Are you doing any ting differently know than you did in the past because of global warming?

Question

I know that I recently starting taking this very seriously. I have installed energy efficient utilities in my home, as well as eloctronic thermostats and have started to recycle reuseable materials. I'm not some fanatical nut case but I'm observant enough to see that the ecology has changed dramatically over the past 30 years. When I was a child growing up in Michigan, back in the 70's it was a given that there would be snow on the ground for christmas day. Spring and fall have disapeared, now it goes from a weak winter to a hot summer and then to winter again. Lake levels are always low and fishing has diminished. The birch trees are soon becoming extinct, weed beds have vanished along with bait fish in lakes St. Clair and Lake Huron which has killed salmon populations. Places that were a given for snowmobiling don't support enough snow any more to attarct tourist. It's incredible how easy it is to see what's going on with our ecology when you live in an evironment as diverse as Mich.

Answer 1

im doing what i always did....the Right Reverand AlGore is full of s*it

Answer 2

You do realize this 'weak winter' was one of the coldest and most harsh on record?  That is either a blatant lie, or a brilliantly dull observation on your account.  There was more snow, at least around here, than there has been in many years past.  Around here (upper Wisconsin/Minnesota/Michigan) there was so much snow this last winter, it was a snowmobiler's paradise.

Incredible how easy it is to see that this last winter totally debunks your entire question.

So I plan on buying a whole ton of incandescent light bulbs, you realize these new energy efficient light bulbs contain mercury, enough to harm your family?

I plan on buying a very good energy efficient house that I can insulate the heck out of because these next few years is going to be cold!

Answer 3

I don't buy into Al Gore's global warming propaganda. I am having to face the fact that energy is costing me more. I'm using compact light bulbs, keeping my thermostat at the recommended levels, and combining trips to save gas. All to save money.

I use reusable shopping bags because the plastic ones annoy me. I recycle what I can because I do believe pollution is a problem. I eat locally grown produce to support my community, and for the health benefits (pollen doesn't bother me nearly as much anymore).

I'm more concerned about the overpopulation and the resulting pollution of the planet more than I'm worried about global warming. There's nothing we can do to control the sun, but we do have a hand in the food resources and keeping the water clean.

Answer 4

Yes, a problem exists.  People need to watch both history and discovery channel for more information.  They have shows frequently about it  I run 2 Freecycle.org groups, I recycle cans (no place nearby to recycle paper and other things)  I PLANT TREES.  

Me I drive less, use less electric (monitor the use close)

Since the 1950s it has been said and igonored by most governments and people that unless we cleaned up our act we could have a rough time or become extint ourselves.

Answer 5

I'm hording light bulbs, gasoline, and canned food....and ammo.  This country is going to get nutty when AGW proponents get a sympathetic President (all of the front-runners claim AGW is real, McCain included).

Answer 6

I turned up the thermostat cause it's fracken cold.  This Spring still feels like Winter.

Answer 7

Yes, I believe the problem is as real and serious as a heart attack. Since believing in the reality of GW I have since instituted these changes and practices which I advocate anyone to follow in accord.

1. Recycling

2. Own a hybrid

3. Live downtown and rarely drive

4. Give to various environmental charities (Environmental Defense Fund, Nature Conservancy, and the Sierra Club).

5. Vegan (probably one of the greatest positive impacts an individual can have on the environment as meat production in more energy intensive, and creates massive amounts of methane (20x's more powerful than CO2), as well as takes us to 16 pounds of grain to make one pound of beef).

6. Buy local goods. Being a locovore is key to helping the environment when our food is shipped an average of 1600 miles. I buy at the local co-ops and farmers markets. I also buy local woods, fragrance sprays, clothing and more. Whatever I can find that is of decent quality and price I buy over non-local.

7. Gardening: I have planted many bushes trees and flowers over the last few years. I also have a food garden that brings local and sustainability to a whole new level.

8. Compost: Saves loads on trash and I need not by fertilizers which are often petroleum based. I also save on having to ship in extra dirt.

9. Travel Less: Especially buy plane which literally releases tones of CO2 per passenger per trip.

10. Promote Awareness: We can't do this alone

11. Write elected officials to create green laws.

12. CFL's throughout my whole house.

13. Use solar and crank flashlands: They save me money and the environment in energy and the embodied energy of batteries.

14. Use tote bags :America uses over 380 billion bags a year that will not decompose in the landfills.

15. Drive filtered not bottled water which takes petroleum for each bottle you drink and through away.

16. Throw away a little as possible: I often find uses of people who want things many would through away out of laziness of wanting to deal with it.

17. Buy hemp clothing: grows more prolifically than cotton, is stronger fabric making it last longer, and requires no pesticides.

18. Buy recycled goods such as toilet paper, reclaimed materials for shoes, used clothing and construction materials, etc.

19. Added extra insulation into my houses

I could go on and on and on but I think this gives one a pretty good idea of what can be achieved if ones priority is for the environmental health of the world. And believe me this has not been a tremendous sacrifice but has given me more joy as my levels of awareness have grown as well as communities formed as a result.

Answer 8

Yes, I'm convinced there's a problem because that's what the scientific evidence indicates.

http://greenhome.huddler.com/wiki/global...

I've done a lot differently.

*Bought a Prius which more than doubled my fuel efficiency.

*Bought an electric scooter for commuting to work, and also bike to work.

*Turn the thermostat up in summer and down in winter.

*Made my home as energy efficient as possible.

*Support politicians who make global warming a top priority.

*Spread knowledge about the problem and solutions.

Answer 9

Spend more time at the beach.  Enjoy it while it lasts- the next few years will be colder than normal.

Answer 10

I'm not changing a thing.

Climate change is a money and power grab scheme by the bottom feeder politicians and power brokers. It's nothing to do with ecology and everything to do with money.

Con artists like Gore have enriched themselves on this issue, taking home Oscars, Nobel Prizes and millions of dollars. Meanwhile, evangelical leaders are setting up their flocks for extreme fleecing by leftist politicos like Barack Obama, who will appeal for Christian votes by talking in glowing, biblical-sounding terms about "being good stewards of God's creation."

Here is truth about global warming:

Global warming is one-half of the climatic cycle of warming and cooling.

The earth's mean temperature cycles around the freezing point of water.

This is a completely natural phenomenon which has been going on since

there has been water on this planet. It is driven by the sun.

Our planet is currently emerging from a 'mini ice age', so is

becoming warmer and may return to the point at which Greenland is again usable as farmland (as it has been in recorded history).

As the polar ice caps decrease, the amount of fresh water mixing with oceanic water will slow and perhaps stop the thermohaline cycle (the oceanic heat 'conveyor' which, among other things, keeps the U.S. east coast warm).

When this cycle slows/stops, the planet will cool again and begin to enter another ice age.

It's been happening for millions of years.

The worrisome and brutal predictions of drastic climate effects are based on computer models, NOT CLIMATE HISTORY.

As you probably know, computer models are not the most reliable of sources, especially when used to 'predict' chaotic systems such as weather.

Global warming/cooling, AKA 'climate change':

Humans did not cause it.

Humans cannot stop it.

Answer 11

No global warming does not exist

Answer 12

yep, i am burning brush and small trees/deadfall in my backyard.  I am cleaning out my wood burning stove so it will be ready for next season.  i am looking at buying a pickup truck to replace my old minivan which i just sold.  I am going to get my motorcycle out and go for a 3 or 4 hour long leisure ride on the weekends.  

as a side note, you talk about changes over the past 30 years.  Not to be rude, but that is an insignificant short sighted point of view.  pay attention to data from longer than your lifespan and you will have a much more complete picture of the changes and what possibly may have affected them.

for instance, did you know that there was a major increase in the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere BEFORE the age of industrialization and internal combustion!?! and since then there has not been a dramatic rise (as some would have you believe).  the graphs used to demonstrate the 'danger' of global warming, are often made of an inflated scale, depicting a range of 2 degrees Celsius  (the overall mean deviation in temp over the past several thousand years) which really is not a serious amount of increase (or decrease).

the climate may be changing, maybe even warming, but mankind/humanity has nothing to do with it.

there was a greater increase in the temperature of the world in the 1800's to the early 1900's than there has been between the early 1900's and the 2000's. This contradicts the concept that increased CO2 causes increased temperatures. The global production of CO2 skyrocketed in the 1920's compared to any previous century, but the temp has not increased, actually it decreased for the better part of the 1900's and currently is not up to previous high levels (the range for the change is less than 2 degrees C...miniscule! and hardly noticable.

the data that appears to show 'global warming' is not the most accurate data available. It is skewed in a few ways.

#1 it is gathered using land based thermometers. (warming would occur in the atmosphere 1st and satellite measurements of atmospheric temperatures show no statistically significant changes since the satellites have been in orbit (the 1980s) --the earth's land surface is only about 25% of the entire surface area of the earth);

#2 the land based thermometers used are almost entirely located at airports. (when the thermometers were placed, the airports were generally located some distance from the city centers, as time has passed the cities have grown outward and often around the airports. cities retain heat due to all the dense surfaces, large amounts of surface areas exposed to the sun, and limited air direction movement (as compared to rural areas). Or simply put the way we use land around the thermometers had changed in a way that increases the local temperature and thus does not provide an accurate climatological temperature.);

#3 the data is often cropped at the beginning and end in order to show people the 'hockey stick' progression, but if they showed all the data, you would be able to see a wide fluctuation before the start of the 'stick' and a drop where they would have you believe the 'stick' is continuing to grow upward.)

#4 the air today is cleaner than it was in 1970, despite the fear and scare tactics used by the 'eco-friendly' crowd. (airborne lead has decreased by 93%, CO by 50%, Ground level ozone by 25%, sulfer oxides by 70%)

#5 computer models (GCMs) are often used to support predictions of Global Warming, BUT these models, when given the actual data from the past 25 years, cannot accurately predict the climate for the next year (ie: if we entered the data for 1970-1995 the model would provide wildly inaccurate data for 1996. study done by International Journal of Climatology Dec 2007 issue) Both the current and past president of the American Association of State Climatologists have made statements denigrating the accuracy and usefulness of current GCMs)

From January 2004 through February 2007 there were 528 papers published on climate change. There were 7% that explicitly endorsed humanity as the cause of global warming, there were 6% that explicitly denied humanity as a cause, 48% remained entirely neutral in their findings, the remainder did not address humanity at all in their conclusions/summary, and out of the original 528 papers only 1 made any reference to 'catastrophic' climate change being possible.

The UN Global Warming/Climate Change 2007 IPCC statement has been panned by professionals (ie: Dr. Pielke Director of Environmental Studies at University of Colorado, Dr. Gray Professor of Atmospheric Science at Colorado State University, Dr Lindzen Professor of Meteorology at MIT - all of these schools require individual to be doing original research into their areas of professorship in order to remain on staff) as being untrue, politically motivated, containing errors, using data selectively, and not based on observational evidence.

After all of the above, i do believe that we need to take care of our planet, through using efficient means of energy production (nuclear currently leads the way), by recycling (individuals recycling really does not make much of a difference, but business' recycling can make a HUGE difference...the waste created in 1 small to medium business in a single day is more than a family of 5 will create in a month), planting trees/flowers/etc to beautify the scenery as well as for the environmental benefits, consuming home-grown produce (saves transportation costs x3 -from farm to distrib, from distrib to store, from store to home) and many other 'common' sense and not overly invasive lifestyle changes.

Answer 13

Yes.

Improved insulation, programmable thermostat, compact fluorescent light bulbs.  I also pay a small additional fee for my electricity to support wind power.

I still travel.  Fighting global warming doesn't mean stopping doing things, it means doing them smarter.

Oh, by the way.  I also spend WAY too much time here trying to inform people about the science behind it.