I don't understand global warming..?

Question

Can someone help me understand!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Answer 1

OK, I'll try and help, here goes:

Understanding global warming is really very simple:
Global warming is simply the fact that the temperature of the planet has been gradually increasing over a long period of time. It is really as simple as that.

Although there have been years that were very cold (the so-called "years with no summer") and years that were very warm (years with no winter), the average temperatures over the entire planet have increased gradually since the last ice age. Even though the average temperatures have only increased a few degrees and is hardly noticeable, we know they have increased because of the accelerated melting and permanent disappearance of glaciers and ice caps that have been frozen since the last ice age. This is only one of many reasons scientists as well as the rest of us can observe that global warming is indeed real and happening.

The reasons behind global warming can often be complex and sometimes lead to confusion and debate. The things that global warming does to planet earth are also cause for concern.

We know that earth has experienced cooling and warming trends over long periods of time (thousands of years) and most of the time this is when humans were too scarce to be considered a creator of global warming.

But now that there are over 6 billion people on the planet, and the industries and economies needed to support all these people are so huge, it is conceivable that the pollution we create and changes we have made to the surface of the planet (cutting down forests and replacing them with roads, parking lots, sidewalks, buildings and farming) are creating and / or are bringing about global warming. The changes that have been made to the surface of the planet have allowed more heat in from the sun. The increased carbon monoxide (CO2) emissions from cars, factories, burning forests, people and animals somehow helps to trap this heat that would normally dissipate or be reflected back into space. Snow cover also helps to reflect the sun's rays and heat back into space. Therefore, the increased lack of snow cover allows more sunlight and heat in to heat the surface of the planet - oceans, earth, and what remains of the ice caps on the north and south poles. All this leads to more global warming.

So, since we know that natural global warming and cooling cycles will probably continue with or without us, and we know that our activities are, if anything, contributing to warming followed perhaps by a severe backlash into severe global cooling (another Ice Age) then the conclusion for most people is that we have to find and use a solution to at least try and stop the global warming that we create, so that hopefully, and if possible, things won't become so bad that we can't do anything about it. That's the big idea anyway. If we can do anything about global warming - the effects of our efforts remain to be seen. The trends in warming and cooling happen over a long period of time, so it will be awhile before we know for sure if our efforts to stop excessive global warming shall be effective. And even then, the natural global warming that is occurring anyway may or may not be too much for the civilization of our world to handle - only time will tell for sure.

As you can see, the reasons for and effects of global warming begin to be more complex as they are discussed, but the basics are easy to understand for most people.

So, I'll stop here and hope that this has helped you in your beginning to understand global warming and your journey throught the difficult time ahead that we all face.

I'll also suggest visiting Yahoo's directory page for global warming (see link below) which is an awesome page for this subject, and offers links to all the websites having anything to do with global warming (including sea level rise, opposing views, greenhouse gases, and links to the parent directories of environment, global change and climate change).

http://dir.yahoo.com/Society_and_Culture/Environment_and_Nature/Global_Change/Climate_Change/Global_Warming/

Hey!!! Are there any parents here looking at this question? If you type in "global warming for kids" in Yahoo or Amazon, it leads to a page on Amazon.com that shows a lot of books and resources to help kids and newcomers understand global warming better.

Well, again, hope all this helps in some way. :)

Answer 2

Some gases ("greenhouse gases") let sunlight in, which warms the Earth, and then block that heat from leaving. That's the "greenhouse effect", and it's a natural thing, mostly caused by water vapor.

Man is making excessive amounts of greenhouse gases, mostly by burning fossil fuels. That causes the delicate natural balance to go out of whack and the Earth warms. That's global warming.

It won't be a Hollywood style disaster. Gradually coastal areas will flood and agriculture will be damaged. But it will be very bad. Rich countries will cope, but it will take huge amounts of money. In poor countries many people will die of starvation, but not all of them.

Most scientists say, in 20-50 years. But we need to start right now to fix it, fixing it will take even longer than that.

Really good website for more information here:

http://profend.com/global-warming/

Lots of numerical scientific data proving it real here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Climate_Change_Attribution.png
http://www.ipcc.ch/SPM2feb07.pdf

Proof that most scientists think it's real and mostly caused by us here:

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

Ron C - Your stuff is usually better than this:

"Let me tell you what everyone agrees on. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is not a pollutant."

The Supreme Court of the United States doesn't agree. And their opinion counts, since "pollutant" has serious legal meaning.

http://www.nrdc.org/media/2007/070402.asp

Or the States, like California and New Jersey, that want to regulate CO2 emissions from cars.

And, of course, the many scientists and environmental organizations that say that we desperately need to reduce CO2 emissions.

Come on. "everyone agrees"????????

Answer 3

The theory of global warming is pretty easy to understand but not as easy to evaluate. Many aspects of the science are disputed.

Let me tell you what everyone agrees on. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is not a pollutant. It occurs naturally in the atmosphere and is part of the "carbon cycle." Everyone also agrees the more CO2 in the air, the more likely temperatures are to rise. Think of greenhouse gases (like CO2) as a thermal blanket or a glass greenhouse covering the Earth. For a good history of the theory of global warming, go to http://www.aip.org/history/climate

After those facts, there is disagreement everywhere. For example, the IPCC claims global temps rose by .74C in the last century. But recent evidence seems to indicate this number is vastly overstated - perhaps by half. If the world has only warmed half that much, then we are probably not looking at any kind of future catastrophe. What caused this warming bias in the temperature record? Poorly sited weather stations. Some of them are sitting on top of parking lots!
See some of the pictures at http://surfacestations.org

Another issue is "climate sensitivity" which is the estimated increase in global temperature if the pre-industrial level of CO2 was doubled. The IPCC estimates climate sensitivity in the range of 1.5-4.5C. Obviously if the surface temp record has a warming bias, this estimate is WAY too high. Recently Stephen Schwartz of Brookhaven National Laboratory calculated climate sensitivity using ocean heat content as the metric rather than the global surface temp record. His estimate shows that global warming will not cause any disasters.
http://www.ecd.bnl.gov/steve/pubs/HeatCapacity.pdf

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Contrary to Special Sushi below, global warming is not related to the hole in the ozone layer. This is a somewhat common misconception. The ozone layer is thought to have been destroyed by aerosols. Aerosols in the atmosphere actually cool the Earth, but they destroy the ozone layer. Not a good trade off.

Answer 4

Every year of late the worlds temperature is getting warmer as an average of the year.

Lets say last year the average temperature for the world was 50 degrees 2006 this year 2007 it is 51. This causes Ice to melt at a faster rate causing the water levels to rise causing all sorts of climatic changes ex(hurricanes, major storms, and droughts).

This can be normal cycle of the earth and sun or it could be caused by the Gases the heaters, air conditioners and Vehicles release into the atmosphere. The general belief is that because the average temperature is rising so fast it is not natural but man made.

Answer 5

guy-made international warming is a upward push contained in the advise temperature of the full globe as a results of greenhouse gas emissions. this could have many outcomes, not all of that are properly understood. case in point, it is plausible that the Hadley cellular (convective transport of warmth air from the tropics) will shift poleward. this means that the extreme tension area based close to Bermuda will substitute place, and the jet flow and hurricane song alongside with it. this could advise that some places have warmer and drier winters than contained in the previous, jointly as different places like Britain could have less warm and wetter winters. we are going to understand extra as international climate fashions advance and computers get swifter, allowing larger decision climate fashions to be run. A iciness or 2 is only too short a term to renowned whether or not it is indicative of a protracted-term vogue, nevertheless--it extremely is why the fashions are needed.

Answer 6

Global Warming is a period were the earth heats up, because the ozone layer is shrinking. The ozone layer provides protection from UltraViolet rays which can cause fatal skin cancer. The ozone layer also prevent heat waves from hitting earth from the sun.

Answer 7

well i'll make it as simple as i possibly can.

greenhouse gases(carbon dioxide and methane) are released into the air everyday. the fact that we are so dependant on cars and other carbon dioxide producing products is causing even more carbon dioxide than normal to be released into the air.

Since there is more carbon dioxide and methane in the air than usual, it cannot be gotten rid of naturally. so all the green house gases are just building up in the atmosphere.

this blanket of greenhouse gases around the earth is letting all of the suns rays in, but not letting them out. Thus causing the earth to heat up. Hence global warming.

i hope this was clear enough.

Answer 8

The earth naturally goes through a period of warming nd cooling.
Man assisted warming is becasue green house gasses increasing slightly over time since we have been keeping record.
It isn't global warming that should be ou r primary concern
carryng capacity
is what you really need to worry about

Answer 9

Basically the earth is going through a warming period. Every 1,500 years this happens. In the Middle Ages it was hotter than it is now. It's not a huge deal. The world is not going to end because of it. Eventually we'll go back into a cooling period.

Answer 10

Yea, "global warming" is this decades Y2K bug, the world is ending, man is doomed, scam.