Is global warming a global problem?

Answer: No The current warming trend has lasted 6000 years and seems to have (at least temporarily) ended in 1998 To expand on this, the overall warming trend has been taking place over the last 12,000 years. The earth has historically had much higher CO2 levels and temperatures than today and has still supported vibrant life. The only global problem for humans is the hysteria that can result from people believing that what humans see to today is somehow unprecedented A: Yes.

Around 2008 some scientists began to warn that changes were coming on faster than the international panels had predicted. Also as predicted, only sooner, the world was beginning to suffer historically unprecedented heat waves, droughts, floods and storms. The sea level was rising while mountain glaciers, the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, and Arctic sea ice melted back, all at accelerating rates.

Important ecosystems from alpine meadows to coral reefs were showing signs of stress. For the scientists, as Michael Oppenheimer remarked at Fordham University conference on climate change (New York, Jan. 25, 2008), "Seeing their own predictions come true has been a frightening experience Global warming is a global problem that requires a global solution. Nations can not expect the solution to come from other, possibly more altruistic countries, while they take a free ride A: the good news is that the Earth is in far better shape that a few were proposing and people need not live in fear.

Put most simply: yes, it is Hoo, boy. Got a taste for the controversial questions, don’t you. There are three real questions here: 1.Is there actual global warming?

2. Is there anything humans can do about it? 3.Is it a problem?

Part of the controversy is that there is no real controversy among actual scientists on any of these questions. If you hear from somebody that it’s up for debate, you will find that the person is either ideologically motivated or paid by a company which makes its money from the status quo (like an oil company). Among nearly all people who study climate for a living, these questions are all answered.

That said, nearly everybody agrees that the answer to (1) is "yes". The data, from everything from satellites to ice cores, says that yes, we’re in the midst of a long warming period that started right around when we began to burn coal and is accelerating now. Check out this chart: And longer term: The question is, did humans cause it?

There is some debate about that, though it’s been blown out of proportion. The earth does go through warming and cooling cycles. There was a period called the Little Ice Age where the earth was considerably cooler.

That natural variation is related to the sun, the orbit of the earth, and (longer term) the way life forms come and go on the planet. Clearly, the temperature is a lot higher now than it has been in a very long time, and much hotter than the Little Ice Age was cool. The curve is sharp, and it happens right about the time of the Industrial Revolution.

There is also some recent data on increased solar activity, but most solar scientists say it’s nowhere near enough to account for all of the warming. So there are possible external sources, but the data is compelling. But can we do anything about it?

That’s another huge question. Certainly, if it’s caused by us burning fossil fuels. The correlation may not be causation, but we certainly can reduce our fossil fuel consumption.

It’s well known that atomspheres with more CO2 hold more heat than atmospheres without it, and it’s known that CO2 levels are far higher than the were in the past: So it seems reasonable that cutting CO2 emissions will, eventually, decrease global warming. That’s not absolute proof, but do we want to play with the life of the planet just because we’re not 100% certain? Don’t we have to do what’s best and not exacerbate a problem we’re seeing?

Which brings us to (3): Is it actually a problem? Well, yes and no. Life will, without a doubt, adapt to the changes.

Life has been around for 4 billion years, and it has adapted to even worse stuff than this. But that doesn’t mean that we’ll be around to see it. And even if the human race survives (it’s pretty adaptable), we may not be able to have the civilization we currently have.

We’ve built many of our major cities near the coast lines. Global warming raises sea levels as Antarctic ice melts. That's a serious change, even if the human race doesn't end.

And it'll be expensive, which you must balance against the expense of fixing the problem. I had a whole long explanation about how global warming affects species, and the whole web of life thing, but Amazon ate it and I don't want to repeat it. Go watch Al Gore's movie, and it'll make all the points as well as they're going to be made: species will die.

Not all of them, but many of them, and possibly some important ones. And that's the upshot. We could survive global warming, but somehow "survive" seems like asking far too little of us.

Merely "not dying" is hardly a good recommendation to us as stewards of the planet, nor is it a good recommendation of our planet to us. Do we really want to live in a planet where we "just survive"? We evolved for these conditions, and to allow our own wastes to stink up our beds seems foul.

A final note: when you hear debate on this, ask what their sources are. Very few people who talk to you on the subject are scientists themselves, and not many more have actually read or replicated the research. Nearly everybody who will argue the subject with you chooses a position based on ideology, and then looks for the data to justify it.

You are probably not qualified to judge the scientific research yourself; few people are. So when I tell you that "essentially every reputable scientist" believes that global warming is real and dangerous, I don't mean that science is a democracy.It is possible that every scientist on the planet could be wrong at once. But doesn't the future of your children sound like a lot to base on a long shot?.

In the long term, yes. It’s important to get one thing out of the way right off the bat: your question doesn’t concern attribution. That is, to answer your question, we need not concern ourselves with who or what is causing Global Warming.

That’s not to say that this is not important (it is, and we pretty much have the answer), but it is a messy political trigger for a multitude of reasons, none of which are very good. I am going to quote from "Global Climate Change Triggered by Global Warming," a position paper issued by the Center for Inquiry’s Office of Public Policy. The Center For Inquiry (formerly known as the CSICOP: Center for the Scientific Investigation of Claims Of the Paranormal) is a skeptical organization that publishes the magazine Skeptical Inquirer.

I consider them a dispassionate, non-politically motivated organization interested in close approximations of the truth. First, they establish the pretty much incontrovertible position that global warming is happening: Convincing evidence that Earth’s climate is undergoing significant ... changes has accumulated rapidly in recent years.... Recent research has demonstrated that the Earth’s energy budget is out of balance, with more energy captured from the sun than is currently radiated back to space. This makes global warming inevitable.

I won’t belabour this point. You did not ask "Is global warming really happening. " Let’s get to "Is it really a problem?"

Again from the CSI position paper: Although the exact extent of harm from global warming may be difficult to predict now, it can be said with confidence that the harmful effects of global warming will significantly outweigh the possible benefits. A couple of so-called benefits of global warming include agriculture at higher latitudes and increases in plant growth rates. However, there is no evidence whatever that suggests that these or other things will in fact be beneficial.

Changes in climate are stressful to ecosystems, and even if we cannot say with certainty that every result of climate change will be bad, we can say also that there is no certainty that any result will be good. So what are the risks? The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has an entire document devoted to Impacts and Vulnerabilities.

Military advisory boards within the US have prompted Congress to consider demanding a National Intelligence Estimate on Climate Change and its impact on national security as climate change affects those already stressed portions of the world that we find threatening. Left-wing propagandists warn of mass extinctions and billions of human deaths. What to believe?

It’s unlikely that global warming will have serious consequences in the short term -- the next decade, the next 15 years, the next 20. Most of the really bad stuff is probably 100 years out (rising sea levels) but Arctic summers may be entirely ice-free within 40. The CSI’s position paper runs down a list of global warming bugbears, it includes Increase in pathogens in mid-latitudes (the virus heads north); storms, fires, and other natural disasters increase in potency and frequency; potential catastrophic changes based on tipping-point events (Greenland ice melt runoff leading to reduced Atlantic salinity, which would have far-reaching climactic effects).

Of course, the rising sea levels are also a problem. It’s easy to step outside on a frosty January morning and idly wonder what’s taking Global Warming so long to get the job done, but the reality is much more grim. If you’re a short-term kind of person then there probably isn’t so much to worry about.

If you’re a long-ranger, then yes: global warming is definitely a problem and we should start wrapping our heads around the science so that we may support the proper efforts to mitigate, adapt or both. Anything else is ear-plugging and wishful thinking. Please check out the site at the link below.It's an excellent starting point for learning about the science and theories behind global warming.

Sources: http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2007/05/start-here/ .

The fact that we are living in a warmer environment than a few years ago seems to be what the experts are saying. Now if it’s actually global warming and a sign that we are burning too much fossil fuels: this is something scientists debate. It could be that our earth is going through one of it’s warming trends naturally.

Some say we are burning too many carbons which causes the CO2 in our atmosphere to hold in the heat, thus leading to global warming. It’s true that we cannot replace those fossil fuels, we don’t have the dense growth forests of millions of years ago, but it really is up for debate whether our burning them causes too much carbon dioxide to be released into the air. I read a study that said that we’d have more carbon dioxide in the air if the industrial revolution never happened and everyone was burning fires as heat sources, cooking sources, light sources and so on.

I’m sure if you look hard enough you can find experts at every angle of this. As far as a problem: ... "they" say that if the earth continues to heat up, our oceans will rise many feet - I remember that one, it never happened! I was told this in grade school by my teachers.

The pier is still there, the water level never came up, the land wasn’t flooded... and it was all supposed to happen 20+ years ago! ... "they" say that with the heating the crops will all die off. I think that may be more due to the slash and burn and mass deforestations going on in the world changing weather patterns.

Or something to that effect. What I think: no one really knows because we don’t know where it is supposed to go and how it’s been in the past. Looking at fossil records is one thing but scientists don’t know what killed off the dinosaurs (a volcanic eruption?

A big huge meteorite? Climate change? ) so how do we know if our warming trend is supposed to be here naturally or not?

But, what can be done to help the environment out? Recycle, take public transportation or use your own power, watch how much water you use, make wise choices (buy things that will degrade or can be recycled vs. things that’ll sit around in landfills for many, many years), inform your kids (they could probably share a thing or two), use organic compost instead of chemical fertilizers, I’m sure there are many more that I can’t think of right now! Sources: my opinion and what I've read and learned in school (college too) gb_one's Recommendations This Moment on Earth: Today's New Environmentalists and Their Vision for the Future Amazon List Price: $25.00 Used from: $9.50 Average Customer Rating: 3.5 out of 5 (based on 39 reviews) John Kerry would appreciate if you read this!.

Global Warming itself is not a problem, the hysteria surrounding it could cause major problems! I am one of those who believes Global Warming is a total scam job. Carbon Dioxide does not cause it, especially the little that humans contribute.

Warming is caused by the Sun and our oceans are such that they help regulate the temperature of our planet. The scares threatened by many of unpresidented catastrophe are very unlikely and if they did happen they would not be caused or controllable by us. I don’t even believe there is a true consensus of scientists on this issue, rather there is a consensus of politicians and media types and a group of pseudo scientists who would sell their souls for a buck.

Global Warming as an issue is all about money, political power and deception. CO2 helps plants grow which in turn gives us oxygen. The proposed cures for this fictional woe would cause major problems!

Christian's Recommendations The Politically Incorrect Guide to Global Warming (and Environmentalism) Amazon List Price: $19.95 Used from: $10.64 Average Customer Rating: 3.5 out of 5 (based on 182 reviews) Check out this book! .

No The GW hype is fear-mongering aimed right at your wallet. For those of you willing to look somewhere in real science for the answers, they are there. However, in our free-thinking, diverse society, any scientist who does provide "proof" to the contrary (not computer models) is assured a wicked label and proper demonization.

Fill up a glass with ice. Now fill it to the rim with water. When the ice melts, does the water level rise to overflow the glass?

Hmmm, now why in the world would melting polar icecaps and glaciers cause a rise in sea level? Al Gore is an idiot. Brewfisher's Recommendations The Politically Incorrect Guide to Global Warming (and Environmentalism) Amazon List Price: $19.95 Used from: $10.64 Average Customer Rating: 3.5 out of 5 (based on 182 reviews) Meltdown: The Predictable Distortion of Global Warming by Scientists, Politicians, and the Media Amazon List Price: $16.95 Used from: $9.80 Average Customer Rating: 3.5 out of 5 (based on 39 reviews) Shattered Consensus: The True State of Global Warming Amazon List Price: $32.95 Used from: $34.25 Average Customer Rating: 4.5 out of 5 (based on 9 reviews) Global Warming and Other Eco Myths: How the Environmental Movement Uses False Science to Scare Us to Death Amazon List Price: $24.95 Used from: $35.90 Average Customer Rating: 3.0 out of 5 (based on 40 reviews) .

" (11 answers) "Anyone ever look at global warming this way...

Anyone ever look at global warming this way...

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.