What is the Cause of Global Warming?

Question

I agree with the fact that the temperature of the earth is rising.
However I do not agree that the cause is solely based on carbon emissions.

In response to: What could possibly reverse the effects of GW?
Boatman1 wrote:
"As an amateur Astronomer:

1. A change in the Sun cycle activity.
2. A change in cosmic rays impacting the upper atmosphere.
3. A change in the solar systems position in the Milky Way Galaxy-- as we rotate around at 220 kilometers per second and pass up and down through the central disk (every 66,000 years).
www.csupomona.edu/~jis/1999/kong.pdf
4. A change in solar wind speed and particle density.
and hundreds of other factors which we know very little about."

So are you going to sit there and say that hands down CO2 is the main cause or are you going to question and challenge those theories? There are so many variables that are not defined in this equation it would be foolish and naive to blindly put your faith into one simple cause.

Answer 1

The Sun is the source for all warming on Earth. The theory that co2 is the cause has been widely disprove, and is no longer the idea supported by the consensus.

"Global warming results not from the emission of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, but from an unusually high level of solar radiation and a lengthy - almost throughout the last century - growth in its intensity,"

the upper layers of the world's oceans are becoming cooler, which is a clear indication that the Earth has hit its temperature ceiling already, and that solar radiation levels are falling and will eventually lead to a worldwide cold spell.

"Instead of professed global warming, the Earth will be facing a slow decrease in temperatures in 2012-2015. The gradually falling amounts of solar energy, expected to reach their bottom level by 2040, will inevitably lead to a deep freeze around 2055-2060,"

Answer 2

Global warming becomes global cooling because when you have invested an enormous amount of energy faking, forging, manipulating data and promoting the false belief that CO2 causes a global temperature rise but the data starts to show a cooling trend then you pull the old switcheroo and optimistically hope everyone is so brain damaged by the real pollutants, mercury, lead, fluoride and Fox news that their mushy minds may even accept that its possible. The reality is of course was that there was no real man-made global warming to begin with, and any slight warming was completely natural. Global temperature is driven mainly by solar activity, and solar flare activity is now at a low so the planet is actually currently cooling after an ever so slight rise. So the answer is..... it can't. One doesn't cause the other the temperature simply fluctuates depending on solar activity.

Answer 3

While many may not like this answer, it is factual.

It appears that aircraft are a major cause with cause and effect evidence.

It is not necessarily CO2 alone.

Grounding aircraft over the US in 2001 (9-11) showed an immediate change in temperature (regionally, diurnally) of over 1 degree C (Travis, 2001).

(Although there is an aviation masking feature that is "hiding/ masking " the issues from scientists (Travis, 2007).

Unlike what the air transport industry claims (less than 3% GHG, which is actually huge for only 7K aircraft), it is obvious that aviation has an immediate and significant impact.

There are also several other correlations to jets: Travis’ study showed that when the jets were removed from the sky that the temperatures basically returned to pre-1950s temperature records; not coincidently, that is the beginning of the “jet-age”. Also, the dramatic increase in the warming is historic and basically started at about the same time following the growth of aviation and grew tremendously from the 1970s. Finally, the amount of temperature that is of concern to us is about the same degree that Travis' found ( >1 degree C) when the planes were grounded. There is also one other correlation that generally everyone forgets about: jet aircraft are the closest mechanisms to the source (emissions and other dynamics released or happening, directly into the upper atmosphere).

However, I too, have always thought it was because of the dynamics of aircraft flight, not necessarily aircraft and/or ground CO2 alone, that was the main culprit, (e.g., Aircraft Dynamics: direct deposits of not naturally occurring organic or inorganic chemicals, contrails, ice crystals, direct deposits of carbon, Nitrogen compounds & direct deposit effects, synergistic effects, atmospheric effects, global winds, direct aircraft vs. indirect ground source amplifying effects , direct particulate matter, all-of-the-above, etc.).

The attempt by governments to massively increase flights (e.g., 2008 economic globalization treaties, will lead to a doubling of flights every 8-10 years until 2050, if left unchecked), could have disastrous consequences.

ADDENDUM: Please keep in mind that the organizations I am with have been studying these issues since the late eighties. We were not able to get aviation considered by the UN (IPCC) until the late nineties; the IPCC has even stated that there is a great deal that they do not know about the effects of aviation.

I have posted an interesting article below:

Answer 4

Where were all you good thinkers when I proposed a similar question last night? I suggested mankind only contributes about 10% to the global warming problem and I got more abuse than a Bush supporter. Having read all these answers I'm glad someone else out there thinks and does not just follow the Herd.

CO2 probably factors in there, but rationing out CO2 emission cards to the public will not solve the global warming problem.

Answer 5

My first answer is: Al Gore is the cause of Global Warming.

Initially, global warming was considered to be a result of the deteriorating ozone layer of the Earth's atmosphere. As the ozone layer deteriorates, more of the sun's harmful UV rays penetrate the atmosphere and cause temperatures to be hotter. Increased levels of CO2 are thought to be the cause of the deterioration of the ozone layer, and Democrats such as Al Gore point to industrialization as the cause.

The problem with blaming industry and working people who have jobs is that Mars is also experiencing global warming but, to our knowledge, has no industry or sign of life. So, the rest of the galaxy is also experiencing global warming regardless of industry on Earth.

Also, there are fissures at the bottom of ocean beds where heat from the earth's core is making some impact on the oceans. That too is being discounted by Al Gore and the media.

Ultimately, global warming is just a part of the natural cycle. The earth has warmed over millenia and cooled over millennia, and mankind has adapted well and continued to improve life through the development of technology and will continue to do so.

Answer 6

The answer is so insane and so simple that it escapes almost everyone or they blame something else. Are you ready? Humanity. Humans are the only creatures on this planet that create waste in such an abundant supply that we have to formulate plans to deal with it and even when someone stands up and says we need to change they get shot down over and over the answer to your question the cause of global warming is humanity

Answer 7

All of those theories are plausible and require more research. GW activists like to pretend that they are disproven when they are not. They need to make this claim because they have no proof that CO2 is causing the warming. They simply insist that there is no other explaination so it must be human produced CO2. Such thinking is not science - it is dogma.
In the future I expect we will find that warming is caused by many factors and it cannot be attributed to any single cause.

Answer 8

These theories have been disproven.

1. Solar output has decreased over the past 30 years as global warming has accelerated rapidly.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6290228.stm

2. There are several fundamental flaws with the cosmic ray theory, the biggest one being that there is no long-term trend in cosmic ray flux on Earth. There is a long-term upward trend in tempratures.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Ahuxfpv5RzyHSeqsVZ1fxnEjzKIX;_ylv=3?qid=20071030112550AA7AXSu

3) Ridiculous theory. Why would this significantly impact the Earth's climate?

4) See #3.

There are many basic scientific facts which can only be explained if the current global warming is being caused by an increased greenhouse effect due to carbon dioxide accumulating in the atmosphere from humans burning fossil fuels.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=As6MMc8lLk5ZrMSOAhywS77sy6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20071215102828AAxyWW6

Answer 9

Mostly us, mostly by burning fossil fuels.

Do you actually think that thousands of scientists say this without having considered other causes?

We know it's not the Sun, because we measure the Sun.

"Recent oppositely directed trends in solar
climate forcings and the global mean surface
air temperature", Lockwood and Frolich (2007), Proc. R. Soc. A
doi:10.1098/rspa.2007.1880

http://www.pubs.royalsoc.ac.uk/media/proceedings_a/rspa20071880.pdf

News article at:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6290228.stm

The cosmic ray theory has been examined and proven false. The proof:

http://environment.newscientist.com/channel/earth/climate-change/dn11651

How can you claim that the following are "foolish and blind"?

National Academy of Sciences
American Association for the Advancement of Science, EVERY major scientific organization.

Most every world leader.

Etc.

Sorry, but saying that is not credible.

This question shows a lack of knowledge of the science that's been developed.

Contrast it with Dunham32s excellent, and data based answer.

Good websites for that science:

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

Answer 10

I agree that we don't understand the mechanics behind what causes the demonstrably proven cycle of heating and cooling of the planet. However, what everyone NEEDS to understand...

This is NOT about science and facts and truth, and never HAS been. It's about finding some way to get ignorant masses of people to believe, through fear, that a certain elite group of individuals should be given political power to tax and control behavior. That's the whole thing in a nutshell.