What is Global Warming?

Question

it doesn't make sense to me.

Answer 1

Global warming is the increase in the average temperature of the Earth's near-surface air and oceans in recent decades and its projected continuation.

Answer 2

Essentially humans have been burning giant amounts of fossil fuel (coal, natural gas, oil etc) for about 200 years. The burning of these fuels produces C02 gas, which rises into the atmosphere and traps more heat from the sun on earth. The theory is that overtime so much CO2 will be released into the atmosphere that heat from the sun will increasingly build up, driving the overall temperature up. This is bad because if the temperature goes high enough we could see things like the melting of the polar ice caps (already happening) which in turn releases millions of gallons of fresh water into the oceans. Besides slightly raising sea levels and causing some flooding in coastal regions the increased fresh water in the ocean will dilute the salinity of the ocean, which drives important ocean currents such as the Gulf Stream. Theoretically if enough fresh water were added into the current it would stop moving or slow down, reducing the circulation of warm water to northern areas making it extremely cold in the winter in parts of North American and England.

Answer 3

It is a myth disguised as a science.

Is it real? Sure. Globe has warmed MANY times in the past - just as many times as it has cooled.

What the doomseekers are exclaiming today is that we tiny humans, who can't determine whether it is going to rain or not, are "poisoning" the atmosphere with carbon dioxide (CO2). It is our development of human cultures that generates a lot of the CO2 - via transportation like cars, trucks, and planes. But when the earth cuts loose a volcano, that single eruption DWARFS the amount of CO2 that we humans have produced since day one.

Since you aren't going to make headlines by telling the world that everything is okay, you tend to spice things up. For example, have you been watching the History Channel lately?

ALL their shows, lately, are dealing with meteor impacts and the damage past impacts have done (extinction of dinosaurs) and modeling what a contemporary impact would do based on where it fell. The impact in Russia early in the 20th century didn't do TOO much because it landed in a largely unpopulated portion of world.

Anyway, GW is happening! AGW may not be the reason, however, because the earth has ALWAYS heated and cooled. The sun is a dynamic neighbor, and many of the AGW-types see it as a static neighbor only. Seeing it as a dynamic entity tends to shoot holes in their arguments for AGW.

Steve, how many times have you watched Algore's movie? You seem to have all his talking points down really well.

Answer 4

It's a bit complicated, but essentially the idea is this: The world is warming up faster than it ever has before. Scientists believe this is due primarily to all the carbon dioxide that people have emitted into the atmosphere by burning oil and coal, driving cars, etc. Carbon dioxide makes the air retain more heat, kind of like a greenhouse does. The warming is melting the ice caps and will raise sea levels dramatically, as well as causing other problems, like more and worse hurricanes, spreading deserts, etc.

Answer 5

It is over heating of the earth. The temps have risen more than ever in history over the past decade. If we dont do something we will really be sorry, We are already starting to see some of the effects of Global warming like all this strange weather and drought and stuff. So yes it is true.

Answer 6

Global warming is the increase in the average temperature of the Earth's near-surface air and oceans in recent decades and its projected continuation.

Global average air temperature near the Earth's surface rose 0.74 ± 0.18 °C (1.3 ± 0.32 °F) during the past century. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concludes, "most of the observed increase in globally averaged temperatures since the mid-20th century is very likely due to the observed increase in anthropogenic greenhouse gas concentrations," which leads to warming of the surface and lower atmosphere by increasing the greenhouse effect. Natural phenomena such as solar variation combined with volcanoes have probably had a small warming effect from pre-industrial times to 1950, but a small cooling effect since 1950. These basic conclusions have been endorsed by at least 30 scientific societies and academies of science, including all of the national academies of science of the major industrialized countries. The American Association of Petroleum Geologists is the only scientific society that rejects these conclusions. A few individual scientists disagree with some of the main conclusions of the IPCC.

Climate models referenced by the IPCC project that global surface temperatures are likely to increase by 1.1 to 6.4 °C (2.0 to 11.5 °F) between 1990 and 2100. The range of values reflects the use of differing scenarios of future greenhouse gas emissions and results of models with differences in climate sensitivity. Although most studies focus on the period up to 2100, warming and sea level rise are expected to continue for more than a millennium even if greenhouse gas levels are stabilized. This reflects the large heat capacity of the oceans.

The climate system varies through natural, internal processes and in response to variations in external forcing factors including solar activity, volcanic emissions, variations in the earth's orbit (orbital forcing) and greenhouse gases. The detailed causes of the recent warming remain an active field of research, but the scientific consensus identifies increased levels of greenhouse gases due to human activity as the main influence. This attribution is clearest for the most recent 50 years, for which the most detailed data are available. Contrasting with the scientific consensus, other hypotheses have been proposed to explain most of the observed increase in global temperatures. One such hypothesis is that the warming is caused by natural fluctuations in the climate or that warming is mainly a result of variations in solar radiation.
None of the effects of forcing are instantaneous. Due to the thermal inertia of the Earth's oceans and slow responses of other indirect effects, the Earth's current climate is not in equilibrium with the forcing imposed. Climate commitment studies indicate that even if greenhouse gases were stabilized at present day levels, a further warming of about 0.5 °C (0.9 °F) would still occur

Answer 7

A scheme for the rich to get richer and the poor to get poorer.

Answer 8

Its all bs it is a way the government can scare you and get money. The earth has been heating and cooling for millions of years.

Answer 9

A lie

Answer 10

It is a scam ,don't worry about it , only send money.