Is global warming real or is the earth just experiancing natural changes in climate like in the ice age?

Answer 1

Real. The fact that past changes occurred naturally doesn't mean this change is natural. The scientific data proves it's not.

"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

It's (mostly) not the sun:

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

"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://environment.newscientist.com/channel/earth/dn11462
http://www.ucsusa.org/global_warming/science/
http://www.realclimate.org
"climate science from climate scientists"

Answer 2

The answer to your question is YES. Global warming is real. The earth is warming on average. This is not being debated by anyone in the scientific community. The data is there to support this.

The only disagreement is in the second part of your question. Is the earth experiencing natural changes or is the global warming a result of man-made greenhouse gasses. There is significant evidence to show that greenhouse gasses especially CO2 play a role in global warming. There is evidence that shows that man contributes only a very small portion of the greenhouse gasses and most of them occur naturally. Some of the evidence is claimed by both sides of the argument. An example of this is methane produced by animals. Opponents say this is a natural phenomenon while proponents use arguments such as if all people were vegetarians (or vegans) there would be less domestic animals so it is man-made. These types of arguments really cloud the issue. My personal opinion is that the majority of the global warming is a natural change but man may be adding a small amount to the issue.

Answer 3

S= I don't consider that we might probably purpose an outcome that could spoil the sector. No, I don't consider all of the crap that they instructed us approximately how strong we had been once we had been in a battle with Russia to peer who might blow up the sector the quickest. God would not even permit guy construct a tower to arrive a couple of experiences into the air, ( Tower of Babel ). I consider any warming fashion is only a cyclic factor on the way to occur on it is possess after which there shall be a cycle of cooling. It's already occurred a number of occasions that we all know approximately. Mankind is not just about as strong as we look to desire to consider that we're !

Answer 4

Scientists know they're not natural changes, because scientists have studied the Earth's natural cycles. They even have a name - Milankovitch cycles.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milankovitch_cycles

However, according to these cycles, we should be in the middle of a cooling period right now.

"An often-cited 1980 study by Imbrie and Imbrie determined that 'Ignoring anthropogenic and other possible sources of variation acting at frequencies higher than one cycle per 19,000 years, this model predicts that the long-term cooling trend which began some 6,000 years ago will continue for the next 23,000 years.'"

Scientists have concluded that humans are responsible for 80-90% of the warming over the past 30 years:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Climate_Change_Attribution.png

Answer 5

The globe warms and cools in natural cycles. This is factual. There are many that believe the warming cycle we are in will be more severe than it would normally be, due to pollution by human activities (primarily burning fossil fuels).

There are still many things we don't completely understand about the relative effects of pollution on our climate. We are learning more and more, and I believe we will have a much better understanding in a few years.

The best thing to do is for everyone to try and reduce pollution where possible, and reduce their use of fossil fuels. Even if global warming is completely natural, we need to get off foreign oil, and reducing pollution is always good for other reasons.

Answer 6

The earth does go through natural warming and cooling phases, which are gradual changes, all sufficient for maintaining life. Global warming is just quickening that process which could ultimately cause another ice age.

Answer 7

does it make a difference if you are killed by a Natural change in climate
or
A real Global Warming

both sound real to me
and both can kill

150.000 people are reported to die each year because of Global Warming this is expected to double soon for them the definition was a moot point.

And listen to Dana and bob they also have a point

Answer 8

While Elvi waits for Santa, on your two major points; the warming we have experienced falls within usual climate cycles, the time scale don't. The story about scientists predicting an ice age is nonsense, just part of the denier conspiracy theory that it's all a hoax perpetrated by all those evil scientists trying to trick you so they can get rich.

Answer 9

Global warming is both real and natural, it's just being accelerated my the actions of man.

Answer 10

If you want to know what stance you should take on everyday decisions then global warming isn't crucial to many of the issues which it informs.

Is it better to do the right thing for the wrong reason, or the wrong thing for the right reason?