Poll: Global warming: what are your views?

[Internet Kraken]

Yes, I agree.

But it is also true that mankind is making this process happen at an unnatural rate. Which is a problem.

Why is it a problem? Mankind would fully survive another 600ppm in the atmosphere, we can adapt to rising sea levels, we can still grow crops, plant life would love to have more co2 in the atmosphere...where's the problem?

The problems? Well there are a number of potential problems. For one, some countries will not be able to adapt to rising sea levels. There are many areas people currently live in that would be submerged if the sea levels rise to high. Developing Nations would not be able to build sea barriers to counteract this.

Another prediction suggests that all the ice on Greenland melting will screw up Earth's water circulation in the ocean. The warm water that flows to the North will come into contact with the melted snow, causing the water temperatures to drop. This will have the unfortunate effect of sending all of England and portions of the USA's East Coast into an ice age.

There's also the prediction that a rise in temperature will cause further desertification, turning many fertile farm lands into barrens. This would render any agricultural benefits that an increase of CO2 could have provided null.

Of course all of these are just predictions. Nobody knows for sure what would happen.

 

[Oregano]

Whoever doesn't believe global warming is a problem I invite you to Puerto Rico, its December and were still getting 100+ temps during the day.

That's because you, my friend, live in a place called "The tropics."

Those areas are constantly receiving direct sunlight form the sun all year 'round. Which means, you won't experience anything near cold temperatures and expecting such is foolish.

 

[internetzealot1]

Hasn't it been all over the news that a hacker found e-mails that revealed that these scientists were fudging numbers?

 

[FluffyNeurosis]

I don?t care if it is real, I don?t want to pay for it. Any large historical warming in the earths temp is usually accompanied by increased prosperity and food production. And last time I checked we where one giant volcanic eruption away from another Year Without a Summer? so fuck it.

 

[Inverse Skies]

Thanks! I found it. I'm guessing that this is the kind of graph they were using in An Inconvenient Truth, except skewed so it wouldn't contradict the "humans are the biggest cause of global warming" crap they were trying to preach

I believe you'll find that's the infamous (and proved incorrect) "hockey stick" graph.

So much of the climate change theory went on this graph, until they worked out the mathematics behind it were dodgy.

 

[gadafgadaf]

I created this exact thread with similar poll a week and a half ago, i guess i ninja'd him.

 

[Vault boy Eddie]

Whoever doesn't believe global warming is a problem I invite you to Puerto Rico, its December and were still getting 100+ temps during the day.

That's because you, my friend, live in a place called "The tropics."

Those areas are constantly receiving direct sunlight form the sun all year 'round. Which means, you won't experience anything near cold temperatures and expecting such is foolish.

Im sorry, are you telling me what to expect from a place ive lived in for almost 24 years? This kind of temperature at this point in the year is not normal. But you probably checked google, so you know more about the place I reside in than I do. Kudos to you master of the wikipedia.

 

[Symp4thy]

The problem with this whole debate is the ignorance of 99% of the people having it. Now I am by no means an expert, but I do know more than most of the idiots out there.
Here are some facts:
The atmospheric CO2 concentration has risen far beyond levels ever experienced on Earth.
80% of this increase has happened in the past 30 to 40 years.
Humans are most definitely part of the reason.
It is not the end of the world.
It won't kill people to start living a little greener. Better safe than sorry.

Whoever doesn't believe global warming is a problem I invite you to Puerto Rico, its December and were still getting 100+ temps during the day.

Those abnormal temperatures have nothing to do with global warming. You aren't going to literally feel the effects of global warming in air temp...yet/ The global average surface temp has only risen by about 1 degree Celcius. What you are feeling is a temperature anomaly.

However, 1 degree may not sound like much, but it can have significant impacts on the climate and global circulation of energy.

 

[-Orgasmatron-]

I hope it's real, it'll be awesome, we'll get some quality weather in England for a change.

 

[Agema]

I believe you'll find that's the infamous (and proved incorrect) "hockey stick" graph.

So much of the climate change theory went on this graph, until they worked out the mathematics behind it were dodgy.

Ah, the old "hockey stick incorrect" myth.

Yes, there were some inadequacies in the background mathematics, but even the statistician (Edward Wegman) who found the inadequacies agreed that they actually stumbled on the correct answer anyway. Furthermore, other independent studies have found roughly the same result. Finally, the team who did the hockey stick graph implemented more recently revised their calculations based on the mathematical criticisms, and got the same answer.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn11646-climate-myths-the-hockey-stick-graph-has-been-proven-wrong.html

 

[metalcore42]

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.

The way I understand it ts more like pouring fuel on a barbecue in a dry forest. Yeah it was already there and contained but it will get out of hand if messed with.

 

[Agema]

No way. The science behind global warming is simply way to shaky, and I believe what has happened is that an initial scientific theory which did have some merit about it as graphs did show a warming trend for the planet has instead been used as a scare campaign by green groups, the media and politicians to advance their own agenda. And, because the life blood of scientific research is grant money, those scientists who first proposed the theory now follow it to the letter because that is where the money for their research is coming from. Climate change is a mass scare campaign. It's a shame because the idea behind it is good, to stop polluting the environment and reduce our reliance on things like coal generated electricity and start looking towards renewable sources, but the way it has been marketed is disasterous and the claims of some people who jump on the bandwagon are entirely without evidence and amount to little more than scare-mongering.

There is a lot to be explained about climate change, and I suspect little of it has to do with human activity. Besides, if you'd researched mass extinctions in the past you'll find the five major extinctions that have happened in the Earth's history have all been due to climate change, not one of which has been caused by man. It's a natural phenomenon.

Of course, it's not like climate change deniers ever lie, manipulate, and deny science. It's not like massively wealthy Oil Companies and Motor Manufacturers have any vested financial interest in the debate, do they?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cif-green/2009/dec/07/climate-change-denial-industry

Oh, yes, it seems they do. I'm particularly amused by the anti-global warming lobby whose own employed scientists stated global warming was scientifically undeniable, so they just buried the report and ran a PR campaign against it anyway.

* * *

No-one knows for sure what happened in the mass extinction events. You also need to consider that there could be a massive, sudden climate change because something else (i.e. a huge asteroid hitting the Earth) screwed up a climate that was otherwise happily going about its business, and mankind's activity could be one of those big, nasty causes.

 

[Geekmaster K]

Thanks! I found it. I'm guessing that this is the kind of graph they were using in An Inconvenient Truth, except skewed so it wouldn't contradict the "humans are the biggest cause of global warming" crap they were trying to preach

I believe you'll find that's the infamous (and proved incorrect) "hockey stick" graph.

So much of the climate change theory went on this graph, until they worked out the mathematics behind it were dodgy.

Yeah, that's definitely the graph they used. I had heard of a graph that starts out pretty balanced and then spikes when you hit 2000. This graph matches the one my friend described perfectly.

 

[Monkeytacoz]

kind of hard to believe global warming when its snowing in California..... where i live

 

[FolkLikePanda]

It's a load of bull, all we are is in a shortage of fuel so the governments say that we are causing global warming, just so they cantax us and preserve the fuel. If global warming is true how come noone in the Victorian times notice it getting hotter when there was tonnes and tonnes of carbon being pumped into the air nearly 24/7? The earth gets naturally hotter and colder. Yes it is a shame the polar bear may become extinct in the wild, but that is natural selection it happens. Natural disasters happen because they are natural, how does global wamring cause a tsunami? In the south of England, there have been fossils found of fish that could have only have survived in Mediterranean like wtaers, showing that the Earth had been hotter, then it cooled into the Ice Age. In my opinion it is natural so there and PANDAS FTW!!! =P

 

[Jark212]

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.

Basically how I view it... My hardcore Nerd friends tell me that Humanity is only responsible for under 3% of all CO2 emissions in the world...

Thanks! I found it. I'm guessing that this is the kind of graph they were using in An Inconvenient Truth, except skewed so it wouldn't contradict the "humans are the biggest cause of global warming" crap they were trying to preach

I believe you'll find that's the infamous (and proved incorrect) "hockey stick" graph.

So much of the climate change theory went on this graph, until they worked out the mathematics behind it were dodgy.

Yeah, that's definitely the graph they used. I had heard of a graph that starts out pretty balanced and then spikes when you hit 2000. This graph matches the one my friend described perfectly.

To get a proper scale it would need to go back tens of thousands of years so we can compare past climate shifts...

 

[Internet Kraken]

Global threat is no immediate threat to my existence, and nothing dramatic will happen in at least a hundred years

Wrong. There are plenty of environmental threats (not necessarily global warming) that could have a direct impact on your life in far less than 100 years.

so i don't even think about it. Its not my fault so i don't feel bad, i don't even recycle - why would i clean up the trash that the big factories and corporations make?!

Well this clearly shows why not thinking about environmental issues can be a problem. If you don't recycle, then you are most likely contributing heavily to plastic pollution, which poses a threat to the fishing industry if it continues to increase.

 

[ReincarnatedFTP]

This is to clear up some of the CRU nonsense: http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1946082-1,00.html

Turns out they're not the only ones who do climate change research, one e-mail was misinterpreted when it was supposed to be the "smoking gun" and their research matches just about everybody else's.

So it's probably just propaganda, and as for the getting skeptics to shut up part, that's understandable, sort of like wanting to shut up creationists.

And as far as corruption goes, I think multinational billion dollar corporations have more interest in lying than scientists ever would.