Does anyone agree with Al Gore on this one fact?

Question

Human activities impact the earths atmosphere.

Answer 1

Yes. But so do those of every other living thing on the planet.

Answer 2

Only an idiot would disagree with that.  Everything impacts everything, it's a matter of degree.

It is far from demonstrated that human activity has a material impact on climate.  An undercirculated fact, for instance, is that 2007 was globally the coldest year since 1966.

Anytime "scientists" tell you that a matter of science is a "closed topic", you should be skeptical.  Science isn't a matter of vote -- it's about the facts.

Answer 3

Of course. Who do you think caused the pollution ?

Answer 4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Io-Tb7vTa...

Answer 5

and the butterfly's wing affects the tornado in kansas.  Everything effects everything, Al Gore just likes to think he's the first, and the only person to see these things.  Look up the facts for yourself.

Ken- I did know that Al Gore was not alive in the 19th century, what does that have to do with science history?  And temperatures rise BEFORE co2 levels do.  Its hidden, but it's there in the research.

Answer 6

Al Gore is correct, global warming is real. And, humans impact the climate. How much is anyone's guess.

The global climate is arguably the most complex of all complex systems of which we are aware. The "everything affects everything" statements are describing complex systems.

When we take action intended to affect a complex system we rarely understand enough about the system to do much good, and often do harm. DDT is one example - a generation-plus ago DDT was banned worldwide because insects killed by DDT were eaten by birds, and this caused their eggshells to be thinner. This led to fewer birds being born. Todfay the birds are doing a bit better, but about half a million people, mostly children in the third world, die every year from malaria carried by the mosquitos that the DDT used to kill. We saved a few birds, just killed off a few brown people in the bargain.

Nuclear power was another "let's fix this" effort to affect a complex system. Activists succeeded in banning the building of any new nuclear power plants in the U.S. for a generation. That led to additional coal-fired plants, the source of most of the carbon emissions in the U.S. So, we have averted any nuclear power plant melt-downs at the cost of greatly increased greenhouse gas emissions.

Human activities impact the earth's atmosphere. We just don't understand enough about it to be sure that if we take action we're doing more good than harm. Reducing fossil fule consumption has many benefits including improving our national security and reducing emissions of sulphur and other contaminants. That should be enough.

Answer 7

Sure. So do those of every OTHER living thing on the planet.

So what?

Answer 8

Oftentimes, choice of word affects the intended meaning.  Impact sounds like a comet hitting the earth.  In my line of work, we avoid using that word.  We don't, for example, say gasoline impacted the groundwater.  We say something more technical and use wording that is a little nices, such as groundwater containing dissolved gasoline constituents.

Answer 9

Yes we are pumping more CO2 into the atmosphere. That does not cause global warming though.

Anytime you have someone say that a piece of data represents absolute fact you know that they are not true scientists. Remember that at one point in history some scientist felt that it was an absolute fact that the earth was flat.

According to several sources the temperature from January '07 to January '08 has dropped. http://wattsupwiththat.wordpress.com/200...

20 years from now we will be wondering what the fuss was about global warming. The seas will not rise 20 feet, nuclear bombs will not go off due to global warming (I like that from Gore's stupid movie).

Answer 10

Joel - Al Gore wasn't even alive in the 19th century when global warming first started to become a concern of scientists.  Go read up on your science history.

Jello - 30% increase isn't insignificant by any credible measurement.

Yes, Al Gore rightly pointed out that indisputable (though some aren't willing to admit he's right about anything) fact.  The isotope analysis of the CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere (monitored over 50 years) provide absolute proof (as much as anything in science is ever proven) that the source of the increased CO2 is from fossil fuel burning.

Edit:

eatpickles - do you make up your own "facts" on a whim?  2007 wasn't the coldest year since 1966 by any stretch of the imagination.

Answer 11

To what extent?  It's a HUGE atmosphere and there are so few men....

Any amount is negligible.

Answer 12

don't you mean to say something more like this?

"wow!... i can't believe that al gore thinks its ok to tell people not to use regular light bulbs and go out and buy overpriced hybrid cars(which still use fossil fuel) while he flys around in his private jet... which of course is not a honda jet, that would be too efficient"