The great global warming swindle

[Thorgalaeg]

Hey Urederra what about black holes? Scientists call them holes when they are not holes at all. Another good hole-type argument to add to your repertory.

 

[warpus]

One problem that I have with AGW, is the fact that there have been periods in history when the earth was hotter than it is now. This seems to point that the greater effect on our climate is not man, not that we play no part at al, but I think that the role that we play is greatly over emphasized. Our climate is a complex thing and just blaming one thing on all the increase is not really the best thing to do.

Yes, it's incredibly complex.. but we are pumping so many gasses into the atmosphere and so many chemicals into the oceans/lakes/seas that the result must be anything but minor.

It's a question of how significant the response from mother earth is going to be, to balance out our BS.

 

[BasketCase]

And no, we shouldnt pollut the world to spare us from global warming; we've had periods in the close past where the world was much more warm than now, and the planet has pulled through basically intact each time.

While I'm undecided on whether global warming is actually happening, I disagree with you on this.

We're all familiar with the old saw about the asteroid that hit the Earth 65 million years ago and wiped out the dinosaurs. Well, not only is there pretty strong geological and fossil evidence that there have been several such extinctions, there's extensive evidence that the popular 65-million-years-ago incident might not have been caused by an asteroid.

Several of the extinctions appear to be the result, in entirety, of natural processes that went all out of whack for, in entirety, natural reasons. Volcanoes are a prime suspect in the Extinction Level Event that occurred 250 million years ago (that event was, by the way, a LOT worse than the 65-million-years-ago incident). The mantra "don't mess with Mother Nature" is very popular with environmentalists, but it would appear that Mother Nature, every once in a while, arbitrarily wipes out almost all life on Earth for no readily apparent reason.


Moral of the story: we can't really stop messing with the Earth, because we're all about keeping the planet ideally suited for us. But if left alone, the Earth will eventually wipe us out. Por ejemplo: the planet is due for an Ice Age right about now. Can't have that happening. If we want the planet to be comfy for humans, what we're eventually going to have to do is kick Mother Nature out of the driver's seat and take the wheel.

 

[Riffraff]

While I'm undecided on whether global warming is actually happening, I disagree with you on this.

We're all familiar with the old saw about the asteroid that hit the Earth 65 million years ago and wiped out the dinosaurs. Well, not only is there pretty strong geological and fossil evidence that there have been several such extinctions, there's extensive evidence that the popular 65-million-years-ago incident might not have been caused by an asteroid.

Several of the extinctions appear to be the result, in entirety, of natural processes that went all out of whack for, in entirety, natural reasons. Volcanoes are a prime suspect in the Extinction Level Event that occurred 250 million years ago (that event was, by the way, a LOT worse than the 65-million-years-ago incident). The mantra "don't mess with Mother Nature" is very popular with environmentalists, but it would appear that Mother Nature, every once in a while, arbitrarily wipes out almost all life on Earth for no readily apparent reason.


Moral of the story: we can't really stop messing with the Earth, because we're all about keeping the planet ideally suited for us. But if left alone, the Earth will eventually wipe us out. Por ejemplo: the planet is due for an Ice Age right about now. Can't have that happening. If we want the planet to be comfy for humans, what we're eventually going to have to do is kick Mother Nature out of the driver's seat and take the wheel.

that's certainly a valid point - there may certainly come the time when we will consciously have to interfere with nature. But - sligtly varying your metaphor - at the moment we're a three year old toddler, sitting in the cockpit of a 747. Better for us to keep the auto-pilot on for a while.