Is evidence of warmth the same thing as evidence of warming, or of whatever caused the warmth?

Question

How do melting glaciers prove man-made abrupt climate change? Some melting glaciers are revealing artefacts from hundreds of years ago - meaning the glaciers had retreated further at that time and advanced hence. The arctic icecap used to extend to the NY/PA border. When it melted from there to northern Canada, did THAT prove man-made global warming?

Answer 1

The Volcanoes below the Northern Polar ice cap were not man made.  

The Antarctica ice cap is growing.  There is evidence of other glaciers growing.

The middle of August should be the hottest time of the year in Central Oklahoma.  8/20/08 at noon was 73 degrees.  Normally it wouldn't be unusual to have been 103  

Answer 2

Melting glaciers alone don't prove that global warming is caused by man.

However, the rate at wich a glacier melts does prove warming. An ice cube outside on a 70 degree day will melt faster than one on a 50 degree day. So if the rate of glacial melt increases, then there must be warming. But in itself that doesn't prove man-made global warming, only warming.

Answer 3

Exactly. The industrial revolution only began a little over one hundred years ago; less than an instant in the grand scheme of the Earth's life. We haven't been pumping carbon into the atmosphere long enough to have any profound effect. Also, we are finding that while carbon levels rise, the level of other chemicals rise with it -- effectively canceling out the effects of human-pumped carbon into the atmosphere.  

Answer 4

In New Zealand there are 2 glaciers I know of that are growing and others I know of that are retreating, it is not the effect of temperature melting them, but changes in rainfall patterns and the predominant wind direction, as its the volume of snow above the glaciers that pushes it forwards. If it is warmer, less rain falls as snow and the glaciers shrink, its not caused directly by melting as such, that occurs at the glacier face and surface though.

In the bigger picture of things we are just returning to the 3000 year mean temperature, it is well known it has been much warmer in the past, and yes icesheets retreated, permafrost thawed, glaciers shrank but the world didnt end and the sea didnt swallow the earth.

However, the AGW believers suggest that the warming this time is not natural but forced by co2 production, and that warm periods of the past are irrelevent. However, it stopped warming a decade ago, and the evidence for global warming isnt there either (warming of the troposphere).

Next it will be prections of an ice age caused by co2 cooling the atmosphere and the same dire predictions of more extreme rainfall, huricanes, drought, flooding etc...if we dont cut co2 emissions

Answer 5

Fact: Global warming IS happening

Fact: Human activities DO have an impact on global climate

Who's to blame!?!?

Lets treat global warming like we treated AIDS.

Lets spend precious time arguing over who done it' all the while we KNOW it's happening but we'd rather debate who it's most likely to effect and all this time it's taking a foothold and weakening our ability to combat it.

Lets try to (like we did with aids) overwhelm the public with anything but the elephant standing in front of our faces. We can use various geopolitical agendas to totally destroy the credibility of the same scientist who told us cigarettes weren't healthy in the 50's and make these same scientists look incompetent on the subject of climatology.

Yes, we can play this game.

FACT: Climatology is still largely a theoretical study so no one scientist can give the final say as to the total extent of human impact on global climate change

FACT: Most scientist agree that until the technology improves and a more conclusive results can be obtained that the effect of human activity on our climate should be MONITORED AND REGULATED TO MINIMIZE THE POTENTIAL FOR ENVIORMENTAL CALAMITY AND HUMAN CASUALTIES DUE TO WHAT MAY OR MAY NOT BE A PRE-EXISTING NATURAL/ ENIVIORMENTAL STATE OF THIS PLANET EARTHS ECOSYSTEM.

IN short the scientist are saying that the Earth is heating up...we don't know why but studies have shown that we can and do effect the enviormental patterns here. The natural processes of Earth (including the occasional global warmup) coupled with unrelenting and wreckless HUMAN ACTIVITIES MAY CAUSE A SITUATION THAT MAY HAVE BEEN FORESEEABLE AND MANAGEABLE TO SPIRAL OUT OF CONTROL BEYOND THE SCOPE OF HUMAN SURVIVABILIT