Do you agree that global warming could be a natural event, as a simple result of us coming out of an ice age?

Question

Being in mind in the 1700's the River Thames used to freeze over and 10,000 years ago northern Europe and much of North America were under thousands of feet of ice. I believe global warming is a natural process that is being blown out of all proportion by the press. Even if we are speeding it up (slightly), isn't it simply inevitable that the global climate will continue to warm until the ice age we are still in is over (as has happened many times in the past. Also, historically, super volcanic eruptions have emitted more Co2 into the atmosphere than humans have in the past 10 years. What do you think??

Answer 1

No.  Ice age cycles are considered in the assessment of warming.  They been since the early days of the research because the cycles are well known. Solar cycles are also considered. The natural cycles are  recognized as part of the reason for the warming, but the increase in CO2 from anthropogenic sources has caused an ACCELERATION in the warming beyond the natural increase.

Volcanic activity is also considered.  They emit more than just CO2.  Some of the aerosols and particulate matter cause a cooling effect by reflecting sunlight away form the planet.

The problem with the speed up of warming is the ability of the earth's systems to adapt in such a way that does not result in great harm to people.  It is like waves - small waves are no problem but big waves can cause big problems.  We'll have to spend big money to solve big problems.

If you are really interested google the IPCC working group 1 report for detailed information.  It summarizes the science behind measuring the warming.  It is interesting.

Answer 2

Not the current global warming, no.  Here is a summary of the scientific evidence explaining why it's not natural this time:

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

We're not coming out of an ice age right now.  We came out of the last ice age about 10,000 years ago, and have had steady temperatures (cooling slightly) over the past 8,000 years:

http://globalwarmingart.com/wiki/Image:H...

And the planet doesn't just magically go in and out of ice ages.  We know what causes natural climate change, and we know that's not what's happening this time (see first link).

Not sure what you're talking about when you say "historically".  Right now humans emit over 100 times more CO2 than volcanoes on an annual basis.

http://volcano.und.edu/vwdocs/Gases/man....

I urge you to look at the scientific evidence.  Don't just make up your mind based on "common sense" and a lack of information.  Common sense only works when based on facts.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;...

Answer 3

It's fortunate that real scientists are studying this. If you're asking for a lay persons opinion, you already have your mind made up. I prefer to listen to science.

http://dels.nas.edu/dels/rpt_briefs/clim...

http://www.geosociety.org/positions/posi...

http://royalsociety.org/displaypagedoc.a...

http://www.aip.org/gov/policy12.html

http://www.agu.org/sci_soc/policy/positi...

Answer 4

Yeah, I think that the earth is naturally heating, but I also think that it is heating faster than it should which would be because of us. So I think it's natural and our fault that global warming is going on.

Answer 5

ABSOLUTELY NOT. SINCE 2002 THE HURRICANES HAVE EXPANDED FROM 5 MILES ACROSS TO THE SIZE OF TEXAS THE LARGEST STATE IN THE USA. THE GLACIERS ARE MELTING FOR WHAT, NO ITS NOT NATURAL, BUT UNNATURAL. THIS IS WHY IT MUST BE DELETED WHEN YOU AWAKE FROM YOUR DREAM, DONT LET US KNOW.

Answer 6

Science has shown that the earth's climate goes in cycles. It just so happens that the past few hundred years have been extraordinarily favorable. I think the earth is going through a cycle and I also think humans are contributing to the matter. It probably would have warmed slightly anyway, we have just intensified it somewhat. I also think it is incredibly likely that after several years (possibly several decades) of warming the earth will go back into a cold spell. And the cycle continues....

Answer 7

Absolutely!!!!

If we have had any impact, it is so minor as to be insignificant.

If you look at previous graphs of temp, it is obvious that this is normal warming after the little ice age.

Answer 8

No.  I don't know where you got your "facts" from, but they're wrong.

We started to come out of the ice age 12,000 years ago.  And that process stopped TEN THOUSAND YEARS AGO.  Since then we were cooling slightly until we messed things up.  Proof, with scientific references.

http://www.globalwarmingart.com/wiki/Ima...

Volcanoes emit less than 1% of what we do.  Proof, with scientific references.

http://www.geology.sdsu.edu/how_volcanoe...

Do you think these scientists don't know about ice ages or volcanoes?  They all say global warming is NOT natural:

The National Academy of Sciences, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Institute of Physics, the American Chemical Society, the American Geophysical Union, the American Meteorological Association, etc.

Answer 9

No, because greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and fluorocarbons are produced from different factories and industries, combustion of fossil fuels for generating energy etc has been contributing to global warming.

Answer 10

WHAT?!! Just ask any Liberal, They will tell you that Man is evil and that we are responsible for all the ills that exist on this world and the only way to fix it is to give up all our freedom, pay more taxes and go back to living like they did in the stone age. Unless you happen to be a Rich Liberal; then none of this applies to you.

Natural Event  ( IMPOSSIBLE!!!!!)

Answer 11

"Murderers should be killed, I think paedos and rapists should be castrated so they loose the urge. I'm not sure whether rape should be an executionale offence, but if they are castrated then they will loose the urge and won't do it again"

even if you castrate them, this wont stop them. they can still revenge by abusing the victims with hands.

Answer 12

I think we know what happened when those supervolcanoes emitted so much CO2:

Past observations:

"Prior major warmings in Earth’s history, the most recent occurring 55 million years ago . . . resulted in the extinction of half or more of the species then on the planet."

http://www.columbia.edu/~jeh1/2008/State...

It was the Earth's most severe extinction event, with up to 96 percent of all marine species and 70 percent of terrestrial vertebrate species becoming extinct. Because approximately 25 percent of species survived the event, the recovery of life on earth took significantly longer than after other extinction events. This event has been described as the "mother of all mass extinctions".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permian-Tri...

Our future outlook:

http://www.killerinourmidst.com/methane%...

A careful examination of a large number of species in numerous parts of the planet projects that a stunning portion of them will be "committed to extinction" in just 50 years, with only modest global warming (Thomas, 2004).

So how could you find comfort in that it "has happened many times in the past" when those "many times" included massive extinction events?

How can you ignore that those examples confirm the warming power of CO2?  Are you aware that mankind's contribution of CO2 is easily measurable via carbon isotopes, so we know exactly how much we've added to that portion of the problem?

Answer 13

Not entirely

http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/glo...

Global warming is but a component, in a group of destructive forces at work such as ;deforestation,desertification,soil and water contamination ,irresponsible or wasteful utilization of bio resources , air pollution,Non sustainable Agriculture,over pumping carbon aquifers

all concepts which are definitely not part of the Natural Processes of the Natural world

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;...

WHICH WE ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR,

The most prolific growth on this planet is part of the day in the mist and most of the time under clouds ,and the least growth is always directly in the sun .

To exchange the one for the other means changing local climates

We are exchanging Nature with Tar , concrete and open spaced mono cultures.

In 300 years half of the planets forests have gone ,and in the last 50 years half of the wet lands ,and rain forests

These Areas absorb heat during the day and release heat at night ,

Cause cloud formation(shade).humidifying the air on the surface as well as releasing excess water at the roots that keep rivers flowing ,which in turn brings more water into the Environment .

As well as contributing to absorbing carbon emissions as do the leaves of the trees together with the oceans .

All in all many factors which directly affect the local Environment .

The loss of the above resulting in rivers drying up ,less rain ,desertification,loss of habitat for many species and so on.

dryer and hotter surface environments which can manifest in different weather patterns such as tornadoes or bush fires

I may be stupid or Naive but somehow i believe that lots of these local environmental changes, can add up to affect global weather, If there are enough of them (and there are)

And then on top of that comes the story of the effects of pollutants released into Nature and especially the Air ,by MAN http://earthissues.multiply.com/photos/a...

A cocktail of events and a lot of the ingredients have MAN written all over them

So it is safe to assume that we should look at ourselves ,just a teeny bit ,for possible improvements ,and rectifying Eco errors that are with in our powers.

What is a safer bet

to be or not to be

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http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;...

Answer 14

The Earth is not starting global warming it is mostly us people because we started to pollute by:

-cars

-factories

-not recylcing properly

-littering

-not turning off the lights/computers or other electronic items when not in use

Also there has been more hurricanes or storms than usual.

In addition, we can make a difference in the environment by using environmental products like the efficient light bulbs, hybrid cars and carpooling and the most important is to RECYLCE!!

Answer 15

Yes.