Did anyone else catch the news today?

Question

Global cooling is on the way? We are down 0.6 degrees from the global average just ten years ago. But dont worry were no warmer or cooler than we were 80 years ago.

Now I'm worried that something else is gonna kill me before the global climate change does. What could it be? Maybe it'll be that hole in the ozone that was gonna kill us all 20 years ago. Or maybe that coming ice age that was gonna kill us all 30 years ago?

Answer 1

Not really.

Global warming -- a gradual increase in planet-wide temperatures -- is now well documented and accepted by scientists as fact. A panel convened by the U.S National Research Council, the nation's premier science policy body, in June 2006 voiced a "high level of confidence" that Earth is the hottest it has been in at least 400 years, and possibly even the last 2,000 years. Studies indicate that the average global surface temperature has increased by approximately 0.5-1.0°F (0.3-0.6°C) over the last century. This is the largest increase in surface temperature in the last 1,000 years and scientists are predicting an even greater increase over this century. This warming is largely attributed to the increase of greenhouse gases (primarily carbon dioxide and methane) in the Earth's upper atmosphere caused by human burning of fossil fuels, industrial, farming, and deforestation activities.

Average global temperatures may increase by 1.4-5.8ºC (that's 2.5 - 10.4º F) by the end of the 21st century. Although the numbers sound small, they can trigger significant changes in climate. (The difference between global temperatures during an Ice Age and an ice-free period is only about 5ºC.) Besides resulting in more hot days, many scientists believe an increase in temperatures may lead to changes in precipitation and weather patterns. Warmer ocean water may result in more intense and frequent tropical storms and hurricanes. Sea levels are also expected to increase by 0.09 - 0.88 m. in the next century, mainly from melting glaciers and expanding seawater . Global warming may also affect wildlife and species that cannot survive in warmer environments may become extinct. Finally, human health is also at stake, as global warming may result in the spreading of certain diseases such as malaria, the flooding of major cities, a greater risk of heat stroke for individuals, and poor air quality.

Climate change is very likely having an impact now on our planet and its life, according to the latest installment of a report published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). And the future problems caused by rising seas, growing deserts, and more frequent droughts all look set to affect the developing world more than rich countries, they add. The report is the second chapter of the IPCC's Fourth Assessment -- the most comprehensive summary yet of research into the causes and effects of climate change. To read more, visit Effects of climate change tallied up.

Factors

Greenhouse Gases

The increase in greenhouse gases caused by human activity is often cited as one of the major causes of global warming. These greenhouse gases reabsorb heat reflected from the Earth's surface, thus trapping the heat in our atmosphere. This natural process is essential for life on Earth because it plays an important role in regulating the Earth's temperature. However, over the last several hundred years, humans have been artificially increasing the concentration of these gases, mainly carbon dioxide and methane in the Earth's atmosphere. These gases build up and prevent additional thermal radiation from leaving the Earth, thereby trapping excess heat.

Solar Variability & Global Warming

Some uncertainty remains about the role of natural variations in causing climate change. Solar variability certainly plays a minor role, but it looks like only a quarter of the recent variations can be attributed to the Sun. At most. During the initial discovery period of global warming, the magnitude of the influence of increased activity on the Sun was not well determined.

Solar irradiance changes have been measured reliably by satellites for only 30 years. These precise observations show changes of a few tenths of a percent that depend on the level of activity in the 11-year solar cycle. Changes over longer periods must be inferred from other sources. Estimates of earlier variations are important for calibrating the climate models. While a component of recent global warming may have been caused by the increased solar activity of the last solar cycle, that component was very small compared to the effects of additional greenhouse gases. According to a NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) press release, "...the solar increases do not have the ability to cause large global temperature increases...greenhouse gases are indeed playing the dominant role..." The Sun is once again less bright as we approach solar minimum, yet global warming continues.

GLOBAL WARMING HAS TO STOP BEFORE WE ALL DIE.

HUMANS MADE THIS MESS AND HUMANS ARE THE ONLY ONES WHO CAN CLEAN IT UP!

Answer 2

Shhh! People have their heads in the sand and they don't want to be disturbed. If they hear this news (That I have been trying to tell them about for three months now) they will try to place the blame on something else than state that we will hit a new record high in five years. (I guess that's to make themselves feel better about their false beliefs.)

Answer 3

It's unfortunate you don't back up your claims. Go ahead and thumb it down, but it is reality. There are always dips and peaks in the global average temperature. You must expect every year get warmer and warmer with no variation. Natural systems have variability from day-to-day and year-to-year, but they can also be trended.

http://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/graphs...

Notice the peaks and valleys in the data (that's called variability)? Notice the graph's trends up? Notice the great drop in temperature in 1992, then the steady increase until another drop in 1999, then more increase. See a pattern?

Global Warming hasn't gone anywhere!

Answer 4

Relax it wont be a Natural disaster .

The nuclear war that  America is planning will do us in way before .

Unless of course Nibiru decides to show up

Answer 5

I am still looking for the "Acid Rain" scare to make a big comeback once all the nonsense about global warming is put to rest.

Answer 6

If the alternative is global cooling, I say bring on the warming.

Answer 7

Do you make this stuff up in your own head, or is there actually a "news" outlook publishing such false information?

Answer 8

the martians are coming.  they will warm up the atmosphere and the un will have a commission. gore will not support the martians. wait, gore is a martian.

Answer 9

We are waiting for a bit of a sun shift.  That's right, a bit further out and a new ice age, so go buy big coats everybody.  Planet earth one big ice cube, or is that a rap singer?  Hate rap music.

Answer 10

Yes the last ten years have been cool relative to the last 10 years.  They've been warm and getting warmer relative to the whole century.  So if you want to pick the one that disproves global warming when you isolate it from all other facts, you are correct!  I understand your error about the ozone too.  We did act on that one in time, didn't we?  At least we think so.  Certainly not the same thing as an erroneous prediction, is it?

Nobody who amounted to anything predicted global cooling in the 1970's.  Certainly not the experts.  It's like the deniers today.  In fact the guy who started it was the first real denier.

Answer 11

Watch out for comets

Answer 12

Warming, cooling, make up your mind.

How is it the weather changes where I stand ?  Wait, where I stand is moving, plate tectonics, so the weather has to change.  Just look at the fossils at the south pole, Antarctica moved there.

Answer 13

Yellowstone