Global Warming Cause: People or Planetary Mechanics?

[Turtle]

Keeping it kurrent.:)

 

You Know What To Do.

/forums/images/smilies/banana_sign.gif

[TheFaithfulStone]

It depends, under which circumstances am I less dead?

 

It's people but it doesn't matter. We better try to fix it anyway.

 

TFS

[InfiniteNow]

Sorry Turtle. Can't offer my vote on this one. The two are absolutely not mutually exclusive.

[learnin to learn]

Dont both cause global warming? I know our industry, car's exaust, etc. cause global warming. But, forest fires and other natural disasters cause global warming as well.

[pgrmdave]

My biggest problem with global warming is that we don't really know enough about the earth's temperatures, from what I understand. We have general ideas of temperatures over time, but not much information on why they change, or the small fluctuations year to year.

[learnin to learn]

My biggest problem with global warming is that we don't really know enough about the earth's temperatures, from what I understand. We have general ideas of temperatures over time, but not much information on why they change, or the small fluctuations year to year.

 

I agree with you.

[TheFaithfulStone]

Our ideas are better than you think.

 

http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2005/12/natural-variability-and-climate-sensitivity/

 

Here's a riddle.

 

Q: How is catastrophic climate change like Soylent Green?

 

A: It's people! It's peeeeeooooople

 

Can planetary mechanics cause climate change? Sure - but in this case they're not. It's several hundred years of industrial gas output.

 

TFS

 

here's another

one more for the road!

your momma believes in global warming.

maybe it's hopeless, but it's sure as heck real

stock up on sunblock

[C1ay]

I didn't answer because I couldn't check both boxes. There is no doubt that man's emmissions of grreenhouse gases contribute to any natural cycle of the earth's climate. We know in fact that increased solar activity in the '90s contributed as well. IMO, global warming is real and man plays a part in it but, I don't think we can say there is any one cause.

[ronthepon]

Yup, planetary mechenics has the potential, but today it's the people behind it.

[learnin to learn]

true true.

[pgrmdave]

I just don't think that it has been conclusively shown that human activity is the greatest cause of climate change. I do think that human activity has a large impact on the climate, I simply don't think that we're nearly as powerful or important as we'd like to think. We seem to have this idea that the rest of nature is stagnant, and any time it changes, it's because of us. I am not denying that humans are a cause of climate change, merely that I don't think that we are the greatest cause of climate change. We only have accurate temperature data for a very, very limited period of time, and we're trying to determine why things are happening. Compare the earth's temperature to the stock market - if you study all the numbers for two months, you still can't really predict things with accuracy day to day, week to week, or month to month. However, if you study the numbers over the past eight decades, then you have a good chance of predicting the overall trends for the next decade or so. With the earth's temperature, we have a few decades of accurate data vs. millions of years of cycles.

[learnin to learn]

I just don't think that it has been conclusively shown that human activity is the greatest cause of climate change. I do think that human activity has a large impact on the climate, I simply don't think that we're nearly as powerful or important as we'd like to think. We seem to have this idea that the rest of nature is stagnant, and any time it changes, it's because of us. I am not denying that humans are a cause of climate change, merely that I don't think that we are the greatest cause of climate change. We only have accurate temperature data for a very, very limited period of time, and we're trying to determine why things are happening. Compare the earth's temperature to the stock market - if you study all the numbers for two months, you still can't really predict things with accuracy day to day, week to week, or month to month. However, if you study the numbers over the past eight decades, then you have a good chance of predicting the overall trends for the next decade or so. With the earth's temperature, we have a few decades of accurate data vs. millions of years of cycles.

 

Considier this. there are around 6.5 billion human beings on earth. The United States contains roughly 300 million. As the US became an industrialized nation, air pollution steadily increased. In most of the US's big cities there are permanent clouds of smog.

In Mexico City, the largest city in the world (population wise), the air is posionous to breath. All this because of industrialization. In the past couple of years, the worlds temperature has risen 3or 4 degrees. I know that does not seem a lot, but it is.

As you know China's population is more than a billion people. Until recently, there main form of energy and heat has been coal. China also did not have emission regulations unitl about 2 years ago.

What else could be causeing global warming? Forest Fires? Volcanic eruptions? yes the do contribute to global warming, but in the long run, we are responsible for what happens to this planet. We burn the fossil fuels that destroy the ozone layer.

[pgrmdave]

So there is a lot of pollution being produced, but how does it compare to what is normally, naturally produced? What else could cause global warming? Different sun conditions, coming out of a colder phase, different forms of life existing, different conditions based on techtonic plate movements (unlikely, but possible). Keep in mind that the earth went through many, many cycles before humans existed - what caused them? Did the dinosaurs have a bustling economy that we're unaware of? And why are we responsible for what happens to this planet? We obviously care about it, as it's our home, but who made us responsible? I'm fairly certain that the earth could run just fine without us, or any other species. For that matter, I'm sure the universe would be just fine without any life at all. We don't matter that much. And fossil fuels don't destroy the ozone layer, CFCs do.

[learnin to learn]

So there is a lot of pollution being produced, but how does it compare to what is normally, naturally produced? What else could cause global warming? Different sun conditions, coming out of a colder phase, different forms of life existing, different conditions based on techtonic plate movements (unlikely, but possible). Keep in mind that the earth went through many, many cycles before humans existed - what caused them? Did the dinosaurs have a bustling economy that we're unaware of? And why are we responsible for what happens to this planet? We obviously care about it, as it's our home, but who made us responsible? I'm fairly certain that the earth could run just fine without us, or any other species. For that matter, I'm sure the universe would be just fine without any life at all. We don't matter that much. And fossil fuels don't destroy the ozone layer, CFCs do.

 

thnx for setting me straight on this issue! I never took into consideration global warming before we even walked the earth. :doh: I actually agree with you 100%!:)

[TheFaithfulStone]

I'm fairly certain that the earth could run just fine without us, or any other species. For that matter, I'm sure the universe would be just fine without any life at all. We don't matter that much.

 

True, but how would we fare without the Earth?

 

We are A cause, and if we can put off a climate catastrophe by fixing OUR problem, we probably should.

 

(And it would be a pretty big catastrophe if the climate got warmer. You know, for us.)

 

TFS

[pgrmdave]

Yes we are probably a cause, and yes, it would be devestating to us if the climate got warmer, but if we are a very minor cause, then we shouldn't expect that we will reverse global warming, but that we'll be able to put it off for a month or two. We should stop polluting as much because it causes too much local change too quickly, but we need to start to look at how to live with a warmer globe.

[learnin to learn]

But if we stop polluting the enviroment, will it really help to slow global warming? I mean as you said earlier, the same thing happend millions of years ago with the dinosaurs. History has a way of repeating itself.