The Global Warming Thread

[Babbler]

Since there be recent talk here at the OT, and several books and a movie (Winds of Change, Field Notes from a Catastrophe, The Weather Makers and An Inconvenient Truth) on the topic of anthropogenic global warming. Thus, IIHO, it is time to start an "official" type thread (in the vein of Perfection KO Creationism). Also is a simple poll: Do you believe that anthropogenic global warming is occurring and will have a major impact on human life in the 21st century and beyond?

I been somewhat of a skeptic, but upon closer examination, my answer to my question is a definite yes. I noticed the winters here becoming warming, and summers hotter; the glaciers and ice caps of the world are shrinking; and the biogeographical distribution of species are shifting, etc. While all these events separately may have better answers than a general warming trend, they are occurring all the same time. The evidence is convergent; the scientific community is in almost total agreement. To quote Roger Ebert:

Global warming is real.

It is caused by human activity.

 

[BasketCase]

Insufficient poll options.

Chalk me up in the "not sure and not worried" column.

 

[AL_DA_GREAT]

There used to be lions in northern France a couple of 10 000s of years ago. And a few million years ago the temperature where the polar ice caps are today was 20-26 degrees.

 

[Sidhe]

Insufficient poll options.

Chalk me up in the "not sure and not worried" column.

Ah the conservative don't care, buy a big car type

To be honest I find the not sure position untenable these days I used to be not sure but then when I actually learnt something about it I was much more sure and have been getting steadily surer with the weight of scientific evidence, when governments start putting think tanks on it and investing large amounts of money, then that only makes you surer because these people are generally asshats when it comes to understanding science.

 

[azzaman333]

Dont know, dont care. I dont trust either sid eof the argument, so i just assume its a tiny effect that we are doing a little to.

 

[Che Guava]

I do think that we are making a difference. How much of one, I can't say...

 

[ComradeDavo]

Of course it is real, and whats more I tend to find that anyone who doesn't believe it is either a)in the pay of a government or b) In a really warm country already.

Recently in the Uk there were graphs on the news and so on showing how temprature increase is linked with human activity. When you link that with how the weather has become more 'extreme' lately you soon notice that climate change is happening here and now.

 

[bathsheba666]

There used to be lions in northern France a couple of 10 000s of years ago. And a few million years ago the temperature where the polar ice caps are today was 20-26 degrees.

And how many of the billions alive on earth today, would be underwater if instantly transported back in time to then?

Thought:
That's a pretty good blaze going there already.
So it hardly matters if I throw some petrol on it?

 

[FriendlyFire]

There used to be lions in northern France a couple of 10 000s of years ago. And a few million years ago the temperature where the polar ice caps are today was 20-26 degrees.

Uh?
Didnt you say that there were lions in france 50,000 years ago(in a previous post) ?

Then I pointed out that ice core samples from around 50,000 years ago show that currently we are experiencing climatic changes on a scale unseen in 50,000 years which ironicly was the last great extinction ?

 

[Xenocrates]

I was going to start a similar thread. They say that great minds think alike; I wonder what happened here?

Humans are obviously responsible for climate change. That can't be doubted because local climates are affected by deforestation etc. The big question is whether global climate change can be caused by humans. We know that climate depends on atmospheric composition and we know that we are changing that. Whether we can predict specifically how this will affect the microclimate in a particular place is another matter.

I have mixed feelings about climate change. The medicine against climate change is also the medicine for poverty, social chaos, crime, unhappiness and resource shortages etc. I think that without climate change there would be no incentive to fix these other problems.

'Greening up' will create millions of jobs, redistribute wealth into the countryside, reduce war and the areas with good sunlight and spur technological advancement. It's starting to do that now. This medicine is extremely potent (a panacea), but we won't accept it unless climate change skeptics are humbled.

Basketcase get humble immediately!

 

[crabapple]

no this climate change isnt mans doing, but its good that the goverments belives that so they spend money on making the planet more envoirment friendly

 

[Perfection]

Yeah, it's real. The interestin question is exactly how global warming will run its course and how bad things might get.

 

[bhsup]

As I've said before, unless someone can show me how man was responsible for every other warming period or mini ice age that the earth has had since man has been around, I'm not going to believe we're responsible for this one either. There have been warmer periods and cooler periods in recorded history, so I'm not exactly losing any sleep over a 1 degree rise in temperature. Big whoop.

 

[Perfection]

As I've said before, unless someone can show me how man was responsible for every other warming period or mini ice age that the earth has had since man has been around, I'm not going to believe we're responsible for this one either.

Why not?

There have been warmer periods and cooler periods in recorded history,

This warming trend has a distinctly antropogenic mechanism, and is changing on a faster than normal rate.

so I'm not exactly losing any sleep over a 1 degree rise in temperature. Big whoop.

it's not just a 1 degree rise in temperature. It's a massive global climate shift. When the temperature gets raised, wind flows different ways and what was once one climate is now another.

 

[bhsup]

Why not?

Why? There is no proof that mankind is responsible for it. Is the earth's core responsible? Is solar activity responsible for it? Are natural cycles of global cooling and warming responsible for it?

 

[Xenocrates]

Who said it was going to be a 1 degree rise. This is a global average. There could be far bigger swings than that locally. Then you've got to factor in the rainfall changes, wind changes and possibly even the geological changes.

As far as I can tell, some people don't want to be inconvenienced by reducing car use and taking responsibility for their own energy production etc. We're not nomads any more and we can't easilly move to escape flooding etc. That inconvenience would be far more serious.

You'd support military action on the other side of the World, but not tougher building regulations?

 

[azzaman333]

This year, winter came a lot earlier, making things much colder much quicker, compared to the last 2 years. Therefore, we shouldnt be worrying about global warming, but global cooling.

 

[Sidhe]

Well our winter was mild this year and came very late so what do you say to that master scientist

 

[azzaman333]

Well our winter was mild this year and came very late so what do you say to that master scientist

I'm cold.

Although, my sample space is similar to the global warming space. In 100 years, it has gotten warmer. In the last 100 years, we have used factories and cars and other pollution making deviecs. Therefore, we must be doing it. I cant believe that we would have that large an effect on the planet.

 

[Sidhe]

well put a bloody jumper on, if that fails where a coat indoors.

Anyway apparently only people in finland know what cold is and it's beyond absolute zero if IIRC.

It never dropped below zero in England this winter at least during the day. That's fairly unusual.