Global warming

Actually global warming causes more severe and longer winters too. In reality it causes more severe weather in all aspects, as per the movie "The day after tomorrow" (good movie by the way). I don't claim to know why, but that's what all the science textbooks have been telling me.

-There is no truth

I moved this topic into its own thread in the Off topic forum since I think it might see a bit of traffic.

Let's just try to keep this thread civil. Please?

Although if you are going into global warming, ya can't really expect it to be civil, what with non-documentary movies winning documentary categories, and the general American idiot-ness in the whole thing.

Long story short, Mother Nature can handle herself just fine. There is no global warming crisis. Its a natural Earth cycle. Although, it is fun to listen to people rant about how global warming is happening because of us and yadda yadda, seriously, gotta get your daily laughs in somewhere.

Disclaimer: My opinions are mine, and I respect yours too =) But I will still laugh at you. Or laugh with you. Its always better to laugh with somebody. Don't take offense =P

Tiger kitty ready for AC, at your service,
Verdauga

I wish I had some of the books I had left back at home. Many of them were oldish texts on many random sciences that my library had been discarding over the years due to disuse, or general old-ness, as well as several other encyclopedias of science. I had a lot of relevant information on this topic that I could have gathered from them. I'll continue anyway...

The argument about a rise in global temperature began in the 1880's, but not a great deal of evidence was available then. Since then more evidence has been gathered by scientists, and the question of global warming has come into greater public view.

Let's take a step back and look at the big picture, without any political or media bias attached to the issue.

Humans have been pouring various chemicals into the atmosphere since the industrial revolution. Most notably fossil fuels were and still are being burned. Fossil fuels contain carbon, and when burned, release carbon as carbon-dioxide into the air. These carbon based fuels take excessively long periods of time to be created, hence why they are called fossil fuels - because they are as old as the fossils at that same depth of the Earth. Since the industrial revolution, we have been burning these fuels at the highest rates ever in recorded history. [Fossil fuel]

Hence, we have been releasing huge amounts of the carbon collected by plant matter over millions of years, in the period of a couple of hundred years.

It is understood that carbon dioxide is a "greenhouse gas". This means that having this gas in our atmosphere keeps radiation from the sun - mainly in the form of heat - from escaping. Ice records at the south pole have confirmed that there have been cycles of carbon dioxide, that are within certain boundaries of what is understood as a stable level. Records indicate that since the industrial revolution there has been an enormous influx of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. [ice core 1] [ice core 2] This record from Antarctica is traceable back to 420,000 years ago.

Carbon dioxide is the main issue argued with global warming theories, as it is the substance that is most produced as a byproduct of harnessing the power of fossil fuels, and is most obviously increasing in our atmosphere.

One of the problems with the argument that the environment will be able to take a hit or that this is a cycle that will be recovered from is that some of the greatest sinks of carbon - namely the forests - are being cut-down in order to make way for human development. A carbon sink is the opposite of a carbon source, in that it absorbs carbon dioxide from the air, and traps it in the soil or the plants themselves. [rain forests]

More or less the problem is bad on both angles, carbon dioxide sources emitting more, and carbon sinks decreasing in size.

It isn't an argument as to whether or not there is Global Warming, but rather; how bad it is, and what should we do to possibly prepare ourselves.

A problem associated with Global Warming in general is more extreme weather patterns, and in one of the best known cases, the associated shrinking of the polar ice caps. With this comes the cooling effect that was mentioned in an earlier post jokingly. Storms will eventually become more severe, since they are one of the ways that the earth regulates its temperature.

In my own opinion, I believe that we should be looking for ways to economically create a form of renewable, clean energy, as well as take steps to pollute less and slow down deforestation. Some interesting forms of energy on the table now include nuclear fusion. On a related note, something I found out about recently was the Fusor - worth a look for those who are curious. [Fusor] Steps that can be taken on an individual, personal level are to turn off lights and other things that waste electricity when not being used. To drive places less and walk or bike when you can. To recycle, and keep the environment generally clean. The problem with this solution in general is that it isn't very economically feasible on many fronts. Investing in new energy sources is costly, and often without the results that are hoped for. Walking and biking just can't fit into everyone's lifestyles, but car-pooling and mass transit can usually easily fit into lifestyles.

Not to sound too hippy or after-school special-ish but, we share the planet with other creatures. As fans of anthropomorphic animals, and hopefully of animals in general, we should be concerned that we naively routinely destroy the habitats of many of these creatures, and are driving many to extinction. I think that it would be a really bad idea to ignore this problem, since it will affect us sooner or later. As far as the movies that have been created on this topic, I haven't seen them, so I can't really assess how they fit into this discussion, except that with Global Warming in the public eye, the media has decided to run with the concept to scare people because that's what the media does. The media can't erase scientific facts proven by scientists. Especially ones known before it was a recent topic that more people seem to know or care about.

And yet, now all I can think of is Captain Planet.

A short History of global warming: [history of global warming]