Climate change?

Question

All of you who think that climate change is some type of 'conspiracy', - well in 1972 we had a storm measuring wind speeds in excess of 90 mph, that night my father said that this storm would probably be the worst I would experience in my lifetime. - (I was only ten years old and very scared!).
Up to date I have seen wind speeds far in excess of this on an annual basis - droughts and temperatures breaking all records - floods that are the worst in living memory - In 1987 we were hit by a hurricane and last week the regular met office - BBC - 6 o'clock forecast - warned of tornadoes possible the following day!
------------and where do I live?---------------
England!

Why do people still question the science?
What do the septics think the scientists have to gain by lying to us?
In the past 200 years we have released most of the carbon that all the trees - (turned to coal), and all the micro-organisms (turned to oil), absorbed over millions of years from Earths atmosphere.
Wake up!!!!!!!

Answer 1

When it comes to the issue of global climate change it seems that most of its opponents propose that to act with environmental responsibility would be detrimental to the economy. Because of this flaw in thought it is typical for these individuals to make excuses to explain climate change so that they do not have to deal with reality - It is increasingly important that this fault is exposed not only to our world leaders in government but to the Global population as a whole as well because it is these people who drive the speed of their government reacting to these issues by how strongly the issue is pushed for.

Now is the time for the leading nations of the world to address global climate change and recognize that it actually offers our nations, not only an opportunity to regain our global prestige by leading the charge on such an important global issue, but by investing in environmental technologies this will also provide us a unique opportunity to control our own economic fates. I can't speak for England, but for some time now the US's trade balances have pushed increasingly into the red, our debt has soared and our economy persists more because our citizens live on credit or off of their mortgages, and cycle vast quantities of borrowed money paying each other for services thus recycling the same dollars around in circles creating an illusionary economy. So illusionary in fact that much of the cost of the Iraq war has found its funding in the form of loans from China. At the same time very few products are actually produced on American soil and what is produced in America is rarely competitive because the same product is frequently produced more cheaply elsewhere. The reason why it is important to see the American economy for what it is is because this is what allows us to see global climate change for what it offers.

America and other global leaders need to pass legislation that will enable us to become world leaders in environmental technologies such that we once again have products that we can export to the world. For a start a massive effort has to be made to develop cheap mass produced hydrogen engines for automobiles within years, not decades. This would have immediate consequences for the American economy. The Detroit automotive factories could be re-outfitted to produce these vehicles and by being the world leaders in this technology America would quickly pass Japan as the leading exporter of automobiles thus capturing foreign currency and positive trade balances. Nationally many jobs would be created not only in these automotive factories but also in laying down the massive infrastructure that would be needed to fuel these new vehicles creating a mass influx of jobs nationwide. Now, hydrogen is not guaranteed to be clean unless the electricity producing it is clean. President Bush is keen on promoting Nuclear and Clean coal, but the key in legislating this energy development is not by promoting what can only be done in America, but instead should focus, once again, on what can be marketed to the world. This same perspective should be taken in England. Considerable investment capital should once again be poured out so that the solar, windmill and tidal generators can be revolutionized and as this technology is exported throughout the Globe it will bring great economic benifits to those countries who pursue technologies which are globally responsible. Japan is already doing considerable amounts of research into low velocity windmills, Canada has a leading Tidal research center at the Bay of Fundy, Germany has done a considerable amount of investment in windmill energy production, and France into Nuclear. It is time for America (and possibly Britain) to take catch up to the rest of the world and then take the lead. In America we should be developing state of the art high-speed windmills throughout the Midwest wind corridors, surpassing the Canadian studies in our own extreme tide bays of the North-Eastern United States, and to become the world leaders in solar energy technology across the Sunbelt of America from Florida to California. It is time that Americans take the lead on this issue and not watch from afar as if global climate change is not an American concern. I have not heard of Britain's place in this equation, but it is my impression that they, like the US, are lagging behind on these issues. Unlike nuclear energy, which has a limited export value, these renewable and clean technologies could be widely distributed around the globe thereby further promoting a positive trade balance and a stronger American economy.

As these leaps in technology come to fruition, America and all the other leading nations should then pursue steep environmental policies on national and international levels. By this point in my model America should be producing enough renewable energy that the national energy supply is nearly 100% clean and the automobiles are also running on zero carbon emission hydrogen engines. The industrial sector could be increasingly updated with hydrogen/clean electricity alternatives to reduce their emissions as well. With America doing so well we could use our example, our economic clout and our international influence to implement strict environmental policy on all countries around the globe. World Bank, IMF, APEC would all provide as strong organizations to implement such policies and if any country finds itself unable to afford the changes necessary it should be considered that the appropriate loans are given so that we are not only selling our technologies, and doing the engineering and consultancies to implement these projects, but are able to collect interest on the purchase as well. Much like China will be collecting our interest on the Iraq war for many decades.

Sorry for concentrating more on the American equation, but I truly feel that the route of the problem is less about environmental skepticism as here in America it seems to be more about Economic fear. If a palatable economic model is put forth then the skeptics would be much more willing to accept positive environmental changes. After all if the environmental scientists are correct then it is best to take action now, where as if the "skeptics" are correct and climate is indeed cyclical... well it has been shown that ice ages are part of the carbon storage cycle, so to continue to release massive amounts of the Earth's stored carbon into the atmosphere is like begging for an extremely long ice age in the down swing, which would definitely drive the planet into a state where it could not produce enough food and continue to have a carrying capacity for the 6 billion+ human inhabitants and we should consequently expect a great reduction in our population. Either way we need to reduce our carbon emissions and sequester as much of what we have already released as quickly as possible!

Answer 2

In a post I was reading earlier Tristam H claimed to be "a former science teacher now working for NOAA" I think a science teacher would have a basic idea of of the metric system 1 meter = 3 feet 3in's. And whether you believe GW is happening or not we know for a fact what the sea level was the last time there was no ice at the poles we know the surface area of the earth and we know the ice volume of Antarctica and Greenland. The real figure is 65m or 215 feet, I would have thought a real science teacher could do that sort fairly straight forward math calculation. Having said that scientists are not saying that all this ice will melt as most sea rise so far is due to thermal expansion of sea water.

Answer 3

i don't question the science at all - most of our top scientists know that global warming is not caused by the human race - the vast majority of co2 comes from the oceans - then the forests and any landmass where vegetation is present . it's not the top scientists that are lying - next time you hear someone on the tv talking about it - first look at who's saying it and then listen very very carefully to what he/she is saying. I'm not saying the climate isn't changing but the human race is not the cause we are less than 0.001 percent of the problem. 'global warming ' has become a huge business enterprise and no government is going to give that up.

i don't see this as government conspiracy but the more times you are told a thing the more likely someone will believe it and when you have convinced enough people by your persistence then people will see it as the truth even if there's no evidence to back - a bit like religion really.

Answer 4

I've never disputed the fact as to whether Climate Change is occurring I do believe it's real and is happening right now. But is it wrong to question the theories surrounding it? I disagree with the notion that it's a man made phenomena. I'll hold up my hands and admit that I'm no qualified in the field yet (I'm due to start a degree in Earth Science in September) but I can't see how man alone could have caused the earth to warm when there are a multitude of other factors to consider.

And just for the record. Where I live in Scotland every winter we experience storm force winds. But, in 2005 we had a freak storm with winds gusting up to and slightly over 140mph which caused considerable damage and loss. It would be easy enough to attribute those events to climate change but when you look back through the records you see that these things happen and are usually just a one off or once in say 100 year occurrences since then we haven't had any storms on that scale.

Answer 5

Buenos Aires is a fantastic city; it's an amazing town that appears a little like Europe, but having an edgy Latin American twist and if you wish to visit this town then take a peek with hotelbye . El Puerto Madero is a place properly visited. It served as the main slot of Buenos Aires during the late 19th century but know is turned into buildings that might be used as residences, restaurants, stores and different firms and to provide that project a little bit of flair, all roads in the area were named following women. Strolling through the Puerto Madero is a good way to invest a nice evening just like visiting El Obelisco. El Obelisco was built in 1936 to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the town founding and now could be a must-see place from Buenos Aires.

Answer 6

Lester, I'm in England too and it's pretty obvious that the climate is changing radically. It used to be quite an event to record the highest ever temps, highest rainfall, hottest year, most extensive flooding, extreme droughts, non existent winters, damaging tornadoes. hurricanes etc but now it's something of a regular occurence, we've had three such events already this year.

There are some people who are sceptical of climate change and there's any number of reasons for this. There must be at least 1000 reasons that have been put forward to explain, in whole or in part, that humans are not contributing to climate change. None of them stand up to scrutiny.

There are some valid reasons to question some aspects of climate change and in the past mistakes have been made. The whole thing is like a jigsaw, we have most of the pieces, a lot of the pieces are in place and it's now very clear what the picture is, some pieces may be in the wrong place, some pieces may be missing but it doesn't affect the overall picture. Unfortunately, some people are looking at the jigsaw the wrong way up and fail to see the picture.

Answer 7

One thing I've said time and time again to anyone who asked is easy. Why is it that south of the equator is experiencing record cold and above record heat? It isn't over the past 200 years that we've introduced all these so called toxins into the air. The combustion engine is what all seem to blame for the problem. Nobody thinks anymore, could it be a shift in the earth's axis? That is what I've tried to say. What would all these scientists have to gain by lying? It's called money. I have a site for anyone who really wants to read about Global Warming.

Record low temps in Australia - 19 Jul 07
Seven inches of rain in three hours in China - 19 Jul 07
Worst floods in Sudan in living memory - 20 Jul 07
Coldest in Australia in 21 years - 18 Jul 07
Record-breaking cold in Peru - 12 Jul 07
Historic snow in Buenos Aires - First snowfall since 1918!!!!

Danish scientist: Global warming is a myth
15 Mar 07 - A Danish scientist says the idea of
global warming is more political than scientific.

Answer 8

I live in the Highlands of Scotland and have not seen snow in winter for many years. This tells me that climate change is happening and not what some predictied not to happen until hundreds of years to come or in our life time. Global warming is polution on the ground, co2 emmisions others that can contribute are disease and over crowding. The reason no one is taking anything serious from the paraliment is because of money and politics. There main tax comes form fuel that harms the enviroment if that goes there is very little to replace the amount of money they used to get. Oil reserves in the uk are already very low why else have our goverment moved in on Iraq Contine to ruin the planet of all its resorses to a point that we can not fix, all because countrys are greedy. People have a lazy attatude and have come too indapendant on THINGS. The UK can change cos if other contrys can why not us the Swiss is a really nice place and better governed.

Humans are a virus killing animals and sucking the life out of everything cos they can. Humans have never learnt that you have to preserve things it will only click when everything has gone. Other species know not to kill everything off or they will not survive, animal survival which humans have forgot.

Wake up people start giving a s&*t cos you will only see things what used to be in photos or on tv. kids must be so confused in school when they are tolled what you see in different seasons. ( For Winter, Spring, Summer and Autumn all rain, cold , damp and misreable). Has anyone remember haveing a year with the proper seasons i havent our spring was like our summer!!! Some last living animals you will only see in books, tv or cramped zoo's.

Human attatude is ither who care's, cant someone else do it, cant be bothered so on. I have changed by using the green boxs that Safeway used to dish out and put tins, paper, milk bottles, glass and clear water bottles all i have to take to the recycling plant myself. Ever council should be able to recycle everything and pick it up. Where does our tax's go to cos we pay a hell alot for nothing. I am not a tree hugger but just conserned about the enviroment around me. Animals are suffering because of us and soon humans will be too and they are.

The Uk for recycling, alternitave transport and redusing polution is very poor. So if you give a S..t put presure on the council or Goverment to do something go back to the old days of protests and marches this is our goverment our reprasentives for us and what we want a lot of people have forgoten that. The uk has turned into a dictatorship where we are tolled what to do like imagration, war, tax, justice and our enviroment.

Maybe then we can make world law for other countries like USA and Asia to follow.

I know scientists have been doing research on this subject but so many have come up with different conclusions i am only stating what i see happening around me. There may be more factors involved beyond our control or understanding but it does not help that we are not more resourceful and caring for our enviroment.

Answer 9

Yes, climate changes is occuring, but the reasons states by our scientists, are not the real ones... Only few in this place really know what is going on, and I am surely not one of those, but I can direct you where you will understand that our world is small in the universe, and many other factors outside our own planet may affect it. So I guess you should read this link:

Answer 10

Another il-informed person on a subject he does not understand.

No one as far as I know is questioning the fact that the climate is changing. What people are questioning is the cause and the amount attributed to human activate. That is where the scientific debate is at the moment. Keep up son.

Answer 11

Ok there sparky, you can take a deep breath now, the climate is changing I won't disagree with you there but you have to remember that the earth is never at a constant, and science has proven that earth never stays the the same is never constant, so wither its global warming or global cooling the earth is always doing something.....So you should just relax and go with the flow :)
So yeah I'm going back to sleep good night.........