How can we have what they call Global Worming?

Question

when almost every year we here of someone having a coldes year in recorded history

Answer 1

Interesting how it changed quickly from "global warming" to "climate change"

Answer 2

Its because like south pole has lots of ice but.. the sun melts the ice and water level increases every year. Did you see the beach or something the water increased by a bit + some small islands are gone because of that.

Some global warning is pollution from factories the clouds can't take it and rain or.... place could be hot!

Answer 3

The beauty of the global warming theory is that it is just a theory.  This means people like "ultra.violette" can counter any argument by manipulating facts or data to "prove" their case.  The whole uncertainty of weather patterns fits right into the "global warming" scare.  For the last two years the springtime hurricane forecast was for record numbers of hurricanes and possible mass destruction, all to be brought on because of global warming.  And what happened?  A couple of very quiet hurricane seasons.  This is presented to the GW believers and their reply is that it is because of global warming that it is so hard to predict these things.  They can make any argument fit into their theory.

Answer 4

its not like that the whole globe will be warm up. it is generally a phenomena in which some parts of the world become colder and in some parts there will be gradual rise in temperature due to access emission of green house gases like carbon-dioxide.

Answer 5

Overall, the average surface temperature of the earth is increasing, the polar ice caps are melting and the sea is rising.

Locally, the weather patterns may go in either direction. This is because the atmosphere, wind patterns, thermodynamics, etc. interact in intricate and complex ways. We are experiencing more extreme weather events in all localities, whether it be ice storms, hurricanes, or droughts. Overall, however, the key indicators I mentioned above indicate that the average temperature is increasing.

If it was just an increase in temperature that was happening, it wouldn't be a big problem. Most of us could deal with a couple extra degrees of heat. It is the effects that the changes are having on the ecosystem that disrupts the stability of our life support systems, and ultimately, our economy.

For example, we have a pine beetle epidemic here in Canada. Forestry has traditionally been a huge part of our economy but now the beetles are spreading so quickly that hundreds of thousands of acres of pine forests are destroyed. The reason there is such a problem with the beetles is that the cold winters normally kill off the beetles so that they don't overpopulate. For the last decade or so, the winters have not gotten cold enough, and now our whole economic base is at stake. The best way they can find to control this epidemic is to burn down the effected areas. But even that isn't fast enough to keep speed with the beetles.

So it's not just the fact that the weather is changing, it's the impact that it has on our way of life. Ask the thousands of families who have relied on logging in the past for their livlihood if they think climate change matters.

EDIT: Triphip's comments raise an additional concern: that of a "defect in the protective layer in our Stratosphere." S/he goes on to state that green house gases "destroy that layer, and cause the glaciers to melt alarmingly fast." There are two different issues being raised here: the "greenhouse effect" and depletion of the ozone layer. While they are both atmospheric issues, they are quite separate in their causes and effects.

The "greenhouse effect" is when a high concentration of gases like CO2 build up within our atmosphere and act like a greenhouse, allowing the sun's heat to enter, but preventing from escaping. This is what is creating global warming.

The other issue, ozone depletion, is caused by the release of chemicals such as CFCs which break down the ozone layer, a protective stratospheric layer that protects the earth from ultraviolet radiation. This problem was reaching a crisis level in the 80s, when a growing hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica was allowing UV radiation to get through, which was causing unprecedented rates of skin cancer Australia and other parts of the southern hemisphere.

Ozone depletion was recognized as an issue that could only be solved by the international community, and in 1987 the Montreal Protocol was signed by most of the world's countries, banning the use of CFCs.

With the international cooperation to address stratospheric ozone depletion, we have a success story: the hole in the ozone is shrinking. Here is NASA's descriptions of what happening:  http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2000/... . Or for a more reader-friendly account, see the ABC news article: http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200... .

Atmospheric issues may be difficult for the average person to understand, but when the international scientific community comes together and makes it clear that governments must act on certain issues to protect our common good, it is to our own benefit to take action to prevent problems from getting worse. The International Panel on Climate Change (http://www.ipcc.ch/) has been warning us for decades about climate change, and while we had the start of some promising international cooperation with the Kyoto Protocol, the refusal of a few key signatories (most notably the USA) to put the agreement into force has effectively killed the international effort. Why is the USA so opposed to taking action to reduce CO2 emissions? Because our lifestyle is completely dependent on burning fossil fuels. Per capita CO2 emissions in the USA are more than 10x what they are in China, for example. It's pretty small for the USA to then refuse to cooperate in international agreements because developing countries such as China which already have 90% fewer emissions per person, are not at present part of the agreement.

Looking back to the Montreal Protocol, it was started by the Vienna Convention, which included only 20 nations. After these leaders made the commitment, eventually almost every other nation signed on, and today only five nations are not party to the agreement (Andorra, Iraq, San Marino, Timor-Leste and Vatican City).

It's just so sad that the USA has been holding back international cooperation on such an important issue.

Answer 6

Well you're right bout one thing.  The term global warming doesn't exactly hit the cat on the nose.  It's not about the general warming of the climate so much.  Technically we are still in a warming period (or deglaciation period) which is a natural event that occurs frequently in geologic history.  We are suppose to be in a glaciation period (or cooling period) according to the predictions.  A lot of people think that this has to do with human activity since industrialization.  I do believe we have an influence, and that we effecting the natural process.  The extent of our influence, or if it really even matters in the end is questionable.  There is also something important people are forgetting here...  You don't need a hotter temperature for the sun's energy to melt the glaciers faster.  You just need a defect in the protective layer in our Stratosphere.  What the green house gases do is destroy that layer, and cause the glaciers to melt alarmingly fast, without the temp necissarily rising.  This is a "global warming" occurance and will cause our climate to "act" warmer without actually being warmer...  Messege to take home:  even though the term "Global warming" seems confussing, it is in a general sense happening, and we will not know how big it will be until the near future.