Why can't people accept the fact that global warming is natural?

Question

Why can't people accept the fact that global warming is natural?

Answer 1

For a few different reasons.  People tend to believe what is pounded in their heads by various sources, ie media and government. Then there's the economic incentive (which goes back to the first reason) for companies and government that jump on the bandwagon.  The more of a crisis they insist is happening, the more they can convince the masses for higher cost, but "more efficient" products and taxes that will help reverse the "damage".   People also tend to be arrogant, ignorant and self-loathing when it comes to something so expansive as global warming convincing themselves they are god-like with the ability to destroy the planet in a single lifetime.  That and right now it's fashionable to be "green".  Haven't you noticed all the major corporations hopping on the train?  All the major networks colored their logos green for earth day.   Give me a break.  I'm supposed to believe that these idiots are really for the cause when their very existence relies upon energy consumption.  I mean, NBC is owned by GE, General Electric!  There isn't much that's green about General Electric.  It's all hype and the sooner people realize it, the sooner they can keep their money and freedom for themselves instead of handing it over to the big brother nanny-state government who wants nothing more than to increase taxes and revoke liberties.

Answer 2

Probably because your unsupported assertions are "slightly" less convincing than the combined efforts of 1000's of trained climate scientists from around the world who have studied it for decades and published 1000's of peer reviewed scientific journal articles on the subject.

Answer 3

Their livelihoods and reputations are on the line now.  The rest of the sheep like ANY feel-good cause.

Answer 4

Even if it is natural which I agree that it is.  Why can't we be better stewards of the environment and get rid of our groomed lawns that takes energy to maintain.

Answer 5

there's an economic incentive for nitwits to jump on the Global Warming bandwagon.  just a few decades ago (1970s), there was hysteria about global cooling.  

global warming due to SUVs & mankind is a hoax & a blatant power grab by liberals.

btw, the temps on Mars are increasing too.  How many SUVs are those darn Martians driving???

Answer 6

Because this time it's not. Do you ever post anything that you can support with facts?

http://dels.nas.edu/dels/rpt_briefs/clim...

http://www.geosociety.org/positions/posi...

http://royalsociety.org/displaypagedoc.a...

http://www.aip.org/gov/policy12.html

http://www.agu.org/sci_soc/policy/positi...

Answer 7

yea but were over doing it would you rather have clean air? or dirty *** air

Answer 8

Why can't people accept the fact that we're polluting our Earth and destroying the ecosystems around us through our complacency, greed and ignorance?

Answer 9

Because its not natural when there's cars, fuel , pollutions.

yes it would happen, but slower if we didn't contribute.

Answer 10

Because there are people like al gore who people "respect", trying to tell us different, even though it is natural.

Answer 11

I like all natural!!!!

Answer 12

They're blind sheep being led by the media.  They can't look back in history and see that the earth has warmed and cooled on its own.  It's easier to rely on someone else's words rather than digging for the truth.

Answer 13

Carbon pollution is just one more example of what we are doing to the planet.

I will never understand how people think we can have

massive, worldwide and accelerating:

* chemical pollution

* biological pollution

* alien species invasion

* habitat destruction

* soil destruction

* water resource destruction

* direct human harvesting of species, which is using an estimated 40% of incident solar energy and 40% of land surface

and there won't be any consequences.

It's worse than denial.

I would call it criminal; but then we would all be, but for the few remaining aboriginals, guilty.

Answer 14

RELIGION!

Answer 15

Because some people are so arrogant that they think only man can control the climate and create the warming or cooling.

Answer 16

Yes, global warming is natural, a case of the properties of physics in action.  We know that the same natural mechanisms that triggered global warming in the past are still present today.  We simply happen to be triggering this warming with a few of those warming mechanisms (increase in atmospheric greenhouse gasses and the emission of black carbon pollution, which changes albedo, both of which may trigger additional CO2 release from oceans and methane release from melting tundra and frozen ocean sediments).

Since we're only one degree or so into the current warming, clearly it's important to learn from both recent and paleontological examples of warming of several degrees to see what we're in for with regards to future consequences that are coming.

So here are my facts... why do you offer none?

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Sea Level Rise -

Past observations:

"Global averaged sea level continued to rise through 2006 and 2007. Modern satellite measurements reveal that since 1993, sea-level has been rising at an average rate of about 3 mm per year, substantially faster than the average for the 20th century of about 1.7 mm per year, estimated from coastal sea-level measurements. These coastal measurements indicate that the 2006/2007 global averaged sea level is about 200 mm higher than in 1870 and that since 1870 there has been a significant increase in the rate of the sea-level rise."

http://wcrp.wmo.int/documents/WCRPnews_2...

Rohling and his colleagues found an average sea level rise of 1.6m (64in) each century during the interglacial period.

Back then, Greenland was 3C to 5C (5.4F to 9F) warmer than now - which is similar to the warming period expected in the next 50 to 100 years, Dr Rohling said.

Current models of ice sheet activity do not predict rates of change this large. However, they also do not include many of the dynamic processes already being observed by glaciologists, the researchers said.

"The average rise of 1.6m per century that we find is roughly twice as high as the maximum estimates in the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report, and so offers the first potential constraint on the dynamic ice sheet component that was not included in the headline IPCC values," explained Dr Rohling.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/natur...

Future outlook:

"Instead of sea levels rising by about 40 centimetres, as the IPCC predicts in one of its computer forecasts, the true rise might be as great as several metres by 2100. That is why, they say, planet Earth today is in 'imminent peril.'"

http://www.heatisonline.org/contentserve...

"A one-meter sea level rise would wreak particular havoc on the Gulf Coast and eastern seaboard of the United States.

'No one will be free from this,' said Overpeck, whose maps show that every U.S. East Coast city from Boston to Miami would be swamped."

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/...

"If Earth's climate continues to warm, then the volume of present-day ice sheets will decrease. Melting of the current Greenland ice sheet would result in a sea-level rise of about 6.5 meters; melting of the West Antarctic ice sheet would result in a sea-level rise of about 8 meters (table 1). The West Antarctic ice sheet is especially vulnerable, because much of it is grounded below sea level. Small changes in global sea level or a rise in ocean temperatures could cause a breakup of the two buttressing ice shelves (Ronne/Filchner and Ross). The resulting surge of the West Antarctic ice sheet would lead to a rapid rise in global sea level.

Reduction of the West Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets similar to past reductions would cause sea level to rise 10 or more meters. A sea-level rise of 10 meters would flood about 25 percent of the U.S. population, with the major impact being mostly on the people and infrastructures in the Gulf and East Coast States"

http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/fs2-00/

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Ice sheet melt:

Past observations:

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk...

New research confirms that ice sheets in West Antarctica are thinning at a far faster rate than in past millennia.

http://www.barentsobserver.com/hottest-a...

"This winter might become the mildest winter in Northern Norway ever registered. So far the average temperature in parts of the region has been up to eight degrees Celsius above the normal."

"Ground-based surface temperature data shows that the rate of warming in the Arctic from 1981 to 2001 is eight times larger than the rate of Arctic warming over the last 100 years. There have also been some remarkable seasonal changes. Arctic spring, summer, and autumn have each warmed, lengthening the seasons when sea ice melts from 10 to 17 days per decade."

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/eart...

Future outlook:

"This week, after reviewing his own new data, NASA climate scientist Jay Zwally said: "At this rate, the Arctic Ocean could be nearly ice-free at the end of summer by 2012, much faster than previous predictions."

Ominous Arctic Melt Worries Experts

'Arctic Is Screaming,' Say Scientists Seeing New Data; Worry Over 'Tipping Point'

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireSto...

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Extinctions:

Past observations:

"Prior major warmings in Earth’s history, the most recent occurring 55 million years ago . . . resulted in the extinction of half or more of the species then on the planet."

http://www.columbia.edu/~jeh1/2008/State...

It was the Earth's most severe extinction event, with up to 96 percent of all marine species and 70 percent of terrestrial vertebrate species becoming extinct. Because approximately 25 percent of species survived the event, the recovery of life on earth took significantly longer than after other extinction events. This event has been described as the "mother of all mass extinctions".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permian-Tri...

Future outlook:

http://www.killerinourmidst.com/methane%...

A careful examination of a large number of species in numerous parts of the planet projects that a stunning portion of them will be "committed to extinction" in just 50 years, with only modest global warming (Thomas, 2004).

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Crop damage and rising food prices:

Past observations:

Food news: http://www.climatechangenews.org/nFood.h...

Hunger. Strikes. Riots. The food crisis bites

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/20...

"Across the world a crisis is unfolding at alarming speed. Climate change, China's increasing consumption and the dash for biofuels are causing food shortages and rocketing prices - sparking riots in cities from the Caribbean to the Far East. Robin McKie and Heather Stewart report on the millions facing starvation - and the growing threat to global security"

Hungry mob attacks Haiti palace

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7337...

Future outlook: http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/...

"Already, according to Randall and Schwartz, the planet is carrying a higher population than it can sustain. By 2020 'catastrophic' shortages of water and energy supply will become increasingly harder to overcome, plunging the planet into war. They warn that 8,200 years ago climatic conditions brought widespread crop failure, famine, disease and mass migration of populations that could soon be repeated."

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So why do you ignore evidence from the past that indicates that global warming is a serious issue, that CO2 and methane have been invovled in the past warmings, and that recent (carbon isotope) measurements confirm that we've triggered an increase in those same greenhouse gases today?

Interesting that you talk about "fact", but skeptics only offer insults and unsupported rationalizations.

Answer 17

Wow !!! Just were are your scientific facts. Just about every scientist that has studied the subject says that while the evidence isn't 100% they still believe that man is at least a contributing factor. The only people who don't are big business and people who listen to rush limbaugh

Answer 18

Your about the only one that agrees with what i believe to be so lol.Infuriating is,nt it, but i say "ignorance is bliss"

Answer 19

because it is not a FACT it is an opinion..

just as the OPINION that global warming is mankinds fault is an opinion...

a fact can be proven beyond a reasonable doubt unfortuantly with global warming.. all we have is a VERY VERY VERY complicated system that no one truly understands and a bunch of theories about how we THINK it all works.

compound this with a cycle that is measured in mellinia and history that is VERY unreliable past a couple of hundred years and you have a situation where anyone can claim anything and be believable!

______________________________________...

the BIGGEST reason people want to believe it is NOT natural is because most everyone accepts that global warming if it gets much worse will threaten mankind's existence...

we have two choices.. we are causing it in which case we have a small element of control...

we are NOT causing it.. in which case we have no control at all...

no one likes conceding they are not in control of their own demise