Is global warming caused by humans' actions, or merely accelerated by what we do?

Question

Would global warming happen even if Earth was uninhabited, and we're speeding up the natural process? Is it a normal cycle/process Mother Nature goes through? Do you ever think this is what happened to the dinosaurs, with humans having more to lose?

What are your thoughts, or questions, on this matter? Please, no suggestions for preventative measures at this time. I'm wondering about the root of global warming, not how to combat it.

Thank you!

Answer 1

i think global warming mainly has to do with sunspot activity

sunspots usually have a life cycle of 11 years but lately theyve been longer.

but i am sure humans help it along quite a bit.

Answer 2

You forgot one. Or just a natural cycle of our planet.

So to answer the questions within your question, YES it would still happen even if we weren't here or even if we were still living as stone age humans.

Also the climate change that killed off the dinosaurs was brought on by a meteor, which shifted the Earth's axis and a few other things like a layer of dust in the atmosphere that was so thick it blocked most of the suns rays.  And if you believe in evolution most of the dinosaurs still exist today, but in another form.

Edit: Little_Norty83 those single celled creatures you are talking about are still around today here's a link to my question asking if there was away to utilize these creatures:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;...

Answer 3

this is a 100% natural process the earth has gone thru several times before the earth warms the earth cools . Anyone that says it is manmade has an investment  in making money from it. Al Gore has investment in several green corps that stand to make huge amounts of money if the government imposses carbon credits. If you are looking for an answer to a tough question "always follow the money" Al is going to become a very wealthy man off of peoples fears

Answer 4

don't listen to the Global Warming n***s.  Their "final solution" is to turn us all into lampshades.  Or, since lamps are not globally friendly, their aim is to turn us all into soap.

Answer 5

Global Warming is a scam to make money and U fell for it. The green house gas that they say causes it is some very bad math. The bad CO2 is but a step in natures recycling. The plants take in CO2 and give us back very quickly the O2. The plants keep the C. So there is very little CO2 here on earth. Then the bad Methane where is it?? granted methane is very light so it goes very high ,but they would want U to believe that there is a large lake of methane up there. If it were our jet planes would of found it by now. It is not there because of the intense sun causes it to oxidize ...

Answer 6

neither,the earth will change no matter what , and always has.

Answer 7

Right now if humans weren't around, the Earth's temperature would not be changing by any significant amount.  Solar output is pretty steady right now, and we're in a very slow and gradual cooling portion of the Earth's orbital cycles.  Thus the current warming is caused almost entirely by human actions.

See the link below for further details.

Answer 8

Global warming and cooling are the normal procesess that the earth goes through over thousands of years. The fact that humans have evolved so quickly over the past 200 years has accelerated what is a naturally occuring process. We live longer now with the discovery of medicines, so we have more time on earth to wreak havoc. Example, the dust bowl. Additionally, our population has exploded, displacing many other forms of wildlife, driving many to exitinction as we encroach on thier habitat. Example, the passenger pigeon. Just because we can do something does not mean that we have to.

Answer 9

I've got something for you to think about. Most of that carbon that was stored for millions of years is being released over the United States, especially over the east coast.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJpj8UUMT...

On any given day, the CO2 concentrations over the east coast of the United states are up to and sometimes greater than 4 times the global average of 385ppm. Satellites pass over that area that measure the temperature in the atmosphere. In the daytime when the sun passes over, it heats the ground and the ground emits infrared radiation at the speed of light, up toward space. The CO2 as well as  water vapor and other molecules with three or more atoms in the atmosphere absorb about half of that radiation and then immediately re-radiate it in all directions. The problem with the CO2 climate driver theory is that CO2 is such a small percentage of the atmosphere that it is nearly insignificant compared to the other greenhouse gases. Most of the temperature increase from greenhouse gases happens in the lower troposphere, which is the part of the atmosphere that is closest to the ground. Since the east coast of the United States has the highest CO2 concentrations, up to 1500ppm, we should see more warming of the lower troposphere in that area, if CO2 has such a profound effect. Here is a graphic of the globe that shows warming trends for the past 30 years, as measured by some of the most accurate satellites in the world and compared to weather balloon measurements for accuracy. Look at figure 3.

http://www.remss.com/msu/msu_data_descri...

Do you see any more warming over the east coast of the US than any other area of the globe?

http://www.geocraft.com/WVFossils/Refere...

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/su...

http://www.sciencebits.com/CO2orSolar

Answer 10

The Earth will Cool...... or Warm..... with or without man.  Always has....... always will.

Until the temperature monitoring stations located around the world are repaired and re-located, scientists have NO idea whether or not the Earth is warming...... or cooling.

Bad data = bad science!!

Answer 11

No, it's a natural cycle and humans have no control over it. Try going to this website for some good information:

Answer 12

Global warming and cooling is a natural process that usually takes thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of years.  Humans have accelerated the process so that the same changes have come about in a matter of decades, the most drastic changes in the last 5 years.  Never before have the changes been so rapid and so visible, destroying the habitat, species, and causing disease to spread.  Whole ecosystems have been altered in the last 10 years alone. Species like the polar bear and penguins are losing their habitat right before our eyes. So yes, humans are responsible for the speeding up of global warming.

Answer 13

The climate on Earth is constantly evolving.  However, due to man's recent activities we have caused the Earth to rapidly warm in an unnatural way.

Answer 14

as i understand it, the sun is cooling a tiny bit, so we should be cooling.

while it's true that it has been both warmer and cooler in the past, and that there are several cyclical events that cause warming and cooling, what's happening today is not part of either of those scenarios.

we're pulling the CO2 blanket up over our heads and getting warmer.

certainly CO2 is not the only gas that warms the earth, water is far stronger.

but water is self limiting -- if there's too much, it rains.

CO2 on the other hand stays in the atmosphere, and continues to make trouble.

however, this really is not a matter of opinion or belief.

it's science.

and all the major scientific bodies agree that we've caused the problem, and need to address it.

btw, the huge increase in world population makes it much harder to fix.

did you know that something like 7% of all the people who have ever lived on this earth are alive today?

that's pretty much an impossible strain on the environment.

Answer 15

Before humans were here, and before any single celled organism was created, our planet was filled with CO2, it wasn't until we (living organisms) namly plants, started to grow and changed CO2 in the air to O2.  This paved the way for other living organisms, animals to change O2 to CO2.  The original plants that ate the first CO2 are long since dead and are burried under ground.  The scary thing about it is, we as humans are digging them up and burning them, which releases the C back into the air making CO2.  When something is dead and burried, we should let it be...