Frequent floods and droughts are cyclic phenomena . Is global warming the cause behind it ?

Question

I have got this topic in debate where i will be with the motion.Please help me if can for this topic

Answer 1

Of course not. The history of the Earth is riddled with droughts and floods. Try to find a time on Earth where there were no droughts or floods.

To say that global warming is the cause only fuels the frenzy of the global warming scam.

Answer 2

This is a hard debate. Here's the most important thing.

Individual floods and droughts can never be said to be caused by global warming. Weather can do just about anything.

But, global warming will increase the frequency of droughts and floods. Heat is the energy that drives weather systems. More heat will cause more severe weather of all kinds.

This is a tough point for people to get.

One other thing is that global warming will move weather around. So some areas will get more rain, others less. Just getting less rain in an area will impact farming and be seen as "drought". While areas getting more rain may not be prepared for it with drainage and "flood". In other words, the changes don't have to be sudden to cause perceptions of drought and flood.

Good luck, this one is hard. Here are some resources:

http://www.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/idUSL052735320070407
http://www.ipcc.ch/SPM6avr07.pdf
http://environment.newscientist.com/article/dn12318-influence-of-global-warming-seen-in-changing-rains.html

Answer 3

Warming and cooling on Earth are cyclical. Typically, neither will complete its cycle in a humans life time.
We may have, as human kind, intensified (or hindered) this process. Since there is advanced technology today (as opposed to 150 years past) "we" think that it is predictable. That is subjective, at best.
If "global warming" (caused by humans)is the cause of flooding and drought, taking precautions now won't hurt---the changes won't affect you or I during our life. To help "save" the Earth may help those that inhabit this place in the future.

Answer 4

The only known factor associated with floods and droughts that are cyclic, are all related to changes in ocean and atmospheric coupling. For instance the El-Nino and La-Nina phenomena cause billions in damages globally and cause rapid flucuations in the climatic picture and are directly related to stored solar energy within the oceans and not trace gases in the atmosphere.

Answer 5

Briefly, this is the picture (legitimate) scientists now have:

There are, of course, a variety of natural cycles of floods, drought,etc. Those continue to operate. What we are beginning to see is that global warming is beginning to operate as an added factor that wasn't present in past years. It will--and very probably already is--affecting those cycles. In many cases, it will make them worse--for example, we are moving into a period in which we could expect the average number of hurricanes to be above average for several years. Global warming appears to be "adding" to this trend--reseulting in even more (and stronger) hurricanes.

Its not entirely clear if this is the case--yet. What is clear isthat, as global warming gets worse, we will see such effects, only more often and more severe.

There are a number of websites where you can get more information. Here's afew:

nasa.gov (go to the climate section)
livescience.com
ipcc.ch (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
whoi.edu (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute)

Answer 6

hey!!!
isn't that the arushi debate going to be held tommorow?????even i've particpated..however i'm against the topic....
and still i haven't prepared yet..
by the way, who're u??i'm shashi..