Is global warming ACTUALLY taking effect?

Question

Is global warming ACTUALLY taking effect?

Answer 1

It depends on who you ask.

Based on what I've seen and read I would have to say no.

Here are some of the many errors in Al Gore's movie "An Inconvenient Truth", along with documentation to back them up.

--Gore, aiming to undermine the significance of previous warm periods such as that of the Middle Ages, promoted the 1,000-year 'hockey stick' temperature chart [debunked by McIntyre & McKitrick, 2005];

--Gore showed heart-rending pictures of the New Orleans floods and insisted on a link between increased hurricane frequency and global warming that is not supported by the facts [IPCC, 2001, 2007];

--Gore asserted that today's Arctic is experiencing unprecedented warmth while ignoring that Arctic temperatures in the 1930s and 1940s were as warm or warmer [Briffa et al., 2004];

--Gore did not explain that Arctic temperature changes are more closely correlated with changes in solar activity than with changes in atmospheric CO2 concentrations [Soon, 2005];

--Gore did not explain that the Sun has been hotter, for longer, in the past 50 years than in any similar period in at least the past 11,400 years [Solanki et al., 2005];

--Gore said the Antarctic was warming and losing ice but failed to note, that this is only true of a small region; the vast bulk of the continent has been cooling and gaining ice [Doran et al., 2004];

--Gore mentioned the breakup of the Larsen B ice shelf, but did not mention peer-reviewed research, which suggests the ice shelf did not exist 1,000 years ago [Pudsey & Evans, 2001];

--Gore hyped unfounded fears that Greenland's ice is in danger of disappearing. In fact its thickness has been growing by 2 inches per year for a decade [Johanessen et al., 2005];

--Gore falsely claimed that global warming is melting Mt. Kilimanjaro's icecap, actually caused by atmospheric dessication from local deforestation, and pre-20th-century climate shifts [Cullen et al., 2006];

--Gore said global sea levels would swamp Manhattan, Bangladesh, Shanghai and other coastal cities, and would rise 20 feet by 2100, but the UN estimate is just 7 inches to 1 feet 5 inches [IPCC, 2007; Morner, 1995, 2004; Singer, 1997];

--Gore implied that a Peruvian glacier's retreat is due to global warming, failing to state that the region has been cooling since the 1930s and other South American glaciers are advancing [Polissar et al., 2006];

--Gore blamed global warming for water loss in Africa's Lake Chad, though NASA scientists had concluded that local water-use and grazing patterns are probably to blame [Foley & Coe, 2001];

Gore inaccurately said polar bears are drowning due to melting ice when in fact 11 of the 13 main groups in Canada are thriving, and polar bear populations have more than doubled since 1940 [Taylor, 2006];

--Gore said a review of 928 scientific papers had shown none against the 'consensus'. In fact only 1% of the papers were explicitly pro-"consensus"; almost 3 times as many were explicitly against [Peiser, 2006];

Answer 2

Short answer - Climate always changes.

However, if you're going to blame the current presumed warming trend on human CO2 production, you'd better have a theory that works - and right now, they don't.

They have "models" that "predict" a warmer future, but have, so far, failed MISERABLY at any actual prediction.

They have theories that say climate will warm as a result of CO2, but no hard, actual measurements to prove it.

Temperature has been FLAT to FALLING since 1998.  Anyone who says different is lying.

Don't drink the kool-aid!  Look for yourself!

Answer 3

na its just the hippys trying to scare everyone again and if it is who cares it wont be till like 300 years later and guess what........ill be dead and its not my problem

Answer 4

There is no threat, it's political BS.

CO2 levels are a very small percentage of our Earth's atmosphere.

You know what generates and absorbs the greatest percentage of 'greenhouse gas'? THE OCEAN!

The amount of Co2 made by other means is LESS than 1%! The greatest generator of CO2 in that 1% is Volcanos!

The amount left after that is mostly organic life generating Co2 naturally. One of the lowest percentages of CO2 emitters out of what's left of that 1% is human.

What humans make is in the THOUSANDTHS of a percent! How can Gore say that what we produce has ANY effect of the other 99.99%??

Plus, he tries to stigmatize CO2 likes it's man-made. It's completley natural and is abundant in nature and all living things.

How does he explain the fact that the current relative tempature is far below what it was in the past - even before man learned how to use fire? What about the hundreds of years during the medevil times when it was much warmer than it is now?

He never brings up the fact that his charts are aligned to hide the 800 year gap between the CO2 and mean temps on a timeline.

Which would show how CO2 follows temps changes.

Global warming is one of the biggest scams in human history.

Here's something Bush should do - he should annouce that - "Ok, I guess Global Warming is happening. Since we now know it's real, we don't need to spend any more money on grants for research on the subject. As president, I want to pass new legislation to cut-off funding for global warming."

No need to spend money on something that's a 'scientific concensus' right?

Oh wait, all of those 'scientist' would be out of a job!

The whole 'Global Warming' economy would dry up.

It's really that simple. It's an industry. Every year they hyped up the problem with more reckless and exgerated claims just to land more and more funding. No problem = no funding. Problem getting worse = more and more funding.

By the way - did you know that Al Gore's mansion (10,000 square feet) consumes as much energy as 20 average American homes, and that George W. Bush's home (4,000 square feet) it a model of energy efficiency, taking advantage of nearly every energy saving device there is.

Answer 5

we are losing the polar bears at the north pole because people are killing the seals and penguinsdo to prochers. so yes,

Answer 6

yes

Answer 7

Global warming is real and mostly caused by us.  Three reasons, with solid support, most important first.

There's an overwhelming amount of peer reviewed scientific data that says that.  Short and long summaries.

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

http://www.ipcc.ch/SPM2feb07.pdf

Science is quite good about exposing bad science or hoaxes:

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/ATG/polywater...

There's a large number of people who agree that it is, who are not liberals, environmentalists, stupid, or conceivably part of a "conspiracy".  Just three examples of many:

"Global warming is real, now, and it must be addressed."

Lee Scott, CEO, Wal-Mart

"Our nation has both an obligation and self-interest in facing head-on the serious environmental, economic and national security threat posed by global warming."

Senator John McCain, Republican, Arizona

“DuPont believes that action is warranted, not further debate."

Charles O. Holliday, Jr., CEO, DuPont

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

Al Gore has nothing to do with the science behind global warming.

Good website for more info:

http://www.realclimate.org

"climate science from climate scientists"