What is your view of global warming?

Question

What is your view of global warming?

Answer 1

GW is a natural cycle. All propaganda and exaggeration aside,AGW is just an unproven theory.

Answer 2

It's a bunch of c**p!! I live in New Hampshire,and Canada and New England has seen record breaking snowfall this past winter.We've gotten over 116" this winter,and the all-time high is 122",so we could meet the all time high if snows anymore. It's been colder than it has been too.

Answer 3

How can anyone not believe in global warming!  I'm shocked that anyone would think dofferently!

The world is going to end, and people just joke about it.

Listen to Al Gore.  He tells us that most of the planet is going to be under water and Dr. Hawkings tells us that the Earth is going to be 250 degrees celcius!  You know there won't be any ice caps then.  

The only way to save the planet is to start outlawing water bottles, coal, and cars, and we need to act today!  tommorow is too late!

Answer 4

I don't believe it is as big of a deal as everyone makes it out to be. The earth has cycles and global warming/cooling has happened before. (When the Vikings landed on Greenland, they named it Greenland for a reason.)  Even though people claim we are speeding up the cycles, the earth is resilient and will fix itself, even if we have to suffer through a couple of major storms in the next few years.

I do think that we are harming the environment and we should focus on alternative fuels and lessen our pollution. Breathing in toxic fumes or eating food that has been poisoned by pollution can't be good for us or our children.

Additionally, to the people who are afraid that when the ice caps melt the sea levels will rise, consider this: When you put ice cubes in a glass of water, the water rises, when the ice cubes melt, the water stays the same height. The glass may seem fuller after they melt, but that's because there is no solids floating on top.

Answer 5

It is useful to remember that "global warming" has actually been going on for a long time. In fact, it has been going on since the end of the last ice age. The great glaciers that once covered much of the earth during the last cool period of the planet were hundreds of feet thick. And hey...the last ice age was not the first one.

These glaciers have slowly melted away over the centuries, this is an excepted fact.  Where I live, for instance, the ice was estimated to be 600 feet (200 meters) thick...fokes that is a lot of ice.  It is pretty obvious to me that there is no standing ice around my place anymore, so I have to conclude it must be warmer now than it used to be.

Now this warming was going on long before I was born, and long before you were born... and in fact it has been going on for many generations of people. I never heard much about it when I was a kid... why? Because it has been happening so, soo slowly, that no one generation noticed it particularly. So why all the big to-do about global warming now? Well here is my take on that...

Water is an interesting molecular compound. It changes form from a solid to a liquid, at right around, 0 degrees C, also known as: 32 degrees F, and it changes form relatively  instantly... when the the critical temp is reached ice melts. Not only that, but water absorbs and releases heat energy very rapidly. What does this mean? It means that a block of solid ice converts to fluid water quickly, infact as soon as it warms up to the critical temp point. This change from solid to liquid is actually pretty dramatic, if you think about it, especially on a large scale.

It just so happens that we are born in a time of planetary history, when the slow heating of the planet that melted the glacial ice, has warmed even the coldest parts of the earth close to that critical temperature point where ice melts. World wide, almost all of the old glacial ice has melted and now most of the ice created in any given winter melts in the summer time. As suddenly as most of earth's water has converted from solid to liquid form, we humans have had our attention attracted to the long term planetary warming, that has been going on for a long time. Rightly so because our very lives depend on the form water takes.

Of course we humans have some effect on climate, so do all plants and animals, and to the extent we effect climate, we can perhaps, sort of, change it.  However, changing the planetary climate back to some way it used to be, is not practically possible, really. We need to understand, collectively, this fact: we are far more effected by climate change, than we effect it. Planetary climate changes slowly over time, this is a fact, regardless of "why".

Understanding that the planetary climate has finally changed,  recently in history, enough to effect the form that most of earth's water takes, is to be able to understand in what way we must prepare for how this change will effect our lives and the lives of our children. We need to recognize and be preparing to adapt to this change if we are to survive as a species.

Answer 6

its a global danger

Answer 7

My view of global warming is that its a baby that the humans have created. It gets stronger and stronger.

Answer 8

Global warming -- a gradual increase in planet-wide temperatures -- is now well documented and accepted by scientists as fact. A panel convened by the U.S National Research Council, the nation's premier science policy body, in June 2006 voiced a "high level of confidence" that Earth is the hottest it has been in at least 400 years, and possibly even the last 2,000 years. Studies indicate that the average global surface temperature has increased by approximately 0.5-1.0°F (0.3-0.6°C) over the last century. This is the largest increase in surface temperature in the last 1,000 years and scientists are predicting an even greater increase over this century. This warming is largely attributed to the increase of greenhouse gases (primarily carbon dioxide and methane) in the Earth's upper atmosphere caused by human burning of fossil fuels, industrial, farming, and deforestation activities.

Average global temperatures may increase by 1.4-5.8ºC (that's 2.5 - 10.4º F) by the end of the 21st century. Although the numbers sound small, they can trigger significant changes in climate. (The difference between global temperatures during an Ice Age and an ice-free period is only about 5ºC.) Besides resulting in more hot days, many scientists believe an increase in temperatures may lead to changes in precipitation and weather patterns. Warmer ocean water may result in more intense and frequent tropical storms and hurricanes. Sea levels are also expected to increase by 0.09 - 0.88 m. in the next century, mainly from melting glaciers and expanding seawater . Global warming may also affect wildlife and species that cannot survive in warmer environments may become extinct. Finally, human health is also at stake, as global warming may result in the spreading of certain diseases such as malaria, the flooding of major cities, a greater risk of heat stroke for individuals, and poor air quality.

Climate change is very likely having an impact now on our planet and its life, according to the latest installment of a report published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). And the future problems caused by rising seas, growing deserts, and more frequent droughts all look set to affect the developing world more than rich countries, they add. The report is the second chapter of the IPCC's Fourth Assessment -- the most comprehensive summary yet of research into the causes and effects of climate change. To read more, visit Effects of climate change tallied up.

Factors

Greenhouse Gases

The increase in greenhouse gases caused by human activity is often cited as one of the major causes of global warming. These greenhouse gases reabsorb heat reflected from the Earth's surface, thus trapping the heat in our atmosphere. This natural process is essential for life on Earth because it plays an important role in regulating the Earth's temperature. However, over the last several hundred years, humans have been artificially increasing the concentration of these gases, mainly carbon dioxide and methane in the Earth's atmosphere. These gases build up and prevent additional thermal radiation from leaving the Earth, thereby trapping excess heat.

Solar Variability & Global Warming

Some uncertainty remains about the role of natural variations in causing climate change. Solar variability certainly plays a minor role, but it looks like only a quarter of the recent variations can be attributed to the Sun. At most. During the initial discovery period of global warming, the magnitude of the influence of increased activity on the Sun was not well determined.

Solar irradiance changes have been measured reliably by satellites for only 30 years. These precise observations show changes of a few tenths of a percent that depend on the level of activity in the 11-year solar cycle. Changes over longer periods must be inferred from other sources. Estimates of earlier variations are important for calibrating the climate models. While a component of recent global warming may have been caused by the increased solar activity of the last solar cycle, that component was very small compared to the effects of additional greenhouse gases. According to a NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) press release, "...the solar increases do not have the ability to cause large global temperature increases...greenhouse gases are indeed playing the dominant role..." The Sun is once again less bright as we approach solar minimum, yet global warming continues.

GLOBAL WARMING HAS TO STOP BEFORE WE ALL DIE.

Answer 9

it's the increase of the rate of carbon dioxide which preserve the sun heat on the earth and causes the melting of ice and sometimes it's used in growing crops not in it's season.

Answer 10

it a scam to divert you attention from the real problems on this planet, like polution, and the goverment/auto industry's plan to suck every penny out of you for their gain.

Answer 11

People who believe the AGW theory are crazy. Since our planet's climate has been changing since it inception. And it will continue to change long after all of us our dead and buried.