Poll: Global warming: what are your views?

[StonkThis]

Yes, the planet's warming, are we causing it? I have no idea, but I think we aren't helping it, and then there's the whole thing that it might be a cycle the earth does. As for the guy replying with the fire song. You. Rock.

 

[TheYellowCellPhone]

I have to second what my Dad says:

"Global Warming is God's way of saying, 'You're not having a second Ice Age!'"

 

[Carlston]

I think it's a fact, but I don't think that humans are the sole cause of it. Throughout Earth's history the temperature has fluctuated - Antartica used to have a forest, if science is to be believed.
Humans are only adding fuel to a fire that's already burning, in my opinion.

So what your saying is,

We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it

Not at all. That last line in particular.
We're hardly doing anything significant to prevent or mitigate it. While I believe it's a natural phenomenon, humans are both accelerating and exacerbating it to a very large extent. Can it be stopped? Possibly, but even if it were doable, it would take action on a scale that would make it a practical impossibility, if not a literal one.
Can it be slowed? Yes, but again I doubt we'll be doing anything significant.
Can it be reversed? No.
Can it be dealt with? Yes, I believe this is the route we'll be taking in fact. The human race will find ways to deal with climate change while somehow maintaining their current standard of living. We're very inventive when it comes to adapting, not so much when it comes to giving stuff up.

It's arrogant to think humans can change the climate short of kicking up enough dirt and ash with nukes to cover the planet, and it's even worse when mother nature changes the world a human can change that as well...unless we get flat out terraforming but that will still require upkeep.

Alarmist garbage, scientists needing funding foolishness. Always has been.

I've only studied a basic course in chemistry and I don't see why it's "arrogant" to believe in atoms and their diverse properties and effects when combined into molecules and ions in different shape and form.

Because the effects of human industry won't be figured out for probley a good... one thousand years of weather records. Hell human history isn't a sneeze in the future of this planet. The chemistry can be sounds, but it said the detonation of a nuke would flash fry evey O2 atom on the planet...saw how well that worked out in application to science theory.

 

[Orcus The Ultimate]

It's not Global Warming like you think, i've been talking to several geologists and geomorphologists one of them is my dad, and most of them tell that this process is temporary, and that the next glaciation is coming, but late. there were already proofs of detailed maps in the middle ages that there was no north pole for some time, and then centuries after it reappeared...

now it's your way to choose if it's probable or not.

 

[Datalord]

YAY, another global warming thread, i haven't seen one of these since yesterday

SEARCH BAR, its right there at the top right of the page, USE IT

 

[Graustein]

Because the effects of human industry won't be figured out for probley a good... one thousand years of weather records. Hell human history isn't a sneeze in the future of this planet. The chemistry can be sounds, but it said the detonation of a nuke would flash fry evey O2 atom on the planet...saw how well that worked out in application to science theory.

Figured out as in understood completely? I don't know if we'll ever have that. Figured out as in established that it's extremely harmful to the environment? We've already got that.

Humanity has been the direct cause of innumerable extinctions, widespread deforestation and desertification, huge smog clouds and oil slicks. It's anything but arrogant to think that we've got no effect on the environment. While you're correct in saying that humanity is just a blip in the planet's future, that doesn't change the enormous impact we're having right now. Some of the effects won't be apparent for hundreds of years, but many are apparent even as we speak.

As for the "destruction of O2" theory that accompanied nuclear testing, that was just one hypothesis among many as to what would happen when we did something that we'd never done before. The fact that we tried it anyway makes it pretty obvious to me that not only was it not the only hypothesis, it wasn't even the dominant one.

 

[KurtzGallahad]

Climate change is out there, WE ARE FUCKED


YYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!
LET'S FUCKING PARTY!

 

[jonnosferatu]

Uhhhh.

I could post something meaningful.

Or I could just direct you all to the thread that did this last week and contains basically all of the meaningful discussion we're likely to get.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/528.159568#4011366

 

[demoman_chaos]

Last summer was the coldest summer in my town's history. We never broke 100 this year, and barely broke 90 (last couple of years broke 110 some days, and day a few years ago the low for the night was 90).

The Earth naturally changes its temperature. There were several ice ages, but none since well before even ancient Egypt. I think the Earth is gradually going to get hotter until we hit a heat age.

 

[Internet Kraken]

The world will die, humans are just speeding it up. We're like cancer (for lack of a better word... and to express my utter disdain for our race).

That....makes no sense. How can we be killing something that isn't alive?

so the world isnt alive? it isnt a giant ball of water and minerals with a molten core and little bacteria crawling all over it? the world is "practically" alive and when it ceases to produce life then it will die

No, Earth is not alive. Earth is a rock. You can say there are living things on Earth, but the planet itself is not living.

Which is why it makes no sense to call humans the cancer of Earth.

YAY, another global warming thread, i haven't seen one of these since yesterday

This is the fourth climate thread I've seen today. Why are we all talking about global warming again? It's not like it's the only environmental issue out there.

 

[Carlston]

Because the effects of human industry won't be figured out for probley a good... one thousand years of weather records. Hell human history isn't a sneeze in the future of this planet. The chemistry can be sounds, but it said the detonation of a nuke would flash fry evey O2 atom on the planet...saw how well that worked out in application to science theory.

Figured out as in understood completely? I don't know if we'll ever have that. Figured out as in established that it's extremely harmful to the environment? We've already got that.

Humanity has been the direct cause of innumerable extinctions, widespread deforestation and desertification, huge smog clouds and oil slicks. It's anything but arrogant to think that we've got no effect on the environment. While you're correct in saying that humanity is just a blip in the planet's future, that doesn't change the enormous impact we're having right now. Some of the effects won't be apparent for hundreds of years, but many are apparent even as we speak.

As for the "destruction of O2" theory that accompanied nuclear testing, that was just one hypothesis among many as to what would happen when we did something that we'd never done before. The fact that we tried it anyway makes it pretty obvious to me that not only was it not the only hypothesis, it wasn't even the dominant one.

If the planet doesn't want us anymore the planet will get rid of us. Or evolve different animals... Like I posted elsewhere. I don't like the idea of pollution or waste for the sake of doing it. We aren't Captain planet villians, but warming/co2/carbon foot print is all based in fantasy.

And the funny things is this news clip Most delegates to the climate change conference haven't exactly been hoofing their way to Denmark's capital, swarming the city's airport with 140 private jets, 1,200 hired limousines and a carbon footprint the size of a small country.

That's how the world leaders take it, kinda like the overfishing for lobster at the world hunger summit. Love the leaders.

 

[Nova5]

You forgot to add a "Don't care" option in your poll.

I've long since ceased to give a shit, between the Republicans and Democrats in congress bickering and the scientists and 'scientists' arguing back and forth.

You know what? It's irrelevant, because it's either real and will eventually kill us (as it being real doesn't mean we would actually change to fix it*), or it's not real, and we'll blow ourselves up.

Either way, I win.

*Okay, qualifying statement: Even if the 'West' changes, developing nations could care less. They're more concerned with things like making enough to afford what meager scraps they can subsist on, not making their refineries more 'eco-friendly'. And somehow I don't think the 'go green' campaigns will have much effect on their attitudes.

 

[DarkRyter]

It can only be stopped by the Batman.

 

[Lord_Durin]

While the earth has gotten warmer recently, but i have found no reason to get worked up about it because of two reasons;
1: This

The planet has been a lot warmer and a lot cooler. It's just the way nature works.

2: Even if global warming kills the planet, I plan to be either dead or on mars when earth starts to burn.

 

[Carlston]

Ca

It's arrogant to think humans can change the climate short of kicking up enough dirt and ash with nukes to cover the planet, and it's even worse when mother nature changes the world a human can change that as well...unless we get flat out terraforming but that will still require upkeep.

Alarmist garbage, scientists needing funding foolishness. Always has been.[/quote]

I've only studied a basic course in chemistry and I don't see why it's "arrogant" to believe in atoms and their diverse properties and effects when combined into molecules and ions in different shape and form.[/quote]

Because the effects of human industry won't be figured out for probley a good... one thousand years of weather records. Hell human history isn't a sneeze in the future of this planet. The chemistry can be sounds, but it said the detonation of a nuke would flash fry evey O2 atom on the planet...saw how well that worked out in application to science theory.[/quote]

Just because you can't properly interpret science doesn't make it false.
I've heard about that "nuke flash fry 02" thing, and I'm pretty sure you understand it incorrectly. I do remember reading an article about the Tsar-bomba though, mentioning something about how there was a very small chance of the hydrogen in the atmosphere igniting or something...Don't know enough to make a solid statement though.

Sneeze in the history of the planet? Chronologically, yes, our EXISTENCE is a sneeze in the history of the planet, but the technology we master and the discoveries we are about to make and the cost this has had on our earth so far are FAR from a fucking sneeze, and you'd have to be mighty dumb to seriously think so. Just look at how, even many hundreds of years ago(before our vast technological advancements), we could chop down giant trees who had existed thousands of years before us in a matter of hours. And that's just a small scale. We have barrier reefs disappearing, thousands of species of wildlife and flora extinct or threatened, pollutions in the air which actually sicken even ourselves, acidic rain...All of it NOT caused by nature, but by us.

There is even a town in the USA which used to house around 50,000 inhabitants, if I remember correctly. It's a ghost town now, because humans set fire to it from the inside out. The down has been burning from underground and will continue to do so for 250 years, when the local dump, aka "abandoned mine", was set on fire to complete the "waste disposal". The fire never stopped. And that was just someone lighting some gasoline-drenched garbage! Don't you think our huge industries can do better than that?

I've only had a scrape at the surface of WHY and HOW any of this is happening on a scientific level, what chemical reactions are the cause and other things, and I can definitely see how it is extremely believable that we also have an impact on the greenhouse effect (global warming).[/quote]

See else where to I like the enviroment and am against pollution and waste of resources.
But the buzz word doomsday babble of greenhouse, global warming and carbon footprints will to this day be the joke of the science community in meat, but they doomsayer gold in research grants.

Scientists aren't paid to say everything is ok, but they can come up with better than global warming...