Agree to assume the Earth is getting warmer, is this really a bad thing?

Question

Historically, all the dark periods (for us humans) in recorded history are associated with colder global tempatures (i.e. dark ages, muander minimum, the plague).

All of the warmer periods are associated with human advancment and prosperity.

Answer 1

It seems that most people who see warming as a bad thing are either miserable already or not old enough to have gained perspective.

Watch as the US Presidential elections draw near and one candidate will convince people that the economy is terrible and that he ( or she ) knows how to make it better. People who may have not considered themselves being "destitute" will suddenly feel oppressed by the "evil" upper class. And those who are already miserable will find one more reason to rationalize their failure - it's somebody else's fault.

Answer 2

The "darker periods" of humanity usually involve things like war, pestilence, natural disaster but not global elevated temperatures and here's why. When you look at an average string, mark off about 4 mm and that is how long the human element has been on this planet. We actually have not been here all that long and what's more to answer the original question, if you live in the South Pacific your beach front property is already ocean. If you live in coastal regions of the USA like New Orleans and the Southern tip of Florida, get used to losing the beaches and welcoming the original everglades. Yes, it is that bad people and yes humans sped up the process if only by a millenia, humans sped up the process. The "dark periods" that you must mean are called "Ice Ages" and we were not as a species built for extended cold snaps and would probably not survive an extended period without the plants, animals etc that we need to keep humanity going.

Answer 3

Okay, first off we need to move past the "global warming" concept and start looking at this major issue as "climate change". And also people haven't prospered during temperature upswings. A few entire civilizations have been wiped out when the temp has swung up for no reason. Oddly, even the "Big Freeze" that happened in England helped some aspects of the economy.

A warming "trend" will flood all of our key economic centers. They will simply become sunken cities. How does that help us?

Also consider that the entire fish populations we harvest will be destroyed. Ye t another sector of the economy taken down.

Answer 4

The "dark periods" in human history didn't have a great deal to do with the climate at the time; there were a great many other, more important, factors involved. Wars, famines, plagues, you know, all that fun stuff. Even so, the dark ages were a time of greater than average warmth (see below graph), so I don't see where you're getting the 'warmer periods associated with wealth' bit.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:2000_Year_Temperature_Comparison.png

Historically, rapid climate changes of =any= sort of been bad news for life on Earth. In fact, virtually every rapid climate change in known geologic history has resulted in mass extinctions.

Answer 5

I agree. Global warming is better than global cooling.

If you could control the climate, would you choose a warmer climate, a cooler one, or just as it is? If you pick just as it is, do you mean just as it is right now or just as it was some time ago before you think global warming started?

Answer 6

Okay, think about this. Higher temperatures melt ice. What do we have at the north and south poles? Ice. What does ice turn into when it melts? Water. Where would this water go? The ocean. What happens if you add more water to a body of water? The water level goes up. What hapens if the ocean levels rise? The land area gets covered up by water. What can't land animals and us humans live in? Water. B-A-D, BAD!!

Answer 7

This warming is going to be far greater than the times you suggest. Think thousands of years ago, not hundreds.

And the coastlines and ecology were very different then.

Modern man can't just pick up and move. Dealing with coastal flooding and damage to agriculture will be hugely expensive. Details here:

http://www.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/idUSL052735320070407
http://www.ipcc.ch/SPM6avr07.pdf

Many scientists believe humans advanced because the climate was relatively stable over the last 2000 years. Our actions are threatening that stability.

Answer 8

Todays conditions cannot be compared to what happened in History
there are far more people depending on food and water than ever before.

one degree rise in temperature already means 10% crop loss.
there are many factors included,
great changes are happening on microscopic levels that are having their effects all the way up the food chains ,which affects us in the end
species of flora and fauna going extinct.
Agriculture will be greatly affected,and we could face famine in the future
also because the world population has doubled in the last 50 years and continues to accelerate
there will be water shortage for potable water .
living conditions will become more drastic ,
Already 150.000 people die annually because of global warming .
this is expected to double soon.

and because of vast bodies of Ice melting that is out of the seas ,such as glaziers,and the South pole,we could have very bad coastal floodings and so force millions of people to move upwards
this in it self will cause great conflicts.

Answer 9

the earth is getting warmer. oh and email this add and join a group that helps fight against global warming. its: [e-mail]

they give opinions and everthing and pls spread the word

thnx