Are we causing global warming?

Question

honestly, i don't know what to believe.

my biology teacher told me that global warming is a natural affect and theres nothing we can do to save this earth..i some what believe him

but on the other hand, i see people "going green" so it makes me wonder...are we the cause of it or not??

Answer 1

The damage done by increased greenhouse emissions has already taken

its toll. This is evident by the melting of polar ice and glaciers

across the globe.

We cannot get the world back the way it was, even as of fifty years

ago, much less stop the damage that will still occur in the future.

Sure we could try to stop all industry that will cause pollution, but

at what cost. Without industry we could not sustain the present world

population. Giving up industry and sacrificing billions of people on

this planet in the process, is not a viable solution (even trying to

merely lower greenhouse emissions is at best a temporary solution).

The biggest problem we have now is not just the fact that we have

more greenhouse gasses trapping heat in, but we are getting less and

less sunlight being reflected out from the planet. As the snow cover

melts from more and more of the planets surface, the sunlight heats

up more parts of the earth that once reflected light back out. It is

like a dog chasing its tail (until it gets dizzy and falls from

exhaustion). As global warming just keeps building on itself till the

ecological balance fails, and this planet will no longer sustain the

teeming human populations.

Greenhouse effect cure (there are no real cures but this may help

till we can find one).

First I want to point out that there are no real, viable short term,

or easy methods of curing our Global warming woes. The damage to the

environment has already been done and is, for all intent and

purposes, basically irreversible.

It is likely, however, that any type of plan to get rid of Global

warming, will require some type of dramatic ecological compromises.

Some will say that all we need to do is give up industry on the

planet and the world will eventually go back to the way it was. I say

it is too late for that solution (as a short term solution anyway).

My plan, however, will require the use of old tires and recycled

plastics. Of course it will require some engineering feats also, and

a few ecological compromises. The benefits of using these wasted

products will far outweigh the compromises required.

My idea is to build large floating islands (white on top, to reflect

sunlight back out of our planet) made from used tires (filled with

co2) and recycled plastics. Yes there are engineering and ecological

problems, but everyone has to admit there are worse problems in our

current situation.

So the only feasible solution is to build a bunch of artificial

reflection "islands" across the planet.

There will be other benefits realized, once we build enough of these

islands. One of the problems associated with the increased

temperatures we are experiencing is the possibility of increased

hurricane intensity and frequency. Having enough of these floating

islands in strategic points in the oceans will help to alleviate this

problem also.

It is a well known fact that hurricanes form in areas of the ocean

where the temperature rises above approximately 80 degrees

Fahrenheit. If we can keep those areas below that temperature (by

reflecting sunlight away), we can prevent the formation of

hurricanes. Without these floating islands, hurricanes will probably

continue to increase in intensity and frequency…

We need a solution to deal with our Global warming woes, and we need

it now. Even if this is a difficult path to follow, it will pay off

in the future.

The overall problems I see for Greenhouse effect is that we can go

green all we want, but Global warming and our constant desire to be

comfortable, will eventually undermine any efforts we may do. Unless

we can get rid of some of the excess heat in this world, we will

always be under the eventual threat of a thermal overheating demise.

Answer 2

At least your teacher is honest, and not a downright liar. And yeah it's a natural process. it's been going on before we ever we existed.

Answer 3

The earth has warmed and cooled many times.  These cycles are incredibly long compared to our lifetimes.  Right now we are in the relief period from the most recent one.  This is actually the best place to be as we don't have to worry about being wiped out for millions of years.

Not only are we being lied to, we are being told the exact opposite of the truth......as usual

Answer 4

believe what you want kid because people will tell you to walk to the left or to the right on this topic. I am a skeptic and i know humans don't make much of an impact on the wheather system

Answer 5

we are speeding up the process by our pollution, but im a firm believer that the world is supposed to end this way. its going to happen even if we completely stopped polluting 100%. its just natural

Answer 6

Whether we can stop it or not, it makes sense to clean up our act so that we can breath better and have cleaner water. We should have started this a long time ago, but it's not too late.

It makes no difference whether we're the cause of global warming, the fact remains that we are polluting the world we live in and we need to stop doing it.

Answer 7

yes.we do

By reducing pollution from vehicles and power plants. Right away, we should put existing technologies for building cleaner cars and more modern electricity generators into widespread use. We can increase our reliance on renewable energy sources such as wind, sun and geothermal. And we can manufacture more efficient appliances and conserve energy.

Answer 8

First, to say yes or no would imply that global temperature fluctuation is completely natural or man-induced.  The global climate does fluctuate normally according to the intensity of the sunlight hitting the earth.   However, since the industrial revolution, the human race has been emitting massive amounts of greenhouse gases that trap heat and cause warming.  

In the simplest terms, the way that the greenhouse effect works is as a kind of blanket.  It is responsible for the climate we have now that provides us an environment suitable for life.  However, the thicker (in our case higher greenhouse gas concentrations) the blanket is the more heat it keeps in.  Greenhouse gases trap heat by absorbing longer wavelengths of light such as infrared and then emitting them back into the atmosphere.  The visible light is able to travel through the atmosphere without being trapped and heat the earth's surface which produces the infrared light that gets trapped by greenhouse gases.

This primitive model of the earth is just that, a primitive model.  There are many feedbacks in the system that account for a more complex system.  However, at this point it is undeniable that the massive amount of CO2 that we have put into the atmosphere won't have any effect.  Through many proxy records (one such record is the use of ice cores) we are able to see that the temperature of the earth is immediately affected by the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere.  

The forecast for the future?  Well, it is indeed grim.  The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has predicted a global temperature increase of 2-6° Celsius by the year 2100.  This may not seem like a large increase, but given that during the last ice age when places like NY were covered in miles of ice the temperature was about 5-6°C less than today, it can have a profound impact.  

So judge for yourself, but with the massive amount of evidence supporting human induced climate change I would strongly say, along with the rest of the scientific community, that we are causing massive shifts in our climate.  If you want to learn more about climate change, I would suggest the first book on my reference list.  It is a good introduction to all of the workings of climate change.

Answer 9

Some things are still uncertain... but I can assure you that you can do something... even if it is just a simple act, making people aware and act accordingly too could make the difference...

here are some links about th environment and what you can do to help...

http://www.lestout.com/article/news-soci...

Answer 10

it's a natural cycle. It's been warming and cooling for millions of years. We are not causing it. We may be pushing it abit faster but we are not the cause of it.

Answer 11

What you are seeing in the media is a "political" power play. There are folks who want to control you and they are blaming humans for the global warming. They will pass laws that will keep you in chains for the rest of your life...all based on a premise that is highly questionable. Yet, they're making it "unquestionable" by causing any scientist who disagrees to lose his/her job. Its typical communistic facist tactics..but they care about that!

Answer 12

follow the green people or beleive you teacher. choose your teacher

Answer 13

Global warming is the increase in the average temperature of the Earth's near-surface air and oceans .

Increasing global temperature will cause sea level to rise, and is expected to increase the intensity of extreme weather events and to change the amount and pattern of precipitation. Other effects of global warming include changes in agricultural yields, trade routes, glacier retreat, species extinctions and increases in the ranges of disease vectors.

Human activity since the industrial revolution has increased the concentration of various greenhouse gases, leading to increased radiative forcing from CO2, methane, tropospheric ozone, CFCs and nitrous oxide. Molecule for molecule, methane is a more effective greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, but its concentration is much smaller so that its total radiative forcing is only about a fourth of that from carbon dioxide. Some other naturally occurring gases contribute very small fractions of the greenhouse effect; one of these, nitrous oxide (N2O), is increasing in concentration owing to human activity such as agriculture. The atmospheric concentrations of CO2 and CH4 have increased by 31% and 149% respectively since the beginning of the industrial revolution in the mid-1700s. These levels are considerably higher than at any time during the last 650,000 years, the period for which reliable data has been extracted from ice cores. From less direct geological evidence it is believed that CO2 values this high were last attained 20 million years ago. Fossil fuel burning has produced approximately three-quarters of the increase in CO2 from human activity over the past 20 years. Most of the rest is due to land-use change, in particular deforestation.

I hope my answer has satisfied you. If yes, do select it as the best answer.

Thanks.

Answer 14

There is no such thing as global warning, so don't fret.

Answer 15

we cause the majority of it and i would have to say that i disagree with your biology teacher. there is plenty we can do and there are plenty of websites that tell people how to go green. going green can actually do a lot to help save the planet and i think we should all help.

Answer 16

Your biology teacher is absolutely correct.

There is nothing that man could do to alter the climate in anyway whatsoever.

There is nothing wrong with being more environmentally friendly however.

Most people who are "going green" happen to be doing it because they believe the current myths and feel that they are actually able to do their part in 'saving the Earth'.

There are many things which man can control and change, but climate is not one of them.

Answer 17

We have been slowly leaving an ice age for thousands of years (for much of the history of the earth, there were no polar ice caps) ... however, the scientific consensus is that this warming has been greatly accelerated by human activity.  There is a debate as to how much is human, how much is natural, how much change is a general trend, and how much is normal year-to-year variation.  As nature has a harder time absorbing the impact of sudden changes, there is concern the human burning of fossil fuels will have grave consequences.  If we make choices now that stabilize the release of carbon dioxide over the next 50 years, this will mitigate the problems caused, but won't eliminate them.  Those hard choices still have to be made.

EDIT:  The situation looks bad, but I wouldn't bet against human innovation.  Battles against disease and starvation have been won to a degree previously thought impossible.  The ozone hole, smog, and acid rain are pollution problems that have been significantly reduced in recent years.  Global warming is a more difficult problem than any of these, but answers may yet appear.

Answer 18

I dare say that your biology teacher is wrong. Global warning is mostly human activities affected it and we certainly can do good things to prevent it. Starting from your own home and your community, driving less, consume as little energy as possible, use least plastic bags, try to take buses as much as possible, to walk the short distance trips, and try to teach your school mates and your neighbors to live more greener. Do you watch TV or reading newspapers occasionally or frequently? According to just this morning TV World news in Hong Kong to day: Italy is flooding, Iceland is having an earthquake, and many provinces have floods are caused by heavy rain in China. What a sad story just after the Schwinn Earth quake had killed almost seventy thousand, and the typhoon Nargis strikes Burma had killed even more, too. The Global warning was started with the emission of CO2,So2, Nox, and the harmful suspendable particulates. The great 1952 London fog had killed thousands of people were caused by the industrial emission of carbon dioxide and particulates. Hong Kong had the death toll of 3,000 in 2007 was caused by the the foul air of above-described. After the toxic pollutant accumulated too heavy in the sky, it caused the acid rain and felt onto the land. It damaged the agriculture products, including herds and human kinds. Furthermore, due to warming up of global temperature (about 1 degree C each year), it gradually melt the ice caps in the arctic circle and formed trillion tons of ice water and flow into the southern seas and rivers. It caused some sea level raising higher and caused flood in different parts of this world. In contary, some part of this world is getting drought and sand storms (more likely natural causes but a few scientists described as human caused) in other parts of this world. These natural phenomenon is televised in this morning world news.

Hong Kong is known as the most polluted city of this world. The government has ignored and lied to this world it is the natural cause. The two coal fired power generating station and the bunger fuel used by sea vehicles and big diesel trucks have made the Hong Kong sky goes black all year round. We can do it to make HOng Kong green dream come true by banning the environmental pollution fuels, diesel fuels, and bunker fuel. By the way, the HK (Hong Kong) magazine, May 16, 2008, article submitted by John Robertson: Green Dream of Hong Kong. And why they won't come has described why and how Hong Kong become the most polluted city in this world.

http://www.spaceandmotion.com/environmen...

http://www.edelman.com/speak_up/blog/arc...