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Climate Change & Global Warming


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How important is Global Warming to you in the Grand Scheme of Things?  

246 members have voted

  1. 1. How important is Global Warming to you in the Grand Scheme of Things?

    • Give me a break, I've enough on my plate
      17
    • I suppose there's something in it, but it's for the Politicians/Corporations/Those in power to sort out
      4
    • Yes I think it is important and I try to do my bit.
      79
    • If we don't stop it, the Planet dies in a few years, it's as simple as that.
      34
    • I think it is all hype and not half as bad as they make out
      108
    • I don't know what to think
      17

This poll is closed to new votes


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In the past 50yrs or more the climate has been getting warmer,now does this not coincide with the millions of folk throughout the world who have changed from useing convential fuels(coal,peat,wood) to oil and gas and other means of heating.

 

No longer do we see the skys full of smoke,hear of towns and cities encapsulated in smog and devoid of sun or natural light for weeks and weeks .

 

Could it not be a fact that this blanket of "reek " that covered most of Europe and blocked out a large portion of any sun or light,for long periods of time and therefore heat, had a large part to play in keeping us cool.

 

I would suggest that we are possibly going back to the way things were before man found a box of matches.

 

While I do agree that we have a large amount of pollution from the combustion engine and other sources, the effect on the earths temperature will not be anything as severe as blocking out the sunlight over vast swathes of the land and sea,to my way of thinking.

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Yes I have to agree George, that there is still parts of the world suffering from polution caused by burning fossil fuel, but Europe has changed considerably. 

 

When this stops folk will certainly be a lot healtier,but will the clear blue skys that will then prevail cause more global warming.  

 

My point is that the disapearance of smog is probably contributing to global warming.

 

I'm sure we get less snow because of it.

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"My point is that the disapearance of smog is probably contributing to global warming."

 

Are you seriously suggesting that we need more pollution, not less?

 

It's bad enough that the "deniers" have been allowed to sanitise the problem by referring to it as "climate change" when, as the whole world is being affected, it is clearly GLOBAL warming.

 

It is undeniable that the global climate has changed many times through the ages but, it is also undeniable that it has NEVER changed at the rate we see now..

FWIW, we are also in the middle of a "mass extinction" event caused, largely, by ourselves.

 

The only solution I can see is for humanity(?) to be purged to a level that the planet can support.

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FWIW, we are also in the middle of a "mass extinction" event caused, largely, by ourselves.

 

The only solution I can see is for humanity(?) to be purged to a level that the planet can support.

 

That's more to do with humanity's greed destroying what the endangered species need, rather than anything much to do with global tempertures though, is it not.

 

I'm not going to quibble the second point. Homo Sapiens is breeding itself out of existence, regardless if you believe the worst case scenario scare-mongers promising draughts, floods and storms taking lives that will be commonplace before the century's end, unless there's a sudden and sustained decline in breeding, as a species we'll already be imploding anyway.

 

Its been said many times, and proven almost as often, that nature always balances things out in the end, and as a species we're about to reap what we've sown.

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No Colin i am not advocating that we all start burning peats,coal and logs creating vast amount of smoke ultimately createing smog which will affect peoples health.

 

What i'm saying is now that we no longer polute in this manner  what effect did all the smog have on the climate when it was there. Did it cool the earth down,cause more snow.There is where the answer lies.

 

There is no doubt in my mind that much of the change in the climate is a result of a the cleaner atmosphere, being created by the way we live now. 

 

Off course this is good but do we ever hear anyone debate what the climate would be like today if all the lums in Europe were reeking tonight,spewing vast amounts of dust and vile smoke into the sky no its all codswallop about greenhouse gases ect

 

As i said before the world is simply going back to what it was before man found fire,and if we stop.burning fossil fuel all together the climate will simply readjust to suit.

 

If only we had accurate records of say 2000 yrs

Edited by Urabug
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"That's more to do with humanity's greed destroying what the endangered species need, rather than anything much to do with global tempertures though, is it not."

 

Agreed unless, that is, you discount the damage done to coral reefs etc, by rising sea temperatures and pollutants.

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No Colin i am not advocating that we all start burning peats,coal and logs creating vast amount of smoke ultimately createing smog which will affect peoples health.

 

What i'm saying is now that we no longer polute in this manner  what effect did all the smog have on the climate when it was there. Did it cool the earth down,cause more snow.There is where the answer lies.

 

There is no doubt in my mind that much of the change in the climate is a result of a the cleaner atmosphere, being created by the way we live now. 

 

Off course this is good but do we ever hear anyone debate what the climate would be like today if all the lums in Europe were reeking tonight,spewing vast amounts of dust and vile smoke into the sky no its all codswallop about greenhouse gases ect

 

As i said before the world is simply going back to what it was before man found fire,and if we stop.burning fossil fuel all together the climate will simply readjust to suit.

 

If only we had accurate records of say 2000 yrs

Well, I'm no expert in the matter but, I would suggest that you "gen up" a little on climate science with a little emphasis on the atmospheric portion.

 

ALL atmospheric particles (smog, water, CO2, whatever) store the sun's energy and it follows that the energy has to eventually go somewhere

 

Your assertion the WE no longer pollute in that manner is badly flawed.  The UK/Europe may no longer be culpable but, we were for 200+ years and most of the "heat" generated by those actions is still to be dissipated

Also, in our place we now have India, China, the so called 3rd world et al taking industrial pollution to new levels.

and

Whilst we are on the subject of "pollution", how do you intend to classify nuclear "accidents" such as 3 Mile Island, Chernobyl, Fukishima (to name just the big ones) + various ground/atmospheric "test" explosions.  Nuclear fission releases incredible amounts of heat/dust and radiation so, where does that go?  Does it just drift off into space?

 

I can only assume that you might consider  that something is a little "wrong" when the water starts splashing around your top lip....

Edited by Colin
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No Colin i am not advocating that we all start burning peats,coal and logs creating vast amount of smoke ultimately createing smog which will affect peoples health.

 

What i'm saying is now that we no longer polute in this manner  what effect did all the smog have on the climate when it was there. Did it cool the earth down,cause more snow.There is where the answer lies.

 

There is no doubt in my mind that much of the change in the climate is a result of a the cleaner atmosphere, being created by the way we live now. 

 

Off course this is good but do we ever hear anyone debate what the climate would be like today if all the lums in Europe were reeking tonight,spewing vast amounts of dust and vile smoke into the sky no its all codswallop about greenhouse gases ect

 

As i said before the world is simply going back to what it was before man found fire,and if we stop.burning fossil fuel all together the climate will simply readjust to suit.

 

If only we had accurate records of say 2000 yrs

 

This is actually an interesting point.

 

If you look at the temperature graph for the 20th C then you will see rising temps up until the 40's, the it flatlines until the 70's then begins a steep rise again which has continued to this day. The scientific consensus explaining this pause in warming is that it was caused by a massive increase in sulphur dioxide from burning coal which was reflecting solar radiation back into space. The end of this pause coincides with the West starting to take serious action to combat smog and acid rain. Sulphur dioxide doesn't stay in the atmosphere, so the effects were immediate.

 

On the other hand, after 9/11, when aircraft were grounded across the USA for a few days, the surface temperature in the US immediately rose by a full degree C, demonstrating that the jet contrails were shielding us from a large amount of warming.

 

Temp graph:

 

 

http://www.skepticalscience.com/graphics/Temperature_Composite_500.jpg

 

Of course, the rising temps we see today have nothing to do with the atmosphere being cleaner. They are due to increased CO2 trapping more heat in the atmosphere. The increase in smog in the middle of the 20C merely delayed the warming for a couple of decades until we cleaned up our act.

Edited by ArabiaTerra
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If only we had accurate records of say 2000 yrs

 

Ask and ye shall receive:-

 

http://www.skepticalscience.com/graphics/past_change_med.jpg

 

Well, it's only 1000 years, but still...

 

Edit: Here's the ice-core data:-

 

http://www.southwestclimatechange.org/files/cc/figures/icecore_records.jpg

 

This goes back 300,000 years. That enough for you?

Edited by ArabiaTerra
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I won't deny that the climate is changing but reaching the age I am I can't help thinking about so many scientific theories that were once regarded are being gospel have been completely overturned. For example the theory in the 1970's that we were heading for another ice age, or the millennium bug which turned out to be a damp squib.

 

Or hoaxes such as the Piltdown Man which held up the advancement of early anthropology for years.

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I won't deny that the climate is changing but reaching the age I am I can't help thinking about so many scientific theories that were once regarded are being gospel have been completely overturned. For example the theory in the 1970's that we were heading for another ice age, or the millennium bug which turned out to be a damp squib.

 

Or hoaxes such as the Piltdown Man which held up the advancement of early anthropology for years.

 

There never was a theory that we were heading for another ice-age. That's just another zombie* denier lie. There were a couple of papers published that mentioned that we would be getting another ice-age in a few thousand years, which were picked up by the media and made the front page of a few magazines and newspapers. The vast majority of papers published in the 70's were warning of Global Warming.

 

More here:-  http://www.skepticalscience.com/ice-age-predictions-in-1970s.htm 

 

The millennium bug was not a problem because thousands of programmers spent millions of hours fixing everything before the millennium. (It still broke my watch though)

 

And Piltdown Man? Bloody hell, Joannie, you're really struggling if you're having to bring that up.

 

*zombie lie:- A lie which has been debunked over and over and over but still keeps on appearing.

Edited by ArabiaTerra
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I won't deny that the climate is changing but reaching the age I am I can't help thinking about so many scientific theories that were once regarded are being gospel have been completely overturned. For example the theory in the 1970's that we were heading for another ice age, or the millennium bug which turned out to be a damp squib.

 

Or hoaxes such as the Piltdown Man which held up the advancement of early anthropology for years.

 

There never was a theory that we were heading for another ice-age. That's just another zombie* denier lie. There were a couple of papers published that mentioned that we would be getting another ice-age in a few thousand years, which were picked up by the media and made the front page of a few magazines and newspapers. The vast majority of papers published in the 70's were warning of Global Warming.

 

More here:-  http://www.skepticalscience.com/ice-age-predictions-in-1970s.htm 

 

The millennium bug was not a problem because thousands of programmers spent millions of hours fixing everything before the millennium. (It still broke my watch though)

 

And Piltdown Man? Bloody hell, Joannie, you're really struggling if you're having to bring that up.

 

*zombie lie:- A lie which has been debunked over and over and over but still keeps on appearing.

 

Actually The "millennium bug" had no effect whatsoever I never downloaded any software for my pc which was quite old at the time, I figured to replace it after the turn of the century with one that should of been good for the next hundred years (millennium bug wise). Well I sobered up sometime around Jan 3rd switched on and to my surprise the pc was working just as it had before and continued to work at it same slow rate for the next couple of years.

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I won't deny that the climate is changing but reaching the age I am I can't help thinking about so many scientific theories that were once regarded are being gospel have been completely overturned. For example the theory in the 1970's that we were heading for another ice age, or the millennium bug which turned out to be a damp squib.

 

Or hoaxes such as the Piltdown Man which held up the advancement of early anthropology for years.

 

There never was a theory that we were heading for another ice-age. That's just another zombie* denier lie. There were a couple of papers published that mentioned that we would be getting another ice-age in a few thousand years, which were picked up by the media and made the front page of a few magazines and newspapers. The vast majority of papers published in the 70's were warning of Global Warming.

 

More here:-  http://www.skepticalscience.com/ice-age-predictions-in-1970s.htm 

 

The millennium bug was not a problem because thousands of programmers spent millions of hours fixing everything before the millennium. (It still broke my watch though)

 

And Piltdown Man? Bloody hell, Joannie, you're really struggling if you're having to bring that up.

 

*zombie lie:- A lie which has been debunked over and over and over but still keeps on appearing.

 

Actually The "millennium bug" had no effect whatsoever I never downloaded any software for my pc which was quite old at the time, I figured to replace it after the turn of the century with one that should of been good for the next hundred years (millennium bug wise). Well I sobered up sometime around Jan 3rd switched on and to my surprise the pc was working just as it had before and continued to work at it same slow rate for the next couple of years.

 

 

Not every computer or application was affected, and nobody ever claimed that it would be. (at least, nobody who actually knew what they were talking about) There were all sorts of exaggerated claims made in the press about this, all sorts of doom and gloom predictions. It was very similar to the "ice-age coming soon" claims I referenced above. It was a good story which sold newspapers and the truth was somewhat lost in the media feeding frenzy.

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