Is Global Warming Really That Bad?

Question

My question isn't whether or not global warming is man made, so I don't want any conspiracy theories. The reason I'm asking this question is that I just looked at the wikipedia article (trying to find something unbiased) and it says that the temperature of the earth has only really risen 0.74 degrees celsius in the past 100 years. This seems really insignificant. And the worst predictions are a rise of 5 degrees celsius by 2100. I guess my question is really how screwed could we possibly be over a few degrees?

It would be fantastic if I could have an actual scientist respond to this, maybe something about polar icecaps, and a pie chart! I love pie charts!

Answer 1

We are very lucky to live when we do. The earth came out of a "Little Ice Age" which lasted for 400 years and just ended in the late 1800's. This was a very difficult time for humans. The funny thing is we are barely over the average 2,000 year temp. it has been MUCH warmer on the earth, and they called it "Climate Optimum". Do you think they were worried about the earth getting to warm? They would have called it the, "Holy ****, We are frying our bums off Period". Enjoy and be thankful you live in the most prosperous time in human history!

Answer 2

Not really much... But there are lots of benefits!

Answer 3

Listen, what Al Gore says about the flooding of the earth isn't technically true. It's not going to overflow to high. However there have been many studies done that global warming is much bigger and badder than we thought before. Its effects are impossibly horrendous to describe but we know as a fact that global dimming has caused its effects to be undermined.

Do you know what would really change by that much of a degree change? That could cause the entire ocean to warm, fish would die, polar ice caps ( *wink* ) would go from barely freezing as it is to a melting stand point. We could be more screwed than possible.

Answer 4

If global warming wasn't on the news, no one would even notice.

However 'The Weather Channel' needs to have something to get people to watch them.  

Also it's a political cause more than a climate issue.  Gvmt's around the world are using global warming as an excuse to raise taxes, control where you drive, when you drive, and what kind of car you drive.

California is passing a law that will give the state gvmt the ability to remotely control your home thermostat!

No one knows if it will be warmer or cooler 5 years from now any better than a coin toss knows.  This is why people "believe" while not knowing.  Never forget that science is knowledge, religion is for believers.

Answer 5

I am a geologist that thinks it is way overblown.  Those that push the global warming agenda seldom mention the obvious benefits of warming.  Historically warming has been beneficial and cooling catastrophic.  Suddenly we are all supposed to think we are all going to die because it is warming.

Answer 6

global warming would be much easier to live with rather than global cooling

Answer 7

Consider the effects of climate change on agriculture:

"A warmer Arctic will also affect weather patterns and thus food production around the world. Wheat farming in Kansas, for example, would be profoundly affected by the loss of ice cover in the Arctic. According to a NASA Goddard Institute of Space Studies computer model, Kansas would be 4 degrees warmer in the winter without Arctic ice, which normally creates cold air masses that frequently slide southward into the United States. Warmer winters are bad news for wheat farmers, who need freezing temperatures to grow winter wheat. And in summer, warmer days would rob Kansas soil of 10 percent of its moisture, drying out valuable cropland."

http://www.nrdc.org/globalWarming/qthini...

A much more detailed analysis of the effects on agriculture, water supplies and qualiity, and electrical demand appears in this report to Congress:

The Potential Effects of Global Climate Change on the United States

http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/effects...

"The effects of a warmer climate alone would generally reduce wheat and corn yields. Yield changes range from + 15 to -90%."

"Dryland farmers in the Great Plains are particularly vulnerable to climate variability. The Great Plains States of Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas were the hardest hit during the Dust Bowl of the 1930s (Worster, 1979; Hurt, 1981). Yields of wheat and corn dropped as much as 50% below normal, causing the failure of about 200,000 farms and migration of more than 300,000 people from the region."

That's why the Pentagon has looked at one possible scenario for global riots and anarchy as soon as 2020 (in 12 years):

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/...

Already, according to Randall and Schwartz, the planet is carrying a higher population than it can sustain. By 2020 'catastrophic' shortages of water and energy supply will become increasingly harder to overcome, plunging the planet into war. They warn that 8,200 years ago climatic conditions brought widespread crop failure, famine, disease and mass migration of populations that could soon be repeated.

Randall told The Observer that the potential ramifications of rapid climate change would create global chaos. 'This is depressing stuff,' he said. 'It is a national security threat that is unique because there is no enemy to point your guns at and we have no control over the threat.'

Randall added that it was already possibly too late to prevent a disaster happening. 'We don't know exactly where we are in the process. It could start tomorrow and we would not know for another five years,' he said.

'The consequences for some nations of the climate change are unbelievable. It seems obvious that cutting the use of fossil fuels would be worthwhile.'

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The Pentagon certainly isn't saying that it's the most likely scenario for 2020, but since we have no firm plan for reducing the greenhouse gas emissions of the two largest sources, China and the U.S., we do seem to have a very bleak outlook for the future, whether it's 2020 or 2030 or some other date.

Answer 8

sorry im not a real scientist (well not technically) but i am studying sciences and am very interested in it. according to the telegraph and other articles that i have come across the overall global temperature has not increased since 1998 but has actually decreased by a few degrees!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main....

Answer 9

Here's a practical experiment for you to try it.

Get a match, light it, and leave it by something flammable. Then walk away and watch a bit.

A match is so small, so surely it can't cause the whole house to catch on fire right? Well find out if you want (I wouldn't advise it).

In daily variations, 1 degree seems like nothing, but when you're talking about global climate, it can make a huge impact. The last major ice age (which ended 18,000 years ago) had a global temperature average of ~7'C lower than experienced now. The last mini ice age was under ~1'C cooler than it is now. Small temperature changes can cause huge climate changes which can lead into either intense warming, or intense cooling.

Answer 10

i took a few geology classes in college a year ago.  i don't remember much about the subject to be honest.. but its coming. it isn't going to have a drastic effect in our lifetime. but the earth will eventually go through some incredible changes

also, you shouldn't trust everything you read on wikipedia  (it's not all true) anyone can put bs on wikipedia that may or may not be factual