Why are we so stupid to believe that we can change earth's climate?

Question

OK, rant first: Please DO NOT DELETE my question. I had a question deleted similar to this one. That is violation of our freedom of speech. Would you mind? That action is nothing short of bias. Please, let us ask our questions.

Now, back to asking. The media has been saying that we can change the planet's climate. I don't believe that. IMO, that's nothing but an egotistical statement. What are your thoughts on this?

Answer 1

I agree.  We can't

Answer 2

know what?

if we stop pumping chemicals into the environment (air, water, you name it) and stopped making it impossible for the earth to keep up,

the earth would actually be able to clean itself up pretty well pretty quickly. what needs to happen?

we need to stop putting roadblocks in mother nature's way.

WE cannot change the environment, this is true because we are not nature BUT

WE CAN help nature do its job by not taking more than we need and not leaving more than we can clean up.

it is our fault that mother nature is having a horrible time cleaning up after the mess we left.

think of the earth and the plants and the air and the animals as your mother and a few child-aged children who are told that they need to clean up after a college drinking party while its still going on full force.

Answer 3

you're kidding right?

are you that selfish that you will not do simple things to curb climate change?  It just means being a little less lazy so we can sustain the environment and ensure that generations to come can enjoy life on this planet.

But if you don't want your kids, or your kids kids, or even your kids kids kids (etc, etc, etc) to live then keep thinking  the way you do, champ.

Ignorance is bliss.

Answer 4

Believe what you may, but last I looked we share the same planet.  If there's a chance the experts are right -- and we're talking about the accumulation of data since the late '50's and ice cores, etc. that go back much further -- then we need to determine how to live through this.  If the climate scientists are right, we're in for a rough ride.  If you live in a coastal community, your insurance will increasingly reflect this.  If you're a farmer, you're going to have to know which crops will best withstand climatical variations such as prolonged droughts and massive storms delivering more rainfall into shorter bursts.  

If you're a student, you can choose a career that will let you become part of the solution.  These guys didn't get where they are by being stupid.  They are motivated individuals.  

Stupid is a pejorative term.  I can think of a few more appropriate terms you could use and still get your point across.

Answer 5

Drop another atomic bomb and tell me nothing has changed, and I will fallow you naively good prince.

Answer 6

Because big money has convinced us of this. More they can scare the population, more than can make in changing the way things are done. Does not mean we cannot help clean up some, but sometimes they just go way overboard thinking that humans control this big planet.

One good volcano does more than we do in years.

Answer 7

Because I remember smog.  THe sity of Los Anegels was once blanketed by a heavy layer of it.   It's better now, but returning to those days .   In the turn of the century, pollution was so bad that large part of the world is blanketted with soot.

THe sky was blackened.

If you don't think pollution can effect the world in large degree, I suggest you go to CHina.  It might be cheaper to look at the yellow haze diring the olympics.

Answer 8

Excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere caused the greenhouse effect and global warming.  If we plant more trees and limit emissions of greenhouse gasses, we can control the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.  Plants take in carbon dioxide and expel oxygen.  Hybrid  technology in every car  would make a big difference.

Answer 9

you almost got it right

Why are we so stupid to believe that we can^not^ change earth's climate?

you just forgot to put ^that little word ^NOT in,

And we are not allowed to use the word stupid ,that is most likely  why your question was deleted ,One cannot call a spade ,a spade in a culture of lies.

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

Man has been changing local climates all over the world for probably thousands of years ,by changing forests into deserts

And there is a big climatic difference between the two extremes

Genghis Kahn burned all the forests and filled the wells with sand ,that sure changed the climate in whole countries at a time

The deforestation of Spain to build the Spanish Armada changed the climate over there

The same way the building of the Phoenician fleet deforested Lebanon which is now a hot desert ,like the Sahara ,large parts of which used to be forests .

But one cannot deforest on the equator because replanting trees with out water under the hottest Sun is very difficult.

But we are the best at changing climates than any one else before us ,by exchanging forests for concrete and tar ,and large scale mono culture farming with out trees ..

And the Mexican indigenous people deforest large parts of their mountain slopes for plots to grow corn, to feed their large families of around 15 kids average .

All old people agree that there are less clouds hanging over the mountains ,less rains ,and less water in the rivers ,then when they were young .

The days are now hotter and their winters are much colder ,And  they have many cases recently of people who have frozen to death

They were, the first to ADMIT that they are changing their climate.I know I interviewed many

These kind of climatic changes are happening all over the world

Take a look at Northern China which is now a dust bowl impossible to grow anything or even live there ,

Whilst before it was a thriving agricultural region ,and before that it was forests,the climate has been totally changed there

due to unsustainable agriculture ,using Chemicals and with overgrazing grasslands turning them into dessert

In Africa some rivers have dried up because so many of the forests have gone in places ,because of expanding populations ,this also results in different climatic conditions locally.

And did not the farmers change the climate in central USA during the 20ties with the straight lined plowing ,turning the country into a dust bowel.

  

Global warming is an additional ball game

No one who knows the facts can possibly say we do not affect climatic conditions .

Only ignorance and dishonesty can,and the overwhelming desire to absolve humanity from any guilt,so that some unscrupulous people can continue to behave  like Pigs in Paradise http://byderule.multiply.com/journal/ite...

Little robber girl is right on.

Answer 10

I have to agree with you. People are giving the reason that a nuclear holocaust would change the planet. Of course it would, but it would take something that drastic to really alter the course of

Answer 11

I have not heard any thing on the media. However, I think that  it is altogether foolish to say to interfere  in the functioning of climate of this universe. No man on earth can and will never undo the climatic conditions of earth. However, if all the other things will remain the same, only andonly a natural step can cause change in the climate of our globe. Man can never do.

Answer 12

The Earth has cycles of it's own. Hubris, clear and simple.

Answer 13

I agree. so much time and money is being poured into something that science is suggesting isnt real. the earth goes through phases of cooling and heating, it has happened throughout earths history. in fact, data shows that temperatures have been decreasing steadily over the past 5000 years. Not to mention, this past century wasnt even the hottest in the past 500 years! and we still survived, the polar bears are hanging in as well. it is not unusual to see fluctuations of temperatures throughout centuries, its actually expected. in the 1890's, global ice wage was the consensus, come 1920's-30's we see 5 of the 10 hottest years (including THE hottest) in recorded history. the 60's hit and yet again global ice age is the consensus, then the 90's and the global warming panic re-ermges. people are completely ignoring that temperatures have/are steadily decreasing since 1998, and they are predicted to continue to decrease. the media is claiming that the ice caps are melting, but they do that anyway, and in fact they are expanding and almost 2x the size they were 30 years ago. finally, people claim that CO2 is the driving force of global warming, hohttp://www.globalwarminghoax.com/e107_pl... CO2 is a product of a warming earth, it doesnt produce it. ALL SCIENTIFIC DATA shows that CO2 increases when temperatures increase, it follows behind by a couple hundred years. not to mention CO2 only makes up .054% (thats point zero five four percent) of all green house gases, and man made CO2 is fractions of that. manmade global warming is the biggest hoax of our time, and its costing billions of dollars to fight a problem that doesnt exsist.

Answer 14

Don't worry, I'm not going to report you, and I don't mean to come off rude or hostile, but...

One: You don't understand the concept of freedom of speech. Your free speech ends where the property of another person begins. The same way you can tell me to leave your house if I'm in it, and start speaking in a manner which offends you, Yahoo is well within their rights to deny you the privilege of posting anything on their site which they feel violates any guidelines they decide on.

Two: We've covered the planet in smoke-blasting factories and vehicles. It's not by any means stupid to suggest that all that smoke would contribute to the rising temperature of the planet. I'm not saying we're entirely responsible for global warming, but it's far from stupid to consider the possibility.

Three: Yes, we can change the Earth's climate. A nuclear war, for example, could accomplish that pretty easily.

Answer 15

uhh do you mean change as in "fix"?

or change as in "affect"? we sure do affect it!

but no we can not fix it

its stupid to believe we can totally "fix" it

how can you reverse the product of thousands of years of ignorance?

be we can definately slow it down so it will not be as bad

or as fast for the future generations

i think the media does over-emphasize the issue

but its only to make people want to help......!

Answer 16

If you want to exercise your freedom of speech, stand on your own doorstep and say anything you want. Yahoo is a business and has the right to deny service to anyone they deem is violating their policies.

As for your question, why do you think humans can't change the earth's climate? Can a few ants change the environment where they live? Yes, they can. Our changing of the climate is the same type of thing only on a larger scale. There are over 6 billion of us now, and we've been working on pumping CO2 into the atmosphere and land-clearing for centuries.

The climate is warming (scientist have clearly shown that) and something must be causing it.  All the usual suspects (e.g. volcano's, sun, plate tectonics, etc.) have been questioned and have rock solid alibi's. So the most likely guilty suspect is human activities which have increased significantly the concentration of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere.  It's not a matter of arrogance, it's a matter of that's what the data shows.

Answer 17

To address your rant first. This forum belongs to Yahoo, not the federal government. While you do have the right to free speech, Yahoo has the right to delete posts or ban people they feel are violating the rules of their forum. That's life, build a bridge and get over it.

As for your question. I have mixed feelings on the subject. It's certainly clear that pollution has created things like acid rain, and cutting of forests and other habitats has lead to the extinction of some species. Plus pollution in oceans, rivers, lakes, and streams has lead to a number of different problems. CNN has a story a few weeks ago about a veritable soup of garbage out in the middle of the Pacific ocean.

Furthermore, it is clear the Earth's climate is undergoing changes. The ice caps are retreating, seasonal weather is changing in some places, storms are becoming more severe, etc.

What I'm not clear about is the extent to which those climate changes can be linked to human activity. The Earth has undergone many extreme climate shifts in it's 4 billion year history and I think it's difficult to really know how our "snapshot" of 100 years of recorded data really fits into the big picture. I think it is very likely that we are in the midst of some natural cycle. I also think it's possible the changes could be linked to changes in solar output.

With all that uncertainty, I honestly do question what we can do to change the environment and/or climate. But one thing I don't question is our responsibility to be more responsible. Whether it actually affects our climate or just gives us cleaner air, I think we need to find and use alternatives to fossil fuels. I think we need to recycle as much as we can rather than looking for new resources. And I think we need to find ways to use the land that are less detrimental to the other species on the planet.

I don't think any reasonable person can say with absolute certainty if the negative changes are cause by man - or even if they are just hastened by man. But that doesn't mean we don't need to be more responsible.

Answer 18

we have been changing it for 50,000 years locally.

e.g.

the native australians changed their land how they wanted it, from forest to savannah in a few thousand years.

neolithic settlers in europe similarly removed much of the tree cover to plant crops and use the wood, in places like ireland, up to 90% of it.

the C18 century colonial settlers ruined the climate of several tropical islands by cutting down al the trees, naturalists mentioned it at the time and wrote letters of warning to the british government, which were of course ignored.

this kind of terraforming inevitably affects climate, lowering rainfall. trees emit polyaromatic hydrocarbons and other rain-drop nucleating chemicals that cause rain clouds to form.

we are seeing continent wide effects once again as brazil and sub saharan africa dry out.

and thats just one aspect among many of human activity i havnt even started on CO2 emissions!