Global Warming

[shiroun]

Alright, I decided to post this after watching "An Inconveniant Truth".


Do you believe in Global Warming?
Do you attempt to help to slow down Global Warming?
Do you recycle?
Did you use CFC's. (Mostly for the girls, basically in the 1980's Hairspray had CFCs, so did you use hairspray in 1980's?)
Did you ever see "An Inconveniant Truth"?
Rebuttles and Disputes are allowed.


I believe in Global warming. I try to car pool. I recycle as much as possible. I wasn't born in the 1980's :P. I saw the movie.

No rebuttles or disputes availale so... SPAM.

 

[Venetia]

Uh, well, there's not really much of a doubt against global warming after the Kyoto Global Climate Conference.

Yes, I used hairspray in the 1980's. A little. I was a kid then. And people didn't know about CFC's being pollutants yet--so that's not even really an argument point at all.

I don't really do much to circumvent global warming, but I don't really do much to contribute to it. I drive a sports car, but only work 4 miles away from my home and don't drive anywhere else. I use mostly incandescent bulbs, but seldom have the lights on. I take long showers, but never leave the water just running unattended. I don't recycle (there are no pickups for it in my neighborhood), but I don't really generate much trash (much of what I eat is wrapperless produce/meat).

If I drove more, though, I'd get a more efficient car. And if my neighborhood trash service picked up recycling, I'd do it. But I hate flourescent bulbs--they cause cancer anyway

So I'm an apathetic American, but atleast I'm not abundantly wasteful.

I know a few hippies. Seems like a lot of work. And public transportation sucks here in Tampa. So I guess I don't really have an argument for or against global warming, outside "weh".

 

[Yeyinde]

You know that "An Inconvenient Truth" is a big steamless load of propaganda?  The ocean rising several metres causing widespread floods?  More like 10cm maximum.  If you believe the stuff in that movie, you must be crazy in the head.

 

[sixtyandaquarter]

I believe in warming and cooling cycles that can easily be influenced by us humans on a global scale.  Do I believe that level of influence is world destructive?  No.  At least not yet.  I don't even think we're really all that close.

So, yeah.  I believe in global warming - just not that global warming.  We're not turning up nature's thermostat till she gives us an ice age.

 

[Ellie]

Every single "fact" in Gore's film has been said to be completely false by lots of scientists, or at least over exaggerated.

But I still believe in Global Warming. I don't believe we are necessarily the *only* cause though.

But, even if Global Warming is complete shiz, we still need to recycle and whatnot. We need to cut down on polution not just for the planet, but for the environment, and the people living in it. Asthmatics, etc, struggle because of car fumes. Animals lose their homes because of deforestation. And so on.

I recycle where possible, only ever use the 10p bags from supermarkets and re-use them all the time (or just don't use a bag), I try to walk home every once in a while (hard when you live 3 miles away though), etc.

 

[Samboy]

Antarctica isn't that big. Neither are North Poles ice caps... they're definitely not big enough to make the oceans rise to "flooding levels". Put it this way, if the whole of Antarctica melted, the sea levels would rise about 200ft (61 metres). Now that is quite a substantial quantity, but the average temperature in Antarctica is around -37 degrees celcius, and never gets above freezing. No show.

The Polar ice caps have a significantly less quantity of water, and the melting of these would not change the sea levels. Greenland has a larger quantity of ice, which would add another 20ft (7 metres).

No, no and no. I do believe that car emissions are bad, and we should change our fuel to help ourselves, but no. The environment has a way of regenerating itself after major events eg. the ice ages. It will pull out of this one too.

 

[Volrath]

But, even if Global Warming is complete shiz, we still need to recycle and whatnot. We need to cut down on polution not just for the planet, but for the environment, and the people living in it.

Indeed. Even if we find alternative fuels, dump less shit in the ocean, recycle, and do all that stuff, and then Al Gore goes on TV and says "JK LOL!" all we will have done is create a better Earth for future generations. Besides, getting off oil is a national security issue as well, at least for America. Better to come up with a power source we can manage here instead of always having to screw around with Mideast countries.

You know that "An Inconvenient Truth" is a big steamless load of propaganda?

Propaganda working towards what, exactly? Conservation? Dear God no, we can't have that!

Every single "fact" in Gore's film has been said to be completely false by lots of scientists, or at least over exaggerated.

Not sure what to say about this. Both sides of this debate claim that the entire scientific community stands behind them...they can't both be right! I just know we've had some hot flippin' summers lately.

 

[Mega Flare]

global warming is a myth!

 

[Samboy]

No, it's not a myth; it just simply isn't going to get to a point where we think "OH NO! WE'VE MELTED THE WORLD! ROFL#^$$#LOL#$HAX_OR*$@!NOOB!". Tell those scientists to shove it, it's just a minor thing that has ballooned into "Buy canvas bags for $1.00 to save the world, buy a "Smart" car that cuts your fuel emissions in 1/2... where is the evidence? A movie proves nothing.

 

[jbart321]

Global Warming is a worldwide scam that is being used to bilk money from basically everyone. 

The fact is the planet is cooler now than it was 10 years ago. 
Most of the predictions made have not come true and have basically gone the other way.  (Where are you Hurricanes?)
There are more polar bears now than there was 15 years ago, even though Liberals want you to believe otherwise.

Al Gore got a Peace prize for lying, it's incredible. 

Sure we should be more Earth friendly, but making up lies is no way to get it done. 

The Earth is not getting warmer and some of our warmest winters were many years ago.  The planet goes in cycles and will always be that way. 

On top of all of that, even if GW was real, it would take more than just 3% of the world to make a difference.  And if it was such a concern, we would stop using harmful fuels and whatnot asap.

It is a scam and is absurd.  GW was only created so we could have something else to blame our worlds issues on.

 

[Grathea]

Global Warming is a worldwide scam that is being used to milk money from basically everyone. 

Oh dear. You don't seriously believe that, do you?

The fact is the planet is cooler now than it was 10 years ago. 

Nope.

Most of the predictions made have not come true and have basically gone the other way.  (Where are you Hurricanes?)

They're predictions, not The Word of GOD(TM).

There are more polar bears now than there was 15 years ago, even though Liberals want you to believe otherwise.

Wrong... just wrong. I'm a Canadian, I've seen what's happening up north. The polar bears are dying out.

Al Gore got a Peace prize for lying, it's incredible. 

No comment.

Sure we should be more Earth friendly, but making up lies is no way to get it done.

 
The ends fit the means. If the goal is right, what's wrong with the method used?

The Earth is not getting warmer and some of our warmest winters were many years ago.  The planet goes in cycles and will always be that way. 

You're completely missing the point. Yes, temperature goes in cycles. At this point in time, the Earth should still be cooling. It's warming up. Therefore, something fishy is going on. Make sense?

On top of all of that, even if GW was real, it would take more than just 3% of the world to make a difference.  And if it was such a concern, we would stop using harmful fuels and whatnot asap.

Wrong again. Even one person can make a difference. Sure, it's not a very big difference, but it is a difference. And that 3% are the ones who use the most fossil fuels and damage the ozone layer the most anyways. Also - 3%? Let me see who's a part of the Kyoto Protocols.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... p_2005.png[/img]
See this map? Green means they've signed and ratified the Kyoto Protocols. Yellow is signed, but not ratified. Grey is undecided, and red is refusal.
3% of the world my ass.

It is a scam and is absurd.  GW was only created so we could have something else to blame our worlds issues on.

No. Just no.

 

[Legendary]

gratheo, the polar bear population HAS grown. I'm an Alaskan, and I've done research too. It's not grown very much. It's still VERY threatened. But it's grown.

Also, the Earth should NOT still be cooling. We had a little Heat Age during the Viking Period, then a Little Ice Age after that, and we're coming out of that. The temp started rising before we reached the Industrial Age.

And more to the point, who are we humans, who have only been capable of studying this sort of thing for the less than a century, the ones to deem what is RIGHT for the FUTURE of Earth? No cycle is the same, especially not weather. I know meteorologists. One had a little paper satirically explaining just how daunting the task is.

I question humanity's business pretending to know how the planet actually works.

 

[sixtyandaquarter]

Just stepping in here for a moment.
Call it an attempt to stop what I could very easily see coming, and that's the "nu-uh I said so" debate.  Call it preemptive.

If you are going to post something as fact, show something.  A source to look for information.  Bonus points if it's a source that isn't obviously leaned and possibly misinformed because of it (IE: "look the trees are dying" from a tree hugging site, "look minorities suck" from a kkk site - get me?).

I still think we are getting warmer.  I just have yet to see anything that shows "if we do not change now, we will die".  Everything I've seen is "we should change soon, but it's okay right now".  I personally think a lot of Gore is a scare tactic, I do think he is honestly trying to help, but I think he's either -like us- choosing which misinformation to believe in or he's manipulating people to his point - kind of like we do all the time anyway.

 

[snuggles]

The World Conservation Union listed polar bears as a vulnerable species, one of three sub-categories of threatened status, in May 2006.[52] Their latest estimate is that 7 out of 19 subpopulations are declining or already severely reduced.[7] ... because of the inaccessibility of the Arctic, there has never been a comprehensive global survey of polar bears, making it difficult to establish a global trend. The earliest preliminary estimates of the global population were around 5,000–10,000 in the early 1970s, but this was revised to 20,000–40,000 in the 1980s.[11] Part of this increase may indicate recovery as a result of conservation measures implemented in the early 1970s, but it is principally a revised estimate based on a growing base of data.[11] Current estimates bound the global population between 20,000-25,000.[7] ... Long-term studies of local populations of polar bears show they have been shrinking in the Western Hudson Bay and Baffin Bay areas, and are under stress in the Southern Beaufort Sea area.[8][9] In the Western Hudson Bay in Canada, for example, there were an estimated 1194 polar bears in 1987, and 935 in 2004[33] – though there were an estimated 500 polar bears there in 1981[54]....The need for species' protection has been disputed by H. Sterling Burnett and Mitchell K. Taylor. Burnett, a Senior Fellow of the conservative advocacy group National Center for Policy Analysis, has claimed that the total global population of polar bears increased from 5,000 to 25,000 between the 1970s and 2007.[55] Mitchell Taylor, the Nunavut Government Manager of Wildlife Research, wrote a letter to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service arguing that local studies are insufficient evidence for global protection at this time.[56] Critics say that these two people have attracted disproportionate media attention, and claim that their views are refuted by all polar bear scientists.[57][58]

Hmm....

@Legendary, let's say you're right. Let's say you have a big barrel of mysterious stuff. You have no idea what it is, or what it does, but you do know that without it, you'd be dead. Would you (A), exploit the contents of the mysterious barrel by taking stuff out and putting stuff in, until you'd maxed out the amount of money you could make off of it? Or (B), leave it the hell alone and try to get others to do the same? We can't leave Earth alone entirely, but I don't think "we don't know x is harmful for sure" is a good reason to continue business as usual.

 

[___]

I think your questions took the wrong approach to the problem.  We know that the earth is heating up, the question is whether and to what degree we are responsible.

To the question of CFCs, there is absolutely no doubt about the harm they caused.  CFCs are pretty much inert as far as humans are concerned, but they eat up 03 like a fat man in a buffet.  They tore the hell out of the ozone layer, I don't think any honest scientist who knows what he's talking about can deny that, to the point that their use is highly regulated or even banned today in most countries and for us it's pretty much a non-issue.  Right now we're trying to talk the stragglers into stopping their use as well.

"The Inconvenient Truth" was as much a pity party for Al Gore as it was a "documentary" and it wasn't a documentary either, it was a propaganda film.  It stated lots of conclusions and gave lots of opinions with very little in the way of facts, and half the "facts" turned out to be wrong.  I personally am sick and tired of people hiding political propaganda in the guise of journalism but that's a topic for another thread.  Guys like Al Gore and Micheal Moore can suck me.  Nonetheless I admit when they have a good point, and Al Gore's TiT was on the right track in my opinion.

So as to whether global warming is a problem, and whether we're the source, I've seen enough evidence and arguments to be convinced that we are at least contributing to the problem and that something should be done about it.  Furthermore global warming is not the only problem related to pollution.  More immediate concerns of public health and safety, as well as the constant diminishing of natural resources, should also be taken into account when considering whether we should be working toward cleaner energy and more responsible lifestyles.

Also of interest a seperate but related topic on pollutants and climate change: global dimming.  Basically on a local level pollution has a pretty big impact on reducing the amount of sunlight that reaches the ground, with broad side effects.  Here's a link to a great episode of BBC's Horizon on the subject: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... &plindex=0.
More information can be found elsewhere.  It's interesting stuff.

 

[Red Dawn]

I haven't seen that film, in fact I know barely anything about GW =p
But I know that there is a massive hole in the ozone layer close to New Zealand (My country ^^) And that average temperature records were exceeded 2005 & then again 2007... And also several times before that I think, just don't know for sure.
Also, with ice melting, there's masses of it underwater and since ice is 111% the volume of water, if the underwater stuff melted as well as the above water, and there was an equal amount of ice above sea level as below it, then the water levels would drop. In the polar caps, isn't there, like, more ice below sea level than above it? (I tried researching but I couldn't find anything good). And if the caps got hot enough (like 40 degrees hotter minimum) to melt, then people around the equator would, like, die from the heat or something. Or have to live under the ground, like mole people. Cool ^^

 

[Ellie]

It's all about dispersion, as the ice is already in the water if it melted it would still have the same weight and mass, so sea levels wouldn't change. The trouble is not really with the North pole, but with the south, where the ice is above land (and also greenland in the North).

 

[incandescent]

Do you believe in Global Warming?
Do you attempt to help to slow down Global Warming?
Do you recycle?
Did you use CFC's. (Mostly for the girls, basically in the 1980's Hairspray had CFCs, so did you use hairspray in 1980's?)
Did you ever see "An Inconveniant Truth"?

1. Yes I do.
2. Yes.
3. Mostly I recycle paper and other school/office stuff.
4. No.
5. I did.

Global warming is real, as real as your hand typing into your keyboard or whatever, but it's just progressing slowly. Sure, Al Gore says in 50 years things dissapear, but at this rate, I don't think it will take 50 years, maybe a couple of centuries, or so.
I'm contributing for the beauty of the environment, here in my country, litter is literally everywhere. There's a fog of Carbon Monoxide in the city.  The trees are being cut down.
Global warming has an impact on the equator. Just last year at this time, summer started, and the temperature is around 30~34 degrees Centigrade. Right now it's rainy season, rain comes occasionally, and the temperature is around 35~39 degrees Centigrade. It's getting hot around here and it's still the rainy season!

Side Note :
The UNFCCC(United Nations Federal Climate Change Conference-if I'm not mistaken) was held in Bali, Indonesia(my country ^^) and they were talking about conserving energy to stop the mass production of CO2 caused by electricity, and they had it in a large room with around 10-15 Air Conditioners blasting cool air at them. Wow, what great electricity conservation technique!

 

[Yoshine]

sorry just need to say this

WE WILL NOT BE FU*KING FLOODED TO DEATH BY OUR OWN ICE CAPS!!!111oneoneone

all of this Co2 shit  is a lie from al gore be cause he changed the graph of temperature change from over the years.

in the 70s there was a global cooling theory.

Quite literally Cow flatulence actually put out more Co2 then all the cars in the earth.

Al gore pays scientists to say he's right!

The earth has temperature cycles.

and if you need more god damn proof...

watch this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Io-Tb7vT ... theyoshine

face it al gore is an asstard

 

[Samboy]

Al Gore is not an "asstard", which I presume is somewhere between an asshole and a retard. He's simply going along with what the government has told him to do. Oh and by the way, that's a CNN broadcast. They were the ones who originally announced global warming.