Global Warming

[Noam]

Is it real? How real? Is it caused by humans?

Use factual evidence, no rednecking

Cite your sources if you can. For the purposes of this discussion, Wikipedia WILL count as factual evidence.

 

[blazinfasstt]

animals excrete more greenhouse gasses than humans.

also, what do you think happened to the dinosaurs, was it their factories?

i am not sure if they properly understand the effects underlying global warming, but there appears to be a relatively rapid shift in temperature happening.

 

[malakadang]

Excess amounts of Carbon Dioxide will cause a dense atmosphere, causing sunlight and heat to be trapped in with no escape. See Venus's atmosphere in comparison to Mercuries. The temperature of Mercury is far less than Venus's yet it is far closer to the sun.

That being said, the debate should be more about do humans really make a difference? Large forests fires, Volcano eruptions, animals farting, these cause an exponential amount of Carbon Dioxide release into the atmosphere. I feel that whether or not we cease to, or continue to burn fossil fuels, the Earths atmosphere will continue to thicken trapping in more and more sunlight, raising the temperatures ever so slightly.

 

[Noam]

Look at this picture. It is global temperature for 420,000 years (note it goes right to left IDK why) : http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b8/Vostok_Petit_data.svg

Notice that global warming is a completely natural occurence. These cycles have persisted for millenia, long before humans ever existed.

Humans hurt the environment in completely different ways. Global warming should be the least of our concerns. It's fighting for a lost cause.

Many things, such as toxic waste and non-biodegradable materials have a much more massive and uncared for effect. TBH, if every dollar wasted on global warming (about $6 trillion so far in the US alone) was spent on actually saving the environment, the world would be in a much better situation. Even better, the money could be spent on national debt.

 

[Dave.]

humans do have an affect with all the rice paddy fields, cattle fields, cards, burning coal and other fossil feuls and finally cutting down rainforests.

 

[Noam]

Let me tell you a story.

Once upon a time, there was a place called Siberia. In Siberia, there were hundreds of volcanoes. One day, every single volcano erupted, releasing more than 2 million cubic meters of lava in only a few thousand years. An area the size of all Europe was drowned in destruction. Along with the lava, over 2 quadrillion tons of CO2 were released into the air. This is about 25000 times the current amount of CO2 in the air.
Everything died.

Do you really think humans have a capacity for that kind of destruction? Even if they cover the world in cows that graze on rice patches and breathe fire onto coal to turn it into energy, do you really think that humans can do things on the scale of that story?

No, they can't, cause they would die too.

 

[oxodium]

Let me tell you a story.

Once upon a time, there was a place called Siberia. In Siberia, there were hundreds of volcanoes. One day, every single volcano erupted, releasing more than 2 million cubic meters of lava in only a few thousand years. An area the size of all Europe was drowned in destruction. Along with the lava, over 2 quadrillion tons of CO2 were released into the air. This is about 25000 times the current amount of CO2 in the air.
Everything died.

Do you really think humans have a capacity for that kind of destruction? Even if they cover the world in cows that graze on rice patches and breathe fire onto coal to turn it into energy, do you really think that humans can do things on the scale of that story?

No, they can't, cause they would die too.

You answered your own question?

I would say humans contribute greatly to global warming, there are around 7 billion humans alive right now, more than any other animal. We breed cows, which produce methane and contribute to global warming, we cut down rainforests and increase the amount of co2 in the atmosphere, I could just keep listing things...

Without the human race, the earth would be a much cleaner place.

 

[Novaray]

humans did it, admit it republicans

 

[malyce]

You answered your own question?

I would say humans contribute greatly to global warming, there are around 7 billion humans alive right now, more than any other animal. We breed cows, which produce methane and contribute to global warming, we cut down rainforests and increase the amount of co2 in the atmosphere, I could just keep listing things...

Without the human race, the earth would be a much cleaner place.

*Species, and you're correct. Some people argue this is natural. I argue there are glaciers melting that have NEVER melted in the history of the Earth. It's not natural, it's a recent development, and the only thing that has changed is the density of the human populace and the lack of consideration of the emissions we create.

 

[Noam]

I argue there are glaciers melting that have NEVER melted in the history of the Earth.

Then you're wrong. Every glacier has and will melt at some point because of continental drift and changes in the earth's tilt.

Note that I don't argue that humans don't hurt the environment at all. Only that global warming is total bullshit and we're wasting money that could be better spent cleaning the oceans and saving rainforests because of ANIMALS, not global warming. Rainforests aren't important because they collect Co2, but because they allow millions of species to survive.

environmentalists don't recognize that toxic liquid spills into oceans and rivers are much more dangerous than moderately harmless gases getting into the air, the gas doesn't kill anything. The petroleum byproducts do.

the world has been much warmer before and will be much warmer again, and some things will die, because they didn't adapt to the circumstances. That's entirely their own fault

Also, to the other guy, It's called a rhetorical question.

 

[malyce]

Then you're wrong. Every glacier has and will melt at some point because of continental drift and changes in the earth's tilt.

Note that I don't argue that humans don't hurt the environment at all. Only that global warming is total bullshit and we're wasting money that could be better spent cleaning the oceans and saving rainforests because of ANIMALS, not global warming. Rainforests aren't important because they collect Co2, but because they allow millions of species to survive.

Actually, there is no scientific evidence posted anywhere to back up your claim. In fact, continental drift does occur, but leaves the polar ice caps frozen over. Changes in the Earth's tilt is called "wobble" and the Earth has always spun off axis. Glacial melt; however, is a relatively new thing. If you look at the temperatures over the past 50 years, it has steadily been on the rise. If you look at when things like CFCs were largely used and the toxicity of air (coupled with the condition of the ozone) over that time span, you'll see a surprising correlation between temperature of the planet and condition of our atmosphere.

And you can't blame this on polar shift, either. Its true, we are overdue for our north and south pole to flip, but those wouldn't cause the greenhouse effect our planet is currently facing.

In fact, do you understand the Coriolis effect? There's another large correlation between the Coriolis winds and the areas of highest rising temperature, indicating once again that pollution is causing our climate instability.

But what do I know, I only have a physics degree.

Oh, to answer your rainforest statement, where's your proof of that? Rainforests are lush with plant life, so much so that they themselves are doing quite an impressive job at detouring greenhouse gasses though photosynthesis. They're not as impressive as sea algae, but they're just as important to the ecosystem and planet life.

 

[Kodak]

Imo its real, and in the end does it even matter? Worst case scenario if we do believe it is lost cash, worst case if we don't, lost world.

 

[Noam]

Actually, there is no scientific evidence posted anywhere to back up your claim. In fact, continental drift does occur, but leaves the polar ice caps frozen over. Changes in the Earth's tilt is called "wobble" and the Earth has always spun off axis. Glacial melt; however, is a relatively new thing. If you look at the temperatures over the past 50 years, it has steadily been on the rise. If you look at when things like CFCs were largely used and the toxicity of air (coupled with the condition of the ozone) over that time span, you'll see a surprising correlation between temperature of the planet and condition of our atmosphere.

Then you misunderstand me. every glacier has melted at some point, because the polar caps are not one huge glacier. because they are made of lots of little bits, the individual glaciers get jostled around and eventually melt. Continental drift also matters because ice concentrates around continents. If you examine the Ice caps when Gondwana was nearing the south pole, you would see this is true.

Most of my claim here is that the environment is extremely important, but that humans are protecting it for the wrong reasons.

Just a little factiod for the person who will talk about electric cars: the amount of energy used to extract all the resources a car is made of have a massive effect on the environment. It nears the amount of coal used to create the electricity electric cars run on in the first place.

 

[Karl V2]

Do you understand the definition of Global Warming?

Laymens terms: The increase of surface temperature of the Earth because of trapped Infra-red rays.. They're trapped because of increased Co2 creating a stronger Greenhouse Effect.

Its happened before, theres proof in ice cores mined from Antarctica, its a natural process.. but with the increase of Co2 currently, we're speeding up this natural process, We wont survive.

 

[CheeseyChicken]

Again, it's been proved it's real, no arguement tbh

 

[SamBooDii]

In Soviet Russia there is no global warming

 

[malakadang]

Again, it's been proved it's real, no arguement tbh

What hasn't been proven is how much humans really do affect the atmosphere. Yes, CO² emissions do create a dense atmosphere, trapping heat in and ultimately the temperature increases. But, how much do we contribute to it?

Hypothetically, if everyone stopped emitting CO² into the atmosphere for a day, it would be countered by a simple bushfire, or perhaps a volcano.

 

[uselesspoop]

Statistics and models have shown that global warming is indeed happening, and we are the cause of it.

Forest fires, rearing of animals, clearance of huge amounts of forests for our use...

I think we are approaching the point of no return soon, so yeah, bye world ;(