impact in the production of GH gasses. roughly 5% of the effect of greenhouse gasses are not water vapour. human contribute a much smaller amount of that in CO2. so even if we doubled or tripled the amount that we have in the atmosphere, (which is measured in parts per million) it still wouldnt add up. water vapour is the real warmer of the earth. volcanoes put out more CO2 than humans ever have. Mars and all the other planets are also warming up without the influence of SUV's.

It is arrogant to think that we are so powerful that we can affect the earth so much.

Answer 7

some human beings have confidence in worldwide warming and a few do no longer. some scientists have confidence that the heating of the earth is only an trouble-free section that the earth is going by way of each and every couple 1000's of years. this may be authentic and it will possibly no longer.

Answer 8

Yes - we are more the quadrupling the effect of global warming - and we are doing this by all the CO2 that we put in to the atmosphere - it is natural for there to be some CO2 but not in the amounts that it is now

Answer 9

Since the age of the planet is linear, we have no way to tell if it's our influence or all natural. We can throw theories out there but we can't know for sure.

Answer 10

While humans may be adding to the cycle's velocity, one volcanic explosion, such as that of Mt. St. Helens, produces more greenhouse gasses than humankind has cummulatively produced in the time that we have existed.