Global Warming

[Cress]

I accept that there have been other times when the planet has heated, and yes we are in between two ice ages, but the issue here is the sheer scale of how fast and how much the planet is warming.
I'm not entirely sure of this, but I'm pretty sure I heard somewhere that there is actually very little debate in the scientific community as to whether or not global warming is caused by humans, however politicians have spun things to their own advantage. And there is also scientific evidence that if we dont do something in...I believe 10 years was the figure, it will keep going even if we do try to stop it.
Don't get me started on scare tactics. Global warming is so underrepresented in the media it's disgusting. If we want to talk scare tactics, let's look at the Bush administration and their handling of terrorism. How many times can they SAY "be afraid, be very very very afraid"?
Off topic, I'm sorry. And sorry if I jump all over people with different opinions. I'm being kind of close minded, but if these are scare tactics, hey they're working. I'm scared. I'd also like to point out that I saw this movie with my mother and a bunch of her colleagues...meaning a bunch of environmental lawyers, one of whom is currently writing a book about this. We talked about it afterwards...all of them believe that global warming is real and that it's caused by us. Including one who has been researching this extensively for YEARS.
That's mostly what drove it home for me.

[Space Cadet]

The temperature of the Earth has not raised much yet. Even though we have had a few very hot decades, it is still fairly within reason. But there has nevertheless been a slight increase in temperature. The amount of carbon in the atmosphere has increased dramatically over the past century. Ice cores going back 400,000 years show that there has, in that time, never been carbon levels anywhere near this high. Less reliable but longer records stored in rocks and such indicate that the last time there was this much carbon in the atmosphere was 40 million years ago, when the Earth was much warmer.

Alla is correct in saying that nature is capable of supplying more greenhouse gasses than humans can. But that is what I am worried about. There is enough unburned fossil fuel in the world to raise atmospheric carbon to 900ppm. If that happens, the world will warm up a few degrees. Some more glaciers melt. Some climate zones shift. But the big problem is the release of carbon from other natural reserves that may happen in that case, such as the permafrost peat bogs I mentioned further up the page. Also, since the rainforests are being cut down, there will be less excess carbon soaked out of the atmosphere that way.

The reason everyone has different opinions on how things will play out is that there is a lag between when the carbon is released into the atmosphere and when it has affected the atmosphere as much as it is going to. We know how much carbon is in the atmosphere now, but we will not know the effects of that carbon for another decade or two. We only have mathematical models of the properties of the gasses to go on. We as yet do not have accurate models on how much the Earth is capable of buffering the effects of those gasses.

But remember that even if a runaway warming effect occurs, all is not lost. Greenhouse gasses do not last forever. They break down due to age and UV exposure. They get absorbed into forests and the oceans. We will have a few hundred to a thousand years of high sea levels and then the world will return to equilibrium, that's all.

[fred22]

I agrre with you completley. However, i do hope that scientists perfect nanotechnology so that they can use it to build a tree up from its very begining so that we can stop using real trees. Humans should reduce the amount of fossil fuels we are burning. I would love to see the movie " Who killed the electric car." Which is about how there was a very good car that was run on electricity only built in the 70s that was silent and fast and got alot of miles to the "gallon". So it is partially our fault. Now what is a scary thought is that the continents will eventually come together and from the super continent we call pangeia. That will take thousands of years to happen but every year we move a little bit and we may see dramatic changes on the globe before we die. Due to that and water sinking islands.

[the_peridexis]

um, i thought nanotechnology was the science of matter on an ultra-small scale?

-peri (woops, one-liner....)

[bradwart]

The problem with 'global warming' is that we don't have enough data. Humans have only kept detailed records for about a century, with data being sketchy after that. We do know that there was small Ice Age not to long ago (I can't remember the exact date.) and that the globe has been heating since. It would seem logical to consider that the globe just heats and cools on a cycle.
As for the Ozone Layer, the latest NASA scans show that the Ozone hole over Antartica is shrinking, and scientists expect it to close in the neighborhood of 2050-2060. It is possible that only CFC's were responsible for the damage.
As for Carbon emmissions, an interesting theory is that because plants (and photoplankton)use Carbon Dioxide, the rise of emmisions will help plants grow better. Also, despite what GreenPeace and other envormentalist groups say, the worlds trees account for only around 6% of the worlds Oxygen production and CO2 consumption. The plankton take care of most of it. Studies have shown that plants grow better when there is more carbon in the atmosphere.
Also, it's simple logic. When water freezes, it expands. when it melts from ice, it contracts. between that, and the evaporation caused by the increased heat, the water should stay around the same, give or take a few inches.
Only continued observation and time will tell.

[EricG1793]

I have seen An Inconvenient Truth. I watched it in Science class a couple weeks ago.

The amount of CO2 in the atmosphere since the Industrial Revolution is stunning.

We've had extensive conversation/testing about alternative energy sources in my Science class this year, solar energy, hydroelectric energy, geothermal climate control systems and power, passive solar heat (like my house), wind power, hydrogen fuel cells, biofuels, biomass... the list goes on and on. It's just too bad that this technology is so outrightly expensive... saves money in the long run, but the initial cost is the issue.

My Science teacher has a geothermal climate control system and solar panels on her house. Two of my neighbors have solar panels, one of which has geothermal climate control and the other burns wood, has a passive-solar house, and what I'm about to describe:

An interesting piece of technology is solar tubes, for lighting dark rooms with little or no sunlight. Solar tubes consist of a dome up on the roof of the house, and a tube of reflective sheet metal going down through the roof, and a lens inside the house, which lets a good amount of sunlight in the day time. They have one in their bathroom, and when there's a lot of sunlight, turning on the light in the bathroom does nothing extra over the solar tube.

We have the technology. It's just improving it so it's more practical, especially getting the costs down, and everyone's inclination to change our ways, that are preventing it from being used.

[Azule]

I think personally that about 1% of global warming is totally and completely natural, the other 99% is caused by the human race and its all about money, can't see what is in front of our noses behavior. We as a species must do 8 simple things if we're ever going to stop and reverse global warming!


- Use (we have already found them ) alerternitive energy sources like solar,hydro,wind,geothermal,hydrogen, and CLEAN nuclear FUSION energy.

-STOP making non-biodegradable substances like styrofoam (it can last 1,0000years and turns into carbon ).

- make small, easy,imediate changes in our life style like recycling.

- Become more efficient.

- Replant trees in depleted areas and replenish the oceans.

-Make long run BIG changes in our lifestyle so this does not repeat

-Reverse the damage we have done and know how to reverse

-Find a way to reverse the stuff we do not know how to reverse yet.