global warming?

Question

think its real or not?

Answer 1

Global warming is real. Man-made global warming however is false! The earth has warmed by about 0.7*C over the last century, this is a known fact. However, the main cause of this warming has been an increase in solar output, not by man made means.

A study published by the American Geophysical Union shows that increase in the sun's output over the 20th century is directly responsible for 80% of the increase in temperature over that period.

Another study by NASA, using sattellites to measure solar irradiance since the 1970s show an increase in solar irradiance that would be significant is it was a trend over the whole century.

Global warming fanatics, like Bob, who posted earlier, would like you to ignore the evidence of the influence of solar irradiance. He linked to a post to supposedly "prove" that the sun is not responsible for the warming. However, if you read link he posted to, you will see that they compare the temperature over the last century to the "number of sunpsots." The number of sunpots, however, is not equal to total solar irradiance. It is one factor in solar irradicance. Bob's link does absolutely NOTHING to disprove that the sun is causing global warming.

Bob gives us some stellar words of wisdom from some noted citizens to prove that man-made global warming. These great scientific minds include an admiral, the CEO of walmart, the CEO of Dupont and a senator from Arizona. I think I will believe the scientific studies rather than these great scientific minds.

Answer 2

Some people think its just a cycle that the planet goes through every few hundred of years.

My grandfather actually has been mentioned on Operah because he takes groups of people to the North Pole, and he says hes seen it himself - the ice has never been this thin, and the animals are suffering. But he still doesnt think its global warming.

I, for one, have lived in florida all my life, and have never experienced a summer this hot before. I think global warming is very real, and that the gov't wouldnt tell us because they dont think we could handle it, and we cant afford to do anything or make drastic changes, and more BS like that...

so really, its a matter of opinion.

i think its very real though, and its starting to happen now.

Answer 3

I'm inclined to believe that it's real although I am not a trained scientist. It's amazing to me that so many people have developed such intense theories about the subject on both sides without any sort of training on the subject. They treat it like a religion or personal crusade. For me, it's a matter of determining which side is more believable. That's why I choose to believe scientists over bloggers, journalists and politicians (people who also lack scientific training). I do read about the subject, and if valid peer-reviewed data appear disproving global warming, I could listen to it objectively without it compromising my world view.

Answer 4

I'm sorry to disagree with the individual that posted all the links on the subject, however, I do. The links are very useful to get one side of the story and one side only. Unfortunately there isn't one side to this story. Of late I've been reading articles written by scientists contesting this very issue. Of course they are relegated as being stupid, uniformed, or bought.

If you are interested in an opposed side of the story, and again just one side check out:

www.junkscience.com

Again, this is just one side of an issue and does not provide countering view points, but is worth checking out.

Personally I don't know whether man has caused global warming or not, but I do know that the issue is mired in lies, poor information, and personal belief rather than fact.

Answer 5

There is absolutely no question: GLOBAL WARMING IS REAL. What is questionable is how much is due to mankind rather than natural causes. Irregardless, unless it is curtailed, even turned around, the fate of humanity will become bleaker and bleaker due to more and more severe storms (such as Dean); more floods; more droughts; continuing rise of sea levels; crop failure; reduction of oxygen in the air, etc.

Answer 6

Very real, and mostly man made. I apologize for the length and the links, but there is a lot of really bad information being given out on this.

This is science and what counts is the data.

"I wasn’t convinced by a person or any interest group—it was the data that got me. I was utterly convinced of this connection between the burning of fossil fuels and climate change. And I was convinced that if we didn’t do something about this, we would be in deep trouble.”

Vice Admiral Richard H. Truly, USN (Ret.)
Former NASA Administrator, Shuttle Astronaut and the first Commander of the Naval Space Command

Here are two summaries of the mountain of peer reviewed data that convinced Admiral Truly and the vast majority of the scientific community, short and long.

http://www.globalwarmingart.com/wiki/Image:Climate_Change_Attribution.png
http://www.ipcc.ch/SPM2feb07.pdf

Here are refutations of the arguments of the "skeptics" (I'm sure you'll get many of those, they are disposed of here):

http://environment.newscientist.com/channel/earth/dn11462

It's (mostly) not the sun:

http://solar-center.stanford.edu/sun-on-earth/FAQ2.html

And the first graph aboves shows that the sun is responsible for about 10% of it. When someone says it's the sun they're saying that thousands of climatologists are stupid and don't look at the solar data. That's ridiculous.

Science is quite good about exposing bad science or hoaxes:

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/ATG/polywater.html

There's a large number of people who agree that it is real and mostly caused by us, who are not liberals, environmentalists, stupid, or conceivably part of a "conspiracy". Just three examples of many:

"Global warming is real, now, and it must be addressed."

Lee Scott, CEO, Wal-Mart

"Our nation has both an obligation and self-interest in facing head-on the serious environmental, economic and national security threat posed by global warming."

Senator John McCain, Republican, Arizona

“DuPont believes that action is warranted, not further debate."

Charles O. Holliday, Jr., CEO, DuPont

There's a lot less controversy about this is the real world than there is on Yahoo answers:

http://www.worldpublicopinion.org/pipa/articles/home_page/329.php?nid=&id=&pnt=329&lb=hmpg1

And vastly less controversy in the scientific community than you might guess from the few skeptics talked about here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_opinion_on_climate_change
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/306/5702/1686 and:

"There's a better scientific consensus on this [climate change] than on any issue I know... Global warming is almost a no-brainer at this point. You really can't find intelligent, quantitative arguments to make it go away."

Dr. Jerry Mahlman, NOAA

Good websites for more info:

http://profend.com/global-warming/
http://www.ucsusa.org/global_warming/science/
http://www.realclimate.org
"climate science from climate scientists"

EDIT - Jeff C - Thanks for the respectful disagreement. I think junkscience is a very biased site, run by a guy who used to be a paid denier of the fact that cigarettes cause cancer. But I respect your attitude of inquiry. It is an important topic of our time.

Try the newscientist site and see if it speaks to you:

http://environment.newscientist.com/channel/earth/dn11462

Answer 7

You shouldn't have to believe it's real or not. It just should be if it is.

No one argues about scientific principals because with objective science almost anyone can prove if something is true or not.

Unfortunately, scientist are rushing global warming in order to make a name for themselves.

Answer 8

they need to start doing the control test on the north pole or in the desert.

temp are taken by people in more and more populated areas. They make the cities hotter with lots of things.

people are too stupid to think about that.

Answer 9

never read a .org link on global warming if you don't understand the science.

.orgs and .coms have an agenda, stick to .gov and .edu

start here:
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Library/GlobalWarming/
http://lwf.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/globalwarming.html
http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/index.html

Answer 10

:: i think it is real . but even if its not true . we all need to change our lifestyles because the way we're living now would kill us eventually

. lack resources
. chemical poisoning
. disease

. its all going down the same road ::