Why do some people say Global WArming is a "myth"?

Question

a have a friend who says that all the smoke/pollution put out by china's factories is reversing the global warming process by making it so the sun cannot enter the atmosphere. hes says that since the earth spins this pollution is going everywhere. is this true? and if not how can i prove him wrong?

Answer 1

The reason people say it is a myth is that there has been ZERO scientific evidence to support the theory that man is the cause. As for your friend, his theory is not proven but the thought is that the pollution causes clouds to form. Clouds have a negative effect on warming by reflecting the suns (the real reason for global warming) rays back into space.

as for proving him wrong, you can't as the science is not able to prove this theory.

Answer 2

Some people don't want to take responsibility for their own actions.

Answer 3

Many people believe that global warming is a myth because there is a very sophisticated effort underway to convince people of that.  It is very similar to the campaign used by the tobacco industry:

http://www.nowpublic.com/whos_paid_to_de...

ExxonMobil is one of the well documented funding sources for these efforts:

Exxposing ExxonMobil's Agenda: Manipulating Politics and the Public

http://www.exxposeexxon.com/facts/dailyf...

There is some truth to the statement that fine air pollution (aerosols) may be partially offsetting the warming effects of greenhouse gasses, but that's not necessarily good news:

"It should be emphasized that one should not take any comfort with the fact that the aerosols may be negating much of the greenhouse gas forcing--in fact just the opposite. Because the atmospheric residence time of tropospheric aerosols is short (about a week) compared to the decades-to-centuries lifetimes of the greenhouse gases, then to whatever extent greenhouse gas forcing is being offset by aerosol forcing, it is last week's aerosols that are offsetting forcing by decades worth of greenhouse gases. Because the greenhouse gases are long-lived in the atmosphere, their atmospheric loadings tend to approximate the integral of emissions. Because the aerosols are short-lived, their loading tend to be proportional to the emissions themselves. There is only one function that is proportional to its own integral, the exponential function. So only if society is to make a commitment to continued exponential growth of emissions can such an offset be maintained indefinitely. And of course exponential growth cannot be maintained forever. So if the cooling influence of aerosols is in fact offsetting much of the warming influence of anthropogenic greenhouse gases, then when society is unable to maintain this exponential growth, the climate could be in for a real and long-lasting shock."

Answer 4

First, many people say Global Warming is a myth, and only mean that Al Gores Global Warming is a myth. The average global temperture has risen in the past years, but only by about 1 degree F. Gore and his cronies have used this small but somewhat significant rise to create predictions of the future environment (we can't predict tommorrows environment), most of which are useless to real science, and are mainly for his own political games. Another obvious solution, besides the apocalyps scenario which was supposed to already have occured (research what Gore said 10 or 15 years ago), is that this is a natural cycle, not unlike many others observed in nature. Throughout history periods of excessively warm or cold years have been reported, though never with scientific details. We've only been monitering the global environment for a few decades, and we've already seen what seems to be a cycle. In the 1930s there was drought and a period of warm years, with what recorded temps we had back then, aproaching or exceeding current recordings. Then in the 1970s there was all this hype about a coming ice age, now another 40 years later, were back to high temps and global warming scares. As to your friends theory, he's a little confused. China probably is responsible for a lot of the worlds pollution. Their industry is thriving and is not constrained by the same environmentaly protective laws that ours is. And yes, the pollution travels, though this is only indirectly due to the earths spinning. However these pollutants are the strongest arguement for "man made" global warming, (Gore's Theory). Rather than block out the sun, the pollutants act like a green house in that they let sunlight in, but then the light that would normally reflect back into space is trapped in these pollutants and its energy converted to heat. I don't totally understand the physics of it all, but even if it is totally legit, I doubt that it has had the effect that some have said(remember the failed presidential candidate who put up a stink about losing and has been chasing media attention ever since? His initials are AG). Besides, the Bible sais that Summer and Winter shall not cease, untill God has finished his plan for the earth. That may not be much of an assurance to you, but if you ever get to know the Author, you'll trust what everything he says.

Answer 5

idk if that is true, but i do know that that is what airplanes do. the long white lines of water vapor that follow a jet act as a big mirror to the sun rays. so at least one thing is helping haha

Answer 6

He's half right.  The particulate pollution from China (and India, and fires in Indonesia) does block sunlight.  But it isn't enough to fully offset greenhouse gases, and as soon as people get tired of the pollution and clean it up (like the USA and Europe did from about the 60's) it'll be gone right away.  CO2 will hang around for centuries unless we actively do something to get rid of it.

Answer 7

Because it is a myth there is no scientific evidence from a non-biased organization that says man caused it.

Answer 8

I guess for the same reason some people say the flat earth theory is a myth. Usually these are the same people who deny that we have been invaded by little green men from Mars.

Answer 9

No. He's wrong. But so is global warming.

Answer 10

well, he probably got the 'sun cannot enter the atmosphere' wrong. it's that pollution is making the green house affect which traps CO2 in the atomsphere. and people say, it is melting the south and north pole, drowning polar bears (can't polar bears swim? It's not like they can't addapt), and so it will flood many places by feet (they could lie and really mean inched) i really don't know what to believe if Gobal Warming is real or not. there is so much stories about what could actually be happening but since there is so much, who knows what to believe. i just feel sorry for the peguins. they won't have a place to breed any more.