Global Warming: fact or fiction?

[wcaclimbing]

OK, so a few days ago at school i was talking to my friend and we got to the topic of global warming.
I said that I didnt think humans are causing global warming and that global warming is just a natural earth thing and he freaked out and actually threatened me just for saying that !!!!!!!

It got me really confused that he reacted that way, and i want to know how the population of CC feels about global warming.


PS: my friend is so liberal that you could drown in it. would that have anything to do with the way he reacted?

[Titanic]

Global warming is happening, and its human-made problem. When it happens naturally it happens at a much slower rate then it is happening at the moment. I honestly dont understand the people who freely deny it (ie. anyone but the scientists who are paid to deny it, as they have a pretty cool job. Try to prove fact wrong, and get paid for it whilst failing.)

[Guiscard]

The way I see it is that it is probably a bit of both. Theres been drastic swings in global temperature and climate in the past, and we have to take that into account. On the other hand humanity as a whole has never been so widespread, developed and has never had such an highscale industrial process pumping out gasses and pollution into the atmosphere. Thats got to make a difference too. We're probably speeding up a natural swing towards a different climate. We can't stop it but we can help to slow it down. I despise people like George Bush, who ignores the problem blatently in favour of American big business, but I also dislike people who take it too far to the other extreme. Bullshitters like David Cameron using it as a policy tool to get into power also makes me sick. Some genuine policy would be better.

[corner G]

I live in montreal and something is obviosly happening. no dought about it

[Koba]

Humans don't cause it, if we do cause climate change how did we ever get away from the ice age etc. The climate and the world is always changing. This will always be the case. Humans are a catalst though. I have no doubt we do speed it up. But I wonder how much is scare mongering and the media.

[Guiscard]

Its not rained for a while... and I live in Leeds... so thats alright

[Cheesemore]

Here's what I feel from the Info I heard
Greenhouse gases (which seem to be causing global warming) are made up of mostly CO2 and H2O
Now correct me if I'm wrong but, DOESN'T EVERY ANIMAL BREATH OUT CO2?
and isn't our earth 70% H2O
So I don't think humans are the sole reason why global warming is happening
Plus there was an article that stated every time a volcano errupts, the amount of pollution thrown into our atmosphere is equilivant to 1,000 years of car pollution
I have also heard that the ozone layer is healing itself

[everywhere116]

Cheesemore you took the words right out of my mouth. Ive always been skeptical about them saying that the poles and the glaciers are melting. They haver been melting for tens of thousands of years. Why do you think the Great Lakes exist?

Oh yeah, and wca, being liberal has everything to do with how he reacted.

[edmundomcpot]

I have also heard that the ozone layer is healing itself

Ive heard that aswell

if humans wernt here it would still be happening, but more slowly, we certainly arnt helping. More strict rules need to be activly enforced on the rain forests.

only britains weather could be so shit that when the planets getting warmer we get colder

[Koba]

only britains weather could be so shit that when the planets getting warmer we get colder

Don't we stand to lose the Gulf stream if global warming gets too bad? Which would actually make Britain even more cold....Or am I just making that up?

[edmundomcpot]

only britains weather could be so shit that when the planets getting warmer we get colder

Don't we stand to lose the Gulf stream if global warming gets too bad? Which would actually make Britain even more cold....Or am I just making that up?

Yep.. something about to much fresh water from melting ice caps

[wcaclimbing]

for teh people that use icebergs as an example of global warming, i say thats a load of crap.

In my opinion, Icebergs have probably been breaking off all along, but now people think they are melting more cause we have more stuff to let us notice whats going on down there. before all the new technology, they probably didnt get as many reports of icebergs, just because they didnt have stuff to tell them when all the other ones are breaking off.

Also, some scientists found that one of the biggest icebergs to ever break off of Antarctica was caused by waves that originated in the north pacific, near Alaska. This shows that icebergs breaking off can be caused by many things other than temperature changes.

[wcaclimbing]

The cycle for ice ages goes from hot to cold all the time.

millions of years ago, there was an ice age.
then it warmed up.
then there was a series of smaller ones that ended recently.
now its warming up becuase the ice ages are over.
then it will start to cool again as another ice age starts.

it goes like that over adn over again

[Serbia]

Sure, global warming is probably happening, but we can't affect it! The earth operates on it's own cycles that we are only beginning to understand. Did you know that back in the 1940's through 1970's, the big scare was global COOLING? People were worried about causing an ice age!

But with the size of the earth, I am very skeptical about our abilities to more than temporarily affect the earth in a minimal way.

[Jesse, Bad Boy]

for teh people that use icebergs as an example of global warming, i say thats a load of crap.

Icebergs have probably been breaking off all along, but now people think they are melting more cause we have more stuff to let us notice whats going on down there. before all the new technology, they only got one or two reports of icebergs, just because they didnt have stuff to tell them when all the other ones are breaking off.

Also, some scientists tracked the waves of a storm in the atlantic ocean. as soon as those waves reached the south pole, an iceberg broke off, which shows there are many other ways for stuff to melt and break apart than previously thought.

Do you have any links or evidence to support this conjecture?

[Stopper]

Sure, global warming is probably happening, but we can't affect it! The earth operates on it's own cycles that we are only beginning to understand. Did you know that back in the 1940's through 1970's, the big scare was global COOLING? People were worried about causing an ice age!

This isn't right. For a start, no-one at the time thought people would "cause" an ice age, it was just thought that we were due another one (which may or not be the case, but isn't really relevant because it would happen over hundreds of years.)

And anyway, that idea never got anything like the currency that the theory of climate change has, presumably because there wasn't enough evidence for it.

I can well understand that there might be some debate between INFORMED people (i.e., mostly scientists) over the size of global warming, its exact causes, its effects, and how best to cope with it, but most of what has been written in this thread so far is complete piffle, and worse, complete disinformation.

[Stopper]

I have also heard that the ozone layer is healing itself

This is irrelevant. The "hole" in the ozone layer has little or nothing to do with global warming.

I'm going to stop responding in this thread for the moment, because this could get annoying.

[Jesse, Bad Boy]

I can well understand that there might be some debate between INFORMED people (i.e., mostly scientists) over the size of global warming, its exact causes, its effects, and how best to cope with it, but most of what has been written in this thread so far is complete piffle, and worse, complete disinformation.

This man (woman?) speaks the truth.

It disgusts me how people can make up shit as they go along and try to pass it off as scientific fact. I am likely to believe the same people who are writing what can only be objectively construed as nonsense are the very same people who believe in Intelligent Design.

[wcaclimbing]

for teh people that use icebergs as an example of global warming, i say thats a load of crap.

Icebergs have probably been breaking off all along, but now people think they are melting more cause we have more stuff to let us notice whats going on down there. before all the new technology, they only got one or two reports of icebergs, just because they didnt have stuff to tell them when all the other ones are breaking off.

Also, some scientists tracked the waves of a storm in the atlantic ocean. as soon as those waves reached the south pole, an iceberg broke off, which shows there are many other ways for stuff to melt and break apart than previously thought.

Do you have any links or evidence to support this conjecture?

For the waves breaking the icebergs, It was the Pacific ocean, not the atlantic, but here it is:
http://www.livescience.com/forcesofnature/061002_iceberg_wave.html


and for the part about the new technology alerting us when icebergs break, that is just my opinion, and i dont have any evidence to support it.

[Jesse, Bad Boy]

for teh people that use icebergs as an example of global warming, i say thats a load of crap.

Icebergs have probably been breaking off all along, but now people think they are melting more cause we have more stuff to let us notice whats going on down there. before all the new technology, they only got one or two reports of icebergs, just because they didnt have stuff to tell them when all the other ones are breaking off.

Also, some scientists tracked the waves of a storm in the atlantic ocean. as soon as those waves reached the south pole, an iceberg broke off, which shows there are many other ways for stuff to melt and break apart than previously thought.

Do you have any links or evidence to support this conjecture?

For the waves breaking the icebergs, It was the Pacific ocean, not the atlantic, but here it is:
http://www.livescience.com/forcesofnature/061002_iceberg_wave.html


and for the part about the new technology alerting us when icebergs break, that is just my opinion, and i dont have any evidence to support it.

See, the issue here is not breaking icebergs (bodies of ice already in the water), it's the erratic collapse of the ice shelf that is creating the icebergs that is causing worries. You've totally gone from one topic to another that has no bearing on the previous.

Second, if you are expressing an opinion or conjecture, don't try and pass it off as fact. It's intellectually dishonest, and only makes those that actually do have an idea of what they are talking about look down on you in contempt for spreading pseudo-science.

[wcaclimbing]

When it happens naturally it happens at a much slower rate then it is happening at the moment.

What made you assume that this is how it works?

[wcaclimbing]

for teh people that use icebergs as an example of global warming, i say thats a load of crap.

Icebergs have probably been breaking off all along, but now people think they are melting more cause we have more stuff to let us notice whats going on down there. before all the new technology, they only got one or two reports of icebergs, just because they didnt have stuff to tell them when all the other ones are breaking off.

Also, some scientists tracked the waves of a storm in the atlantic ocean. as soon as those waves reached the south pole, an iceberg broke off, which shows there are many other ways for stuff to melt and break apart than previously thought.

Do you have any links or evidence to support this conjecture?

For the waves breaking the icebergs, It was the Pacific ocean, not the atlantic, but here it is:
http://www.livescience.com/forcesofnature/061002_iceberg_wave.html


and for the part about the new technology alerting us when icebergs break, that is just my opinion, and i dont have any evidence to support it.

See, the issue here is not breaking icebergs (bodies of ice already in the water), it's the erratic collapse of the ice shelf that is creating the icebergs that is causing worries. You've totally gone from one topic to another that has no bearing on the previous.

Second, if you are expressing an opinion or conjecture, don't try and pass it off as fact. It's intellectually dishonest, and only makes those that actually do have an idea of what they are talking about look down on you in contempt for spreading pseudo-science.

i edited my first post to make it better. are you happy now?

[Jesse, Bad Boy]

for teh people that use icebergs as an example of global warming, i say thats a load of crap.

Icebergs have probably been breaking off all along, but now people think they are melting more cause we have more stuff to let us notice whats going on down there. before all the new technology, they only got one or two reports of icebergs, just because they didnt have stuff to tell them when all the other ones are breaking off.

Also, some scientists tracked the waves of a storm in the atlantic ocean. as soon as those waves reached the south pole, an iceberg broke off, which shows there are many other ways for stuff to melt and break apart than previously thought.

Do you have any links or evidence to support this conjecture?

For the waves breaking the icebergs, It was the Pacific ocean, not the atlantic, but here it is:
http://www.livescience.com/forcesofnature/061002_iceberg_wave.html


and for the part about the new technology alerting us when icebergs break, that is just my opinion, and i dont have any evidence to support it.

See, the issue here is not breaking icebergs (bodies of ice already in the water), it's the erratic collapse of the ice shelf that is creating the icebergs that is causing worries. You've totally gone from one topic to another that has no bearing on the previous.

Second, if you are expressing an opinion or conjecture, don't try and pass it off as fact. It's intellectually dishonest, and only makes those that actually do have an idea of what they are talking about look down on you in contempt for spreading pseudo-science.

is it bad even though it says probably?

Yes, especially when you have this as a follow up:

before all the new technology, they only got one or two reports of icebergs, just because they didnt have stuff to tell them when all the other ones are breaking off.

[wcaclimbing]

OK...
back to the global warming topic.

I would like to know where everyone opinions come from, because all of the things posted here are very different and some are very contradictory of one another.

[kclborat]

Read State of Fear by Michael Crichton. Amazing book. Will have you rethink everything you "know" about global warming. I agree with Stopper, no one on this thread has any true, scientific data that is backed up by even more true, scientific data, including me. I think all this thread is good for is to see what people want to believe.