I want to gage the opinion, Is global warming caused by man?

Question

I have been doing a lot of reserach on the subject. My research seems to lead one to believe that global warming is not casued by man.

Answer 1

I would agree.  I just saw a guy on TV that said he believes there may be evidence to go after Al Gore for financial fraud.  While I think we need to be responsible for the environment we can't make it a political thing.....just would somebody give us the facts.  Let's face it...If an "inconvenient Truth" was so incontrovertible...it would be very mainstream...I haven't heard many scientists come out definitively on the issue.

Answer 2

If you watch national geographic chanel and history chanel you will notice that there will be a show on that tells us how many tens of thousands of tons of dust and toxins are pushed into the atmosphere by volcanic activity only to tell us with the next show how many hundreds of tons of dust and toxins that man sends in to the atmosphere. If you just pay attention to the "facts" that they present you can see that man does almost no damage compared to nature herself!!!

Answer 3

You are absolutley correct.  Earth is billions of years old, constantly changing and will continue for billions of years to come; therefore, 'global warming' is just is just another 'change'.

Answer 4

and women.

h**l yeah

Answer 5

I believe that the earth does have it's own cycle of warming and cooling periods. I also believe that humans have been highly influential in throwing this cycle completely out of wack.

Answer 6

Someone mentioned the CO2 and other pollutants produced by us minute in compare to that volcanoes produce.  First of all this is not through, they contribute about 1%, secondly "The carbon dioxide released is roughly equal to the amount removed by silicate weathering; so the two processes, which are the chemical reverse of each other, sum to roughly zero..." (Wikipedia.org) Actually volcanoes were always around, but fortunately we have less now working then couple of billion years ago.

So let's talk about only recent changes like what we are causing (deforestation, industrial activities, animal farming, transport, fishing, killing other species etc.) or natural processes such as our sun's radiation. According to William F. Ruddiman we actually should be in a middle of a small ice age, which was altered by our ancestors' agricultural activities about 8000 years ago.

Please believe me that unfortunately we will face huge changes in the next 10-50 years not because of natural processes. I attended a conference about polar research a week ago in Brighton, where I've heard about what can we expect... the Arctic ice is now expected to disappear by 2013, do not tell me this is caused by nature :o) and :o(

There was another conference also in Brighton as part of Science Festival last weekend...So the problem I see is the lack of understanding of balance... the whole nature is walking on the edge of the blade, if it looses balance it falls. It is as simple as that. Of course nature has lot of different buffers to keep this balance, but you might know it from chemistry, that there is such a thing as buffer capacity, when it ends, then the change is vast... So the scientist at that conference said that we are somewhere at the edge of that buffer, that's why you add a little bit of CO2 and end up with huge changes...

And some of you saying that this is just another change for the nature...yes, you are right, however please do not forget, that when we had about 1000ppm CO2 there were no people around and the environment was quite harsh...We do not want to try this, do we? I'm sure nature will manage to get through, just not sure if we will be around?

I actually hope we will...

Now let’s turn into equal opportunities issue: lets say everybody on the Earth have the right to use the same level of resources. That's right, at least from a point of view of mankind, however we could put into the same hat the rest of the species as well, couldn't we? That's our best interest as well... So please take care of the environment!

Here is one more idea about increasing temperature. Let’s imagine that we do not have any more fossil fuel, but still using the same amount of energy for our everyday life. That’s what we'll have to think about carefully, because we might develop such technologies (e.g. fusion reactor) which can produce vast amounts of energy (not from renewable resources) and you know from physics that energy doesn't disappear...so that vast amount of energy might end up as heat... (And do not forget about the increasing population and that more and more people want to live such an energy-consuming lifestyle we do in developed countries).

Finally about the original question of the topic. As a chemist and environmental engineer with passions in conservation and permaculture I believe that the scientific society and professionals have no more doubt about that this level of climate change is caused by us and only we can stop it, but with a help of millions of species and our mother Earth. So let’s do it!

Answer 7

Baghdad Bob is back with his prime-time propaganda show, love your work...

http://www.welovetheiraqiinformationmini...

Why can't you tell the truth, Bob? BTW, I got best answer on your last question. Thanks for the 10 points! I was a fan favorite.

Answer 8

Of all the ways man is wrecking the environment, altering the climate is not one of them.

Answer 9

Yes it is caused by man.  We have increased the amount of the greenhouse gas CO2 in the atmosphere by some 30% in the last 100 years, mostly due to the burning of fossil fuels.

Answer 10

Very little. The main component of man made global warming is the cutting of the rain forests. Carbon is a joke playing almost no effect. The big est cause of global warming is the increased output of the sun and the lack of active volcanoes. Man has little effect.

Answer 11

There are climate shifts that occur due to other factors but the scientific consensus is that humans are the primary reason for what we are currently seeing.

Answer 12

I don't think there's any doubt the earth has went through a number of warming/cooling phases; however, with the population of the world growing like it is, on top of the billions of gallons of gas we burn, there is so much CO2 being emitted into the air.  As far as I have ever known, the more CO2 we produce the less of the suns heat can escape from the atmosphere, so we warm.  I really don't see how that can be disproved by science because it's already been proven.  It may not only be humans who contribute to the warming, but I simply believe it has to play a big role in the overall cause.

Answer 13

deforestation isn't good and the pollution we put in the air isn't good for our health, but climate change is all natural, i too came to this conclusion from research and gut instinct

Answer 14

Maybe, but there is not yet any clear proof of this hypothesis.

Answer 15

Of course is is.  There is massive scientific data that proves it, in the links below.

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

Here are two summaries of the mountain of peer reviewed data that convinced Admiral Truly and the vast majority of the scientific community, short and long.

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

http://ipcc-wg1.ucar.edu/wg1/wg1-report....

summarized at:

http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report...

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://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_...

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

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

Dr. Jerry Mahlman, NOAA

Good websites for more info:

http://www.nrdc.org/globalWarming/f101.a...

http://www.ucsusa.org/global_warming/sci...

http://www.realclimate.org

"climate science from climate scientists"

http://environment.newscientist.com/chan...

Answer 16

Of course it is!

If it isn't (according to you), why do you think greenhouse gasses are increasing in our environment more today than there was 50 years ago? Do you not believe these greenhouse gasses are caused by emissions that we are responsible for? Or do you believe just because these emissions are from machines that humans are not responsible for it, and the machines should be held liable!?!?!

This is such a preposterous question!

Answer 17

dr. smith, i would expect a man of your intelligence to realize that we are a direct cause of this planets climate change. every automobile that u see on the highway is contributing to global warming, and the thing is people dont want to change, they are afraid of loosing money, there have been hydrogen cars for a while, and they would emit oxygen, but they dont want you to switch cars because hydrogen is cheep and the gas companies would loose millions, as long as our leaders care only about themselves, we will continue to destroy this planet. I just have some question, will the multi rich be able to control the heat with their money, NO!! will they be able to quench their thirst with all that money.NO!!! If you dont think that man causes global warming , then please view al gores movie, i know people want to say it propaganda, but its true.

Answer 18

I always thought it was!

Answer 19

i would say that Global Warming is caused by nature but sped up by man.

Answer 20

global warming isnt cuased by man, but we are certainly accelerating the problem

Answer 21

My research indicates there's no such thing as polio.  You don't know anyone who ever got polio, do you?

Answer 22

Hallelujah. Nope the global warming is caused by factories.

Answer 23

no it is a naturally occuring event BUT

mankind has made the usual levels of fluxes a lot more unstable and dangerous due to manmade pollutions and waste dump that magnifies the usual result...

so instead of climate changes being only a degree or so over the planet smog and chemical pollution acts a super focusing magnifying lens...

The sun shining down normally wouldn't harm an ant...

A lens (a super focusing agent) and sun can burn the ants... so now the normal heat and fluxes that would've happened without us are now being exacerberated(made worse) by our interference (our pollution, our damage, our unbalancing the environment etc...)

Do you see the concern?

Answer 24

Obviously it is caused by man...most of it anyways.

all of the c**p and pollution we are putting out into the atmosphere is breaking down the o-zone layer, allowing harmful uv sun rays to come in and stay in with the greenhouse affect...meaning it can get in through a hole, bounce off of the surface of the earth and when it tries to go back to space can be trapped by a place where the o-zone layer is intact and remain to melt and heat our surface.

If we werent here what else would cause it and that quickly? now polar ice caps are melting which will cause mass floods, and global warming will cause harsher storms: IE HURRICANES

be smart people, try to do your part.

Answer 25

Did man cause the global warming that wiped out the dinosaurs? No, maybe the dins drove too many cars and burned too much coal.  Mars has global warming also. Guess those Martians didn't live a "green" lifestyle.

Answer 26

global warming IS caused by man, and people would have to be very ignorant to not think so.

human beigns tend to not want to admit that they are wrong, so they tend to say "we're not ruining the planet" because we don't want to be blamed (especially americans.) we put the blame on "animals" and "plants" saying they are letting out "sulfer dioxide" which is just not true.

keep researching! there is proof that humans are at least contributing to global warming. i am though very glad that you agree that global warming is happening, depsite whether it's by man or not! a lot of people are in denial about it... and it's very frustrating. so keep researching and spread the word! even if it's not caused by man, i believe man have the capabilities to reverse it, or at least slow it down.

Answer 27

In a sense we sort of enhance the problem with our pollution and other substance that effect the environment.  I have learned from my philosphy class that we are pretty much hit everyday by different rays of light from exploding stars in the universe which has a great affect on our environment and how we adapt to the changes.

Answer 28

Yes of course it is caused by man. We have taken energy stored in fossil fuels for thousands of years and released it back into the atmosphere. Global warming is excess energy in the atmosphere.

I suggest your read some of the excellent references given here by  the avatar Bob. If your research suggests that global warming is not caused by man, then you need to read some more.  Every credible scientific paper I have ever read agrees that Global Warming is caused by man.

Answer 29

Global Warming is not solely caused by man, but our activities have exacerbated it. There are natural warming and cooling trends in the world that are triggered by carbon dioxide em missions. This has been pr oven by analyzing ancient glacial ice for its chemical composition. However, by emitting more greenhouse gases and by destroying our ecosystems, we are causing the Earth to be less capable to filter out CO2. This will inevitably cause the warm trend we are in now to be exacerbated. However, we are due for a cooling trend Or ice age in the next 3000 years. It is still unknown whether or not our affect on the temperature of the Earth will cause the cool trend to come prematurely.

Answer 30

Global Warming AND the fact that it is mainly caused by humans burning too much fossil fuels both are scientifically widely accepted facts.

There are NO serious scientists who would tell you anything else. In the latest IPCC report, more than 1500 international experts agreed on the science behind climate change.