Global warming-Climate change?

Question

When did climate change/global warming become such a big deal?

And what are the main problems it will cause to life on Earth and the economy.

Answer 1

It became a big deal in 1975 when a bunch of enviromentalist scientists decided that they were going to come up with a theory linking co2 to warming

http://www.nzclimatescience.org/images/P...

Regardless of the science behind it, the effects of any warming are often over exagerated and the many benefits ignored.

Lets say the earth warms by 2 degrees and co2 reaches 500ppm (similar to previous warm periods like the Holocene Optimum) in line with one of the IPCC more sensible projections (i.e. we only burn 2x all the worlds fossil fuels in the next 10 years to cause a significent increase in co2 levels, and co2 does actually drive the climate).

Well firstly lets look at the previous warm periods and see what happened when co2 and temps were higher.

Firstly all the animals on earth today lived through this and didnt go extinct, though some species may have suffered habitat loss which could become an issue - but this is more to do with land take by humans than the climate.

The polar bears survived, corals thrived so we can ignore those threats

We know the north poles, the greenland ice sheet and most of the world mountain glaciers were almost non existant during the Holocene Maximum yet the sea did not rise and swallow the earth.

We know they were prosperous times for humanity, great civilisations were born which would suggest increased wealth, harvest etc...

Increased co2 makes life easier for plants, they bare more fruits helping us and wildlife, more animals can also be sustained. Plants due to reduced stomata can survive in more saline soils, arid soils or poor soils meaning areas that are currently desert could become fertile again, such as egypt which was covered in fertile lands during the time of the egyptions.

The growing season and available farmland will increase, reducing the cost of food and making us all a bit wealthier boosting the enconomy. this also applies to the timber trade. Cheaper food and more available farmland will benefit the third world where crops often fail and food prices are high reducing poverty,death and disease (as these are linked to wealth).

Warmer weather will mean less time indoors huddled up spreading germs so there will be less sickness and outbreaks of flu and of course less deaths due to the cold. More deaths from the increased heat will occur but at a 2 degree rise this is much less than the lifes saved.

Economists have calculated that even 5 degrees of warming will bring net benefits to the economy.

Than there is sea rise, the sea has been rising at the same rate for the last 18,000 years regardless of temperature so we can expect to see a 180mm rise over the next 100 years which is only a little less than the IPCC's current prediction.

Studies carried into exteme weather have so far shown little link between temperature and extreme weather, and no increase has so far been found and in some cases decreases have been observed. We can expect weather patterns to change but if wind shear increases and temperature gradient decreases we could expect less extreme weather in line with what has been observed.

Changes in rainfall will be the biggest issue, some areas may recieve more rainfall and other may become drier. Though plant life will require less water we as humans need water to drink. This to me is one of the key issues and can be controlled by better managing water.

The NIPCC's report of climate change covers most of these points in details and gives references and graphs to support their conclusions. http://www.sepp.org/publications/NIPCC_f...

Unfortunetly in trying to make act on the unproven AGW theory scare tactics are used in order to scare us into doing as we are told on the basis we should act now before its to late. But we know from history warmer periods are not the doomsday scenario the media and even Hollywood would have us think, infact they are overall of benefit to us. Global cooling is a far worse scenario that could potentially change the world as we know it.

Climate scientist Stephen Schneider, who was promoting the global cooling scare scenario in the 1970s, made himself notorious by telling Discover magazine in 1989: “To capture the public imagination, we have to offer up some scary scenarios, make simplified dramatic statements and little mention of any doubts one might have. Each of us has to decide the right balance between being

effective, and being honest.” Says it all, of course he was a key figure in setting up the IPCC.

Answer 2

OMG WHEN IT STARTED MELTING THE POLAR ICE CAPSULES

IT COULD CAUSE DEATH TO US AND MAKE POLAR BEARS EXTICT!!!! DDDDDDDDDDDDDDUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUHHHHHH!!!...

Answer 3

Global warming has slowly gotten worse. It has been around for ages, especially when cars and factories became popular and polluted the air.

Answer 4

it is a big deal because it may cause death to people..

Answer 5

The earth has forever been warming and cooling.  We should stop polluting because dirty water and air is bad for everyone.  Still don't get too hyped up about the temp of the earth.  The earth will get warmer, then cooler and so on.  

Answer 6

You can ask here:

http://ecoworld.forumotion.com/portal.ht...

Answer 7

Please considre reading the conservative side of this argument before you jump on the hype train. If you can read this whole document (any of you) and factually negate all the arguments presented then I commend you, but you wont.

http://epw.senate.gov/repwhitepapers/634...

Be concerned about oil dependancy, genocide, Humanitarian Rights infrigments (hello China), starvation, AIDS epidimics. Those are things that could harm you and are ruining lifes as I type this, these are things we can help.