Do you believe global warming is real?

Question

Why or why not? And if yes, are humans the primary contributer to it?

Answer 1

sure it's real.  the globe has been warming since the end of the last ice age.  its only human arrogance to believe that we cause it.  just like people used to believe that earth was the center of the universe.  the earth has survived over 6 billion years, we've been industrialized for barely 100 years.  Check the stats, the amount of metric tons of co2 humans put out each year does not alter the co2 part per million in our atmosphere.

Answer 2

Yes, the earth is warming, and has been for thousands of years, since the last ice age.  Oh sure, there are ups and downs.  For instance, in 1100 through 1300 or so, it was warmer than it is now.  Never mind that the Vikings weren't driving around SUVs in Greenland.

Then we had several hundred years called the Little Ice Age where things got cold again.  Then it started warming up again and has been through today.  

Other planets in our solar system are warming up too?  The ice on one of Mar's poles is melting away.  Are the Martian's driving around in millions of SUVs?

It's possible humans are playing a role in the warming.  Perhaps it's warming a little faster than it would be if we weren't dumping millions of tons of CO2 and pollutants into the atmosphere.

But I'm completely unconvinced that man is responsible for the current warming trend, and that the consequences will be dire.  

The people pushing this are not the scientists, but the politicians and hysterical media, because it fits nicely in with their agendas and world views.  

This is all no different than Paul Erlich's Population Bomb book.  He predicted that in the 1980s, the world couldn't sustain the population, and there would be mass starvation and ecological disasters.  Nice theory, but not based in reality.  Same with man made global warming.

Answer 3

Obviously it´s real ! that´s why experts make studies and it will happen if people does not take actions and to the second question obviously humans are the # 1 contributor to this situation if humans are not contributors who is then ? animals, nature ?

Answer 4

The theory of man-made global warming is false.  Anyone who believes otherwise has not investigated the evidence or is purposely remaining ignorant to the legitimate opposition to global warming.  I have given up an one and a half hours to watch “An Inconvenient Truth” so I ask you to do the same and watch the movie detailing the opposition.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=...  

And another video for those of you short on time: http://www.friendsofscience.org/index.ph...

Some more general resources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_warm...

http://www.friendsofscience.org/index.ph...

http://www.john-daly.com/

CO2 is not causing the globe to warm the opposite is true, the warming is increasing the atmospheric CO2.  When the world heats it gradually increases the temperature of the oceans which serve as the largest CO2 sink.  As the oceans heat up they release CO2 which is stored in them.  The information comes from the same data Al Gore uses, the temperature always goes up before the concentration of CO2 goes up.

http://www.lavoisier.com.au/papers/artic...

CO2 makes up only .03% of our atmosphere.  Water vapor, another greenhouse gas, makes up 1-4% of our atmosphere, this gas is acknowledged to be the main greenhouse gas.  All human activities combined contribute only 6 Gigatons of CO2 to the atmosphere each year.  Animals, through respiration, decomposition, etc contribute 150 Gigatons of CO2 to the atmosphere.  So humans contribute only a small amount of CO2 to the atmosphere which is already in very small concentrations in the atmosphere.

http://oco.jpl.nasa.gov/science.html This is where my data came from, it is an interesting site, it displays the same graphics as Al Gore in his movie but it tells how low the human contribution is.  So Al Gore is using the same data but coming to a different conclusion, who do you want to believe a politician with no scientific training or the NASA CO2 laboratory, a group of scientists who spend their entire careers studying CO2.

We know the greenhouse effect is real it is a necessary effect to keep our planet at a habitable temperature.  However if our current warming is due to greenhouse gasses it would cause warming in the troposphere , but the troposphere is actually getting cooler.

http://wwwghcc.msfc.nasa.gov/temperature... That points to other explanations to our current warming.

So what is causing our current warming, it is the sun.

http://web.dmi.dk/solar-terrestrial/spac...

http://www.aip.org/enews/physnews/2003/s...

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/06...

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/200...

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2003/...

http://www.globalwarming.org/article.php...

The fact that only the earth’s surface is warming points to direct heating from the sun rather than heating due to greenhouse gasses.  Also other planets in our solar system are warming pointing to a common cause of warming, that common cause being the sun.

http://www.livescience.com/environment/0...

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/...

http://www.nasa.gov/vision/universe/sola...

http://www.nasa.gov/vision/universe/sola...

The global warming crowd says our glaciers are melting and animals will suffer this is another false claim.

http://www.co2science.org/scripts/CO2Sci...

http://www.nationalcenter.org/NPA235.htm...

http://www.worldclimatereport.com/

The global warming crowd also claims a scientific consensus on the issue, this is wrong in two ways.  One, there is no consensus, this is a false claim to make you believe in global warming by suppressing the opposition.  http://www.oism.org/pproject/s33p36.htm

Second, even if there was a consensus it would mean nothing, science is not politics, you don’t vote on theories to determine their legitimacy.

Here’s 21 pages of websites that disagree with global warming.

http://www.climatechangedebate.org/docum...

The thought that the only scientists who disagree with global warming are paid by oil companies is simply a stupid statement with no reality.  This is the most illogical argument by people in support of global warming.  Aside from being completely false it begs another question: Who pays global warming supporters?  The answer is big environmental agencies that make millions off of global warming each year by teaching, publishing books, and selling environmentally clean products.  

The IPCC is the main supporter of global warming, their statements are defended blindly by people who don’t want to admit that global warming is not real.  People will claim that they took into account natural sources of CO2, they didn’t.  Take a look for yourself:

http://www.ipcc.ch/activity/srccs/index....  That is the latest IPCC report, read the entire report, do a search of the documents, there is absolutely no mention of natural sources of CO2.  The natural sources have been completely ignored.  Also people will claim that the IPCC took the sun into account in their report, this is not entirely correct, while the sun is mentioned the report it’s effects have not been accurately represented.

http://www.john-daly.com/forcing/moderr....  The IPCC did not take into account the Svensmark factor.  This would greatly reduce the effect of solar radiation on the earth.  Look back up to the solar resources to see the effect of the sun correctly represented.

Also allegations have been by IPCC scientists who disagreed with the IPCC statements.  They say that their research was censored or taken out of the IPCC report.  This is not the first time the IPCC has lied, they forged the famous “hockey stick” graph, which later resulted in a reissuing of the IPCC report.

Here’s another source that disagrees with the IPCC: http://rpc.senate.gov/_files/Sept1004Glo...

And another: http://www.sepp.org/Archive/NewSEPP/ipcc...

And another: http://www.john-daly.com/guests/un_ipcc....

Quotes form politicians, CEO’s, and others are not proof of global warming, they issue these statements to get votes and customers.  Scientists are able to get published and get time on the media by supporting global warming.  The IPCC continually lies and misrepresents data so they keep their jobs.  

In regards to the precautionary principle that says we can only help if we switch over to alternative energy, this idea is not correct.  While this may seem legitimate it only helps the first world, third world countries can not afford to switch to the more expensive energy options.  Also the US currently spends 4 billion dollars a year on global warming research which could be better spent on research for disease or to fight poverty.  For an excellent example of how the precautionary principle is harmful you do not need to look further than DDT.  This pesticide was cheap and incredibly effective but it was banned because of it harmful effects on egg shells.  Now thousands of people die every year in third world countries because of malaria, a disease that could be easily controlled with DDT.

I hope anyone who believes in global warming they will take a look at the resources I provided.  These resources should convince you that global warming is not man-made, it is caused by cycles in the earths climate.  If you are not convinced I hope you at least take a new look at global warming as an unproven idea.  Remember that global warming is big business for anyone who aligns themselves with it.

I could not go this entire post without mentioning global cooling.  

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_cool...

http://www.michaelkubacki.com/cooling.ht...

In the 1970’s it was claimed that there was a consensus on the fact that the world was headed into an ice age.  We have seen once before how damaging a false claim about our climate change can be to our world.  Most of the global warming crowd does not want you to know about this scare because it is so similar to the scare today.  Government panels were formed and claimed the world was headed to an ice age, evidence poured in supporting the claim, a consensus was claimed, then the whole issue just faded away.  That is what will happen with the false scare of global warming.

Answer 5

Global warming is very real .. you only have to look around, for example .. the plight of the polar bear.  As far as human contribution goes .. I personally believe that humans are very responsible for world environment issues and will go as to say that humankind is the biggest pest by far to ever inhabit this planet.

Answer 6

Yes, but this is a complex issue.

There are several important factors contributing to global warming, but I don't think we really know the PRIMARY cause.  

First, we know that the amount of greenhouse gases has been increasing for about 100 years, and we're pretty sure this is due to burning of fossil fuels.

Second, we know that the earth goes through warming and cooling periods over thousands of years, and (historically) we are entering a warming period.

Third, we know that the surface temperature of Mars has also been increasing, and we're pretty sure this is due to increased solar activity.

Fourth, we know that oceanic currents can contribute to overall climate change.

Fifth, we know that as snowpack in the Artic and Antartic melt, there is less light reflected back from the sun, and the earth will warm.

The bad news to all of this is that greenhouse gases is the only issue that humans can control.  So, the earth is going to warm, regardless of what we do.  However, if we actively work to reduce greenhouses, we can delay and lessen the affects.  The question is:  Will it be enough?

Answer 7

I believe in Climate change. Weather changes like last summer extremely hot weather, even winter are colder. There been increased in wildfires and drought, which been destroy the ecosystem, and cause more extinction of animal and plants. And probably heard about the glacier melting and sea level has been rising because the Carbon dioxide and other gases that have been trapping the sun heat in earth's atmosphere.  This problem was caused by burning fossil fuels such as coal, gas and oil and clearing forests from humans' and it our responsibility to do something about. i believe who believe it hoaxes, are either go with bush admiration and Fossil Fuel Company who have been toning down climate change (global warming) so won’t seem as bad and there doing for money over well be of people and planet. i don't think there aware what of power we have on planet. Human are consider a dominate race, we have largest population, we create machine and change environments like the direction of river in way we like. We make houses and city skyscrapers, we guns, planes.  We power to destroy whatever is in our path, and kill off an entire species and make it at stick. How not consider that power?  There time when were going to see what wrong we done to earth, and try fix this global problem, for better than doing nothing. I know humans are not perfect and it natural to think of yourself cause it real thing we understand but once and while we need to think what going on around us, for world doesn’t center around you. Animal are valuable they keep the balance of life or circle of life, without them, the environment will be danger and which will endanger us.  This planet earth has given us so many things like tree that bring the oxygen, a habit for animal and reduce carbon emissions and this planet is alive and belongs to animals as well. Even though we make mistakes that why we strive to do, that what makes us better people. I not trying to converge and change you into something your not, I just like you understand what I and perhaps many other see. 4 stop global warming sites

http://www.oprah.com/tows/pastshows/2006...

http://www.stopglobalwarming.org/default...

www.climatecrisis.net

http://www2.oprah.com/tows/slide/200704/...

2 cartoons making fun of global warming

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIJZ4d892...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLW2T3QgJ...

Answer 8

yes

Answer 9

Oh it's real, but the cause is up for debate.

Earth has been coming out of an ice-age for thousands of years.

In a few thousand more earth will begin to enter another ice-age.

Humans may play some small part in the warming.

Answer 10

i think its true.for example we found that this year will be the hottest year in the last 50 years.here in Romania we will have tropical night what is unusual for us and days with high temperatures.over 40 degrees.in the newspaper was wrote that we will melt.of course they exaggerated!if humans are primary contributed to it?we have our contribution but i don't think is our fault.

Answer 11

yes, we are experiencing it in northern Canada.  New species of animals are moving north that we have not seen before.  Humans are primary contributer.  Americans have a huge impact w/ their hummers, etc.

Answer 12

global warming is just a bunch of sh*it used by car companies to get people to buy there 30grand hybrids

Answer 13

This is science and what counts is the data.

"I wasn’t convinced by a person or any interest group—it was the data that got me. I was utterly convinced of this connection between the burning of fossil fuels and climate change. And I was convinced that if we didn’t do something about this, we would be in deep trouble.”

Vice Admiral Richard H. Truly, USN (Ret.)

Former NASA Administrator, Shuttle Astronaut and the first Commander of the Naval Space Command

Here are two summaries of the mountain of data that convinced Admiral Truly, short and long.

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

http://www.ipcc.ch/SPM2feb07.pdf

It's (mostly) not the sun:

http://www.stopglobalwarming.org/sgw_act...

And the first graph aboves shows that the sun is responsible for about 10% of it.  When someone says it's the sun they're saying that thousands of climatologists are stupid and don't look at the solar data.  That's ridiculous.

Science is quite good about exposing bad science or hoaxes:

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/ATG/polywater...

There's a large number of people who agree that it is real and mostly caused by us, who are not liberals, environmentalists, stupid, or conceivably part of a "conspiracy".  Just three examples of many:

"Global warming is real, now, and it must be addressed."

Lee Scott, CEO, Wal-Mart

"Our nation has both an obligation and self-interest in facing head-on the serious environmental, economic and national security threat posed by global warming."

Senator John McCain, Republican, Arizona

“DuPont believes that action is warranted, not further debate."

Charles O. Holliday, Jr., CEO, DuPont

There's a lot less controversy about this is the real world than there is on Yahoo answers:

http://www.worldpublicopinion.org/pipa/a...

And vastly less controversy in the scientific community than you might guess from the few skeptics talked about here:

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/fu... and:

"There's a better scientific consensus on this [climate change] than on any issue I know - except maybe Newton's second law of dynamics.  Global warming is almost a no-brainer at this point,You really can't find intelligent, quantitative arguments to make it go away."

Jerry Mahlman, NOAA

Good websites for more info:

http://profend.com/global-warming/

http://www.realclimate.org

"climate science from climate scientists"

By the way, I can't believe anyone is still recommending the "swindle" movie, which has been thoroughly refuted.

It is simply a political statement which distorts science.  

"The science might be bunkum, the research discredited. But all that counts for Channel 4 is generating controversy."  

http://environment.guardian.co.uk/climat...

Gore's movie may be a little over dramatic, but it has the basic science right.  This movie does not.

Channel 4 itself undercuts the movie in a funny way.  If you go to their website on the movie you find links to real global warming information.  They also say "Confused now?  Ask the Expert."  The link for questions goes to a respected mainstream scientist who supports (mostly) human responsibility for global warming.

No one with any knowledge about global warming believes it.

Answer 14

Yes. Check out what is going on in Perth, Australia, or the melting Killimanjaro peaks, or the huge ice shelves that are breaking off in the antarctic, the mass species die offs, the weird weather, floods, etc. I think global warming is a cycle, BUT I also believe that we humans have sped up the process a LOT. But, then again, we humans dont' know everything.

Answer 15

YES! All the evidence is there! I am Christian, but a lot of fellow Christians don't think its a big problem because we are going to leave the Earth anyway. But think about it: Would God really want us destroying the Earth that He created? People need a reality check! This is a serious problem! Where I live, there was a freeze caused by global warming that destroyed the citrus crop, so many people lost their jobs! There were a lot of deaths of elderly people caused by extreme heat last summer also. Whether we want to believe it or not, it is affecting us, so WAKE UP AND SMELL THE COFFEE PEOPLE!!!!

Answer 16

Yes it's real but the planet would be warming even if there were no pesky humans on it. Global climate was warmer in the year 1000 than it is now and they didn't have SUVs in those days.

If humans are contributing to warming it's a minor contribution compared to natural causes.

Answer 17

Yes, it is real

Answer 18

yes i do believe in global warming, the ice caps aren't melting cause they feel like it. Humans are definetly the biggest contributer because we are putting so much carbon dioxide in the air with our cars and other automobiles.

Answer 19

Possitively, the US is the only country where there is doubt. Scientists are virtually unanimous.

We contribute with millions of tons of CO2 emissions, and by cutting down trees, the reason that there is free O2 in the atmosphere to begin with.

Answer 20

Global warming is certainly occurring; it has been observed in actual temperature records of both land and sea. http://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/tabled...

Global warming is mostly human caused, due to putting large amounts of greenhouse gases into the air. The most important of these is carbon dioxide created by burning of fossil fuels.

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

Answer 21

Yes, it's real check out London for an example it used to be gloomy cloudy looking now it has completely changed it looks like sunny California or Miami Florida.  And the atmosphere changed due to global warning.  Read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_warm...

Answer 22

Sure, it's demonstrably real. Remember "global" warming means a worldwide average. What it may mean, ultimately, is not sure. Bad news for low-lying cities, probably agricultural

readjustments. While the shift is occuring there will be severe weather events. Not so sure is what populations and goverments do in response. Wars over available resources in some areas; famine, war, and displaced people mean plague. . The Pentagon has funded a large study to provide scenarios for dealing with that. A larger concern should be "how fast". One scenario is "The

Great Climatic Flip-flop" or Abrupt Climatic Change (look them up on the internet).

"Are humans the main (or a major) cause of it?" Probably not.

The climate had been slowly moving that direction for a couple hundred years-but the rate of increase is itself speeding up. We might be contributing to that with gases, poisoning the oeanic plankton, and destroying tropical rainforest.

Answer 23

yes, but humans i think are only a small part of it.  The world temp. changes alot, in the 70's there were concerns about global cooling.

Answer 24

yes; humans are the primary contributor to it through industry. if everyone didn't drive their car, it wouldn't help.

Answer 25

"Yes it's real but the planet would be warming even if there were no pesky humans on it. Global climate was warmer in the year 1000 than it is now and they didn't have SUVs in those days.

If humans are contributing to warming it's a minor contribution compared to natural causes."

actually humans have (at this point) made the problem twice as bad, there is a huge (multiple times the amount of any heat age in the past) increase in co2 which will inevidably cause temperature to rise higher than it has in hundreds of thousands of years.

in other words we control the apocalyse

Answer 26

Yes, I do believe it is real.  There is no reason to disbelieve it since I got a sunburn last winter here in Boston.

Answer 27

Yes, it's real all right.  As with everything else humans touch we have messed all that up too.

Answer 28

What is real, is the Earth needs a good owner.

Whether it is Global Warming, the ozone layer, disappearance of rainforests, extinction of species, acid rain, burning rivers, air pollution... there will always be a wake-up call to alert us to the dangers of human activity.

The important question is, have we learned to change the way we do things?

Considering the fact that most of the water we drink is now coming out of disposable plastic bottles, I don't think so.

OK, so the spectre of flooding coastal cities still isn't enough to do the job. Maybe we need to craft a theory that human activity is causing all the comets and asteroids in the galaxy to head straight for Earth... maybe that'll do it.

I don't care what the theory is or whether it's real. People need to be motivated by something, or they will continue to make this planet more expensive to live on and less habitable at the same time.

Frankly - we are not likely to change until someone expresses, in dollars and cents, the actual cost of doing nothing.

The question needs to be put to economists. When people feel the pinch, they'll listen (trust me).

So, is Global Warming real?

Tree Huggers say "Yes," and Hummer Huggers say "No."

Hoards of scientists are happy to back up either answer for a reasonable fee.

Do I think it's real?

My opinion is not likely to sway anyone else's.

I hope this time, MOST people think it's real, whether it is or not...or we will continue to degrade the only home we have.