Ice caps on Mars are melting, are humans responsible for global warming of both planets?

Question

How does science explain our human responsibility for global warming, if/when the Mars ice cap melting trend, corresponds with our planets polar ice melting trends. Story from national geographic linked below:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/02/070228-mars-warming.html

Answer 1

we can always hope :)

Answer 2

No, they're not.  One of the ice caps on Mars is melting.  The other is growing.  Read the article.

Like Earth, Mars has seasons that cause its polar caps to wax and wane. "It's late spring at the south pole of Mars," says planetary scientist Dave Smith of the Goddard Space Flight Center. "The polar cap is receding because the springtime sun is shining on it."

"Remember, though," adds Smith, "there are two polar caps on Mars--north and south. While the south polar cap is vaporizing the north polar cap is growing. It's a balancing act.

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

Mars is warming for entirely different reasons than the Earth - namely dust storms darkening its surface:

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

Answer 3

All I know someone said the cows were to blame.

Answer 4

i've never heard anything like that before.

but i've heard we woud be in the middle of an ice age if it wasn't for global warming.

Answer 5

Its been widely known that global warming is mostly a natural process.  But the media has spun and attributed something like 99% of it is all due to humans when in reality its less the 5% (which is still a lot).

Answer 6

If you had read the WHOLE article ,you would have seen that the whole point was to refute those ridiculous claims! If you can use that site as a reference,then have a look at this.....

Answer 7

Please, please, please. I'm begging you.

Don't take this feel-good cause away from us Liberals. It's just about the last cause we have to champion. We've screwed everything else up.

Back in the '70s we issued dire warnings about nuclear energy that turned out to be bogus. We know you all are still a little miffed about that one. If we had pursued nuclear energy to the same extent as France, we would be energy sufficient and could tell the Middle East to go pound sand.

Then in the 1980s we ridiculed Ronald Reagan's approach to defeating the Soviet Union. We warned that doddering old fool that the Russian economy was actually more robust than ours, and we had Galbraith and Samuelson to back us up. Ok, we were wrong. Our bad.

Then in the 1990s we issued more dire warnings about how the Republican's radical change of welfare authored by Newt Gingrich would devastate the poor, creating caravans of poor, huddled masses leaving the cities en masse to just die alone in the wilderness.

OK, well we exaggerated just a teeny bit on that one, didn't we. Well, all's well that ends well.

Now in the 21st century all we've got left is Global Warming. Please show compassion. Without this, we're going to have to start paying attention to more mundane matters, like improving education, and tighening our borders.

You know what it's like to have to pass boring bills like those through Congress? It's h**l. We'll do anything to let you give us Global Warming.  It's fun, and we get to meet Barbra Streisand and Jane Fonda.

Please.... give us just this one crumb.  How does giving Ronald Reagan his own "Mount Rushmore" sound?

Answer 8

You're comparing apples and oranges.  

Two different planets, with different atmospheres, densities and environments.

95% of the atmosphere of Mars is carbon dioxide, which is 9X the amount we have here on earth, with an average temperature of -63C (-81F).  

The polar regions 'freeze and thaw' regularly - 'snow' consisting of carbon dioxide, NOT WATER.  So the 'thawing' is basically CO2 returning to its gaseous state, not ice melting like it is here on Earth - even your NG article states it's a CO2 shift.

Answer 9

Not at all its the cycle of the earth and the planet moving we are moving closer to the sun disame same thing happend thousands of years ago except we were moving far away from the sun so dont worry global warming hardly has a affect only in out air and earths soil