Todays question of the day: Do you think that global warming will have an effect as big as projected?

Question

Lets assume that we continue living the way we do. Will global warming truly be as catastrophic as people are saying? Will the Ice caps really melt? And if they do, will the damage really be that bad?

Answer 1

"Projections" are all over the map. Why don't you ask, "Who will win this year's Super Bowl/" You at least have a better chance of getting a correct answer.

There's a possibility that you'll see the Arctic cap melt, but not the Antarctic in our lifetime. There are theories that the Arctic Sea must have free water (no ice cap) in order to start the glaciation in an ice age.

Less than a hundred years ago, the Earth passed thru the tail of Halley's comet. Scientists mentioned that some of the off-gassing includes large quantities of methane. The general public went into a frenzy - largely media driven: the press in those days - believing there would be massive loss of lives. Certainly there were end of the man's life on Earth predictions.

The point is that it's the public that tends to distort scientific projections. Even the most dire projections usually use the words "possibility", "probability", or "risk". The reason is that we just can't know. My opinion is that the extent of global warming will be of little direct physical consequence.

Answer 2

global warming is a fact and it happens on a regular basis to the earth...it's just that so many years occur in between those times that we not only have not experienced it but that we don't know of anyone who has. There is proof that it has happened in the past, and we are able to prove it's devastation. There are more than two things to take into consideration...one is that the poles switch (melting of ice), another is that volcanoes and earthquakes happen (throwing life into a struggle for survival mode which then throws an area into an ice age), etc. The ice caps are melting and from predictions there will be floods, but just when that will occur it is unknown. Perhaps not in my lifetime, perhaps not in your lifetime. Scientists can't predict the exact time. And, because there are a few different scenarios a person is unable to determine which exactly will happen or where.

Answer 3

I guess it very much depends whose projections you're looking at - some of them are extreme and go over the top, others are played down.

What we'll likely see is something in the middle, something in line with the IPCC report. Temperature rises of an average across the globe of about 3 degrees C over the next 100 years, more locally in some places and less in others.

Recently the rate of melting of the Arctic ice cap has accelerated consideably and if it continues melting the way it's been doing these past few years then it will be gone completely in 30 to 40 years time. The Arctic is floating so melting here won't cause any increase in sea levels.

The Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets are also melting but much more slowly, it will be a long time before they melt completely.

Antarctica is a vast place, it's one and a half times the size of the US. For the whole of Antarctica to melt would require a massive rise in temperatures (10 or 20 degrees C) or many, many thousands of years at the current rate.

If all the ice did melt then sea levels would rise by just over 80 metres (260 feet) and two out of three people on the planet would be displaced. This isn't going to happen for a very long time and currently sea levels are rising by just 3mm (one eighth of an inch) per year (partly due to melting ice and partly due to the warmer oceans expanding).

Answer 4

That is, of course, the hard question people are trying to answer.

The Greenland and Antarctica are large masses that will take quite a long time to melt, however the arctic ice cap is just a floating plate of ice. There's good reason to believe that it will probably go away within the next century.

Sea level rise has the potential to cause a lot of coastal damage. And there would definately be changes in weather patterns. But aside from the coasts, some of these changes may be beneficial, and some of them may not.

Will it be the end of humanity? Of course not. But it is something we must be ready to deal with, especially ocean level rise.

~X~

Answer 5

Yes of course, if we do continue to live the way we do. I mean, after everything humans have done to the environment, to the planet, something is ought to happen apart from what we can see today. It’d be ignorant not to think so anyway. But then there are those that argue the fault doesn’t fall to humans…Again, after all humans' negative actions on the environment, I believe there will be a disastrous backlash. There are many issues that support this, such as melting ice caps, rises in sea levels and temperatures…Yes, there were similar events in the past, but if we are to still question whether global warming is occurring, we will be in real strife. What we should be concerned about, is what we are going to do about it before any dire consequences are faced in the future.

Answer 6

I wish there was a way to tell everyone this at once rather than having to repeat myself again and again.

326,000,000 cubic miles of water
1 calorie = energy to raise 1cc of H2O +1deg C
10^15 calories = 1 MegaTon of TNT

326,000,000 X (5280 X 12 X 2.54 )^3 X 1 / 10^15 =

1.3 billion

1.3 billion

1.3 billion

What the heck does that mean?

That is the number of one MegaTon atomic bombs that a one degree rise in the temperature of the oceans represents.

That has already happened. Models project a 3-5 degree rise in the next 100 years. A five degree rise in the temperature of the oceans is the equivalent of an atomic bomb for every man, woman, and child on the planet.

Now ask me if I care that Bush and Putin are playing silly buggar.

Answer 7

Earth is very complex. Yes the caps are melting and animals are becoming extinct due the changes going on. I think reports and estimations are show what could happen but no really can know how Earth will counter act to some of the things, if it does. I do think all damage will be bad for humans.

Answer 8

It will be a whole lot worse - ecologists have been complaining for decades - warning about shifting sea currents & the melting ice at the North Pole, Greenland & other world glaciers. The less ice on the planet to deflect the sun's rays, the hotter it will become.

There is a lot of denial in people who have the power to take it seriously, but it's not IF it will get bad enough to convince them, but WHEN. And that will be too late.

Answer 9

It is colossal according to the scammers. I think they are again manufacturing anti global warning device which will be for sale soon. Just like the Avian flu that the only cure is the Tamiflu. They said they need financiers to manufacture millions of these drug. Nobody invested and the scammed avian flu vanished.

this global warming and the global flooding will happen not now but maybe a hundred or thousand years from now.

Have u forgotten God's rainbow? So there will be no flood and according to the bible the next punishment would be fire from heaven and it will not happen in our time.

Answer 10

The sky is falling, the sky is falling, the sky is falling - who will come with me to tell the the KING? ..........In the late 60's early 70's the big thing was the coming ICE AGE....I wonder who benefits from the sale of "Carbon Credits/Offsets"? and what in heaven's name are they???? let's see if I buy Carbon Credits I can have the biggest and most wasteful house on the planet, hmmmmm!!!............Did any of you happen to watch the old debate between Al Gore and Ross Perot on the Larry King show when they were both running for president??? Al Gore slammed his fist on the table and said "we will NEVER, sign on to the Kyoto protocol"!!!!.....What an interesting about face "Oh, no, I don't want to be president...." Oh, well, maybe if y'all twist my arm, I'll sacrifice myself to be your president" - presidency by acclamation. So, pardon me for being a lot skeptical and wonder, if you get rid of incandescent bulbs, what will you do with all the MERCURY in fluorescents?? and if you get rid of styrofoam where will you get the hot water/energy to manufacture and then wash, and put all the soap in the effluent coming from your house for the life of that permanent coffee mug???