Global Warming: Is it a real CRISIS or NOT?

Question

I'm writing a paper for one of my classes and would like to get a sampling of your opinions.

As an Engineering and Science grad student, nearly everyone I know is more than a little mad about the politicians and media when they keep saying "ALL SCIENTIST AGREEE that Global Warming is a Man-made problem". The fact is, we don't all agree at all.

When I look at historical evidence, it appears we have had many ice ages in the past with the periods in between being much warmer.

Also, when you address CO2 emmisssions, all of the man made CO2 is just a small percentage of the CO2 put into the atmosphere by just ONE major volcanic eruption.

So, do you think this "crisis" is a genuine man-made crisis that needs toi be dealt with, or is it just a fabricated political "crisis"?

Answer 1

1. Ice ages, and inter-glacial periods, are triggered by small changes in Earth's orbit that astronomers call Milankovitch cycles and climatologists call "orbital forcing". Since Earth's orbit can be computed for thousands of years into the past and future, we know that orbital forcing peaked 6000 years ago, during the Holocene maximum, and should be cooling the planet right now. Here's the reference:
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/207/4434/943

2. Here's the CO2 record from the Law Dome ice core in antarctica, going back to about 1000 AD.
http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/icecore/antarctica/law/law_data.html
... and here's the record from Mauna Loa, going back to 1958:
http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/ccgg/trends/

Please look at the data and point out the giant spikes that should be there from the eruptions of Tambora, Krakatoa, Mt. St. Helens, Pinatubo, and El Chichon, if the volcano theory is correct. Can't find them? Neither can anyone else.

Now compare the rise in measured atmospheric CO2 with the rise in human fossil fuel use since 1750, from these data:
http://cdiac.ornl.gov/trends/emis/tre_glob.htm

If you're a grad student, tell me which one correlates. And if you're a grad student, please cite the peer-reviewed paper from which you drew the statement that "all of the man made CO2 is just a small percentage of the CO2 put into the atmosphere by just ONE major volcanic eruption." Otherwise, don't pretend to be something you're not -- like a scientist.

Answer 2

you raise a very good question.
truthfully...i think it is a bit of both. it is a man made crisis, and the politicians have blown it up to raise awareness to everyone. even though some of the things politicians say is a bit far-fetched, it is good that they've made the crisis a bit more globally awared. It was probably only a couple of years ago, that if you were to ask a student what global warming was, they'd just have a blank stare on their face.
Global warming is a crisis man made, for it is us that release some CO2 in the air, and waste water and other bad environment activities. Global warming is an issue thats increasingly becoming vital for the public to tackle and try to slow down. There is no way to stop it indefinately, but we do need to work together and try to slow down its progress. we have to stop comparing it to other situations in the past, and focus on the here and now, and the future. theres no point in saying, 'oh we survived it last time, hus to say we wont survive it again?' saying something like that is stupid.

Answer 3

My opinion is that, while not a crisis, it is happening, it is partly natural, but there is little doubt that man made emissions are enhancing it. I say it is not a crisis because the worst effect will be rising sea level, and it just won't rise fast enough to be a crisis. All the other prediction of more floods, droughts, hurricanes, and bad weather in general are all nothing more than guesses. No scientist says QUANTITATIVELY how many more storms or how many droughts, just that there will "likely" or "very likely" be more. But one more hurricane qualifies as more and that is not a crisis. Now if 99% of scientists were sure that there would be double the number of category 5 hurricanes, that would be more serious, but NOBODY is saying that as far as I know. Certailny not the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change).

Answer 4

Just to let you know you that Al Gore has been Global Warming is a crisis because as you can see the weather is constantly changing but then again we have people. I think that both man and human nature cause global warming.

Fact: America has the most violent weather on the planet.
So that could be a reasonable excuse to the weather here.
Fact: Virtually everywhere else has some mountain range or any other geographical impediment that causes the weather change. Algore stated that within ten years the snow on Mount Kilimanjaro will decrease when this year during April I recall the snow raising from 4ft to about 5 ft 10. But then again there is weather that contradicts like Detroit.Detroit's weather record seems to provide proof positive that global warming causes violent and extreme weather. I think this can turn out into a huge debate because there is evidence that supports both opinions on whether or not global warming is a crisis.

Answer 5

global warming is all propaganda. I believe that it is a hoax. These scientists are being paid, by big environmental companies, to say whatever they are told. But if you look at the numbers they give in their reports it contradicts everything they say. They also play with words and scales to confuse anyone who reads it. Big environmental companies want you to believe in global warming so that you will vote for the politicians that will make laws in their favor so that you have to buy into their products, and so that they will be given government funding for more "research". I think that it is presumptuous and arrogant for the human race as a whole to think that we have such an impact on the earth's atmosphere. It has been changing since the beginning of time and will continue to do so no matter what we do.

Answer 6

Of course it is real, read this.......

The report, based on the work of some 2,500 scientists in more than 130 countries, concluded that humans have caused all or most of the current planetary warming. Human-caused global warming is often called anthropogenic climate change.
Industrialization, deforestation, and pollution have greatly increased atmospheric concentrations of water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide, all greenhouse gases that help trap heat near Earth's surface

Humans are pouring carbon dioxide into the atmosphere much faster than plants and oceans can absorb it.
These gases persist in the atmosphere for years, meaning that even if such emissions were eliminated today, it would not immediately stop global warming.

Answer 7

No, it is not a real crisis, there are many other things that could use the worlds attention. The statement you made about volcanoes is not true. There are plenty of volcanic eruptions documented, such as the 1991 Pinatubo event, and there is no sustained increase of CO2 after the event. Water vapor accounts for at least 98% of the greenhouse process when you include clouds into the ratio. That does not leave much heat for any other greehouse gas to work with.

Clouds are completely beyond the modeling capabilites of any on going climate research that I am aware of, so they are just ignored.

It is going to get cold within the next twenty years, and you should plan your life around that very real possibility, it's the irony of it all.

PS
Hope I didn't make you mad about the volcano bit, but it's the truth. I sure enjoyed your question.

Answer 8

Crisis crisis crisis Its been one after another since I can remember.
Some people apperently thrive on having one to worry about.
They are called on to get politicians elected. I mean why boot the old one out if every things fine.
Humanity seems to be in need of crisis to go on with life.

Answer 9

Of course, since you are a science student, you should know that this is not a matter of opinion. It is a scientific theory and therefore it can be proved or attacked only by experiment. If you are trying to prove that the theory that human activities resulting in increased CO2 emissions are not contributing to climate change is not a valid theory, you will have to design a valid experiment to disprove it. Or you have to find someone else who has done such an experiment. But if you look in all of the reputable scientific journals, you will not find such a thing, despite the massive efforts of ExxonMobil and others to underwrite such research.

Answer 10

Politicians come up with a way to scare the bejesus out of potential voters, then claim they have the answers to make it go away. That's how they get elected.

In Al Gore's case, it didn't work any better than his claim that he invented the Internet.

He may not have invented the internet, but more and more credible scientists are coming out in admission that the man may well have successfully invented global warming as a man-caused phenomenon.

The other day, I told a friend of mine who was all concerned about the emissions my 3/4-ton pickup spews out that it's not even competing with Mauna Loa, or the Pacific Ocean, for that matter, in greenhouse gas emissions. What are we supposed to do, plug up all the volcanoes and drain the oceans?