I'm sure you've all heard of global warming. Sure, 2.5-10F degrees doesn't seem like a huge change, but it is! I'm doing a project on it and i'm wondering if you have any facts/figures or opinions?

Thanks.

people there is alot u can do about global warming....dont u want urkids to see a polar bear.....i luv polar bears i luv all animals and if we keep using gas like we do...and littering..and not caring where our trash goes....we can stop global warming!!!poepl dont ruin our world...help it!!

oh well, I guess we will all just have to die then...

I never said my ideas were practical. In fact, I've been stressing that they arent'.

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i.e. shade growing foods

as a gardener myself, I laugh. Not only do most plants shrivel in the shade, but trees are not very easy to cultivate around with a large machine.

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planting in unforested areas

The midwest...

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Because ride paddies produce large amounts of methane, a different method of farming rice would have to be developed.

The only problem is that the methane is produced by the swamplike-habitat that rice needs to survive.

And yeah. We can make a dent by changing our farming methods.

The first problem is how much food it takes to feed the world. Food distribution and overpopulation are our main problems, so we'd have to do something about that.

Lower-impact farming methods are also important (i.e. shade growing foods, planting in unforested areas, etc). Because ride paddies produce large amounts of methane, a different method of farming rice would have to be developed.

I'm not suggesting that we have some magical solution to global warming, but we can't ignore it. If anything, we should at least direct more funding towards reseaching climate change.

Reducing emissions is important even if it doesn't put a stop to climate change because, in case you didn't notice, air pollution is unhealthy.

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I also keep hearing this "Plant trees!" argument. Well, maybe if we were to plant thousands of hectacres of artifical forest around the globe, it *might* make a difference. Planting a tree in your front yard is a do nothing solution.

We'd need to plant trees in a solid forest over an area the size of the United States to cut the CO2 level significantly.

So yes, I realize that my proposed solutions are impractical.

The bottom line is no one likes it when their ice cream gets too melty too fast...it's heartbreaking.

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Originally posted by clpo13:
The geologic record is the evidence, Strangelove. As risk said, the Earth goes through warm and cool cycles. Right now, we're in an extended warm cycle, hence the rise in temperatures. We're overdue for an ice age, mini or otherwise.

Oh I know all about the Milancovitch Cycles and thier effect on the current climate system. The geologic record also only shows these periodic ice ages for the past few million years. It is by no means a permanent staple in the Earth history, but rather a recent fluke. A fluke that could easily be thrown off by, say, the introduction of new gasses and land uses during the agricultural revolution. Evidence suggesting the REASON we're overdue is that we altered the atmosphere when we started planting huge rice and wheat fields thousands of years ago.

There's no hard reason why the ice ages started, although there has been speculation that it had something to do with the massive Huckleberry eruption at Yellowstone. But they aren't permanant, and it's very likely that as long as we keep farming, the ice ages are done for. They are by no means "inevitable".

The geologic record is the evidence, Strangelove. As risk said, the Earth goes through warm and cool cycles. Right now, we're in an extended warm cycle, hence the rise in temperatures. We're overdue for an ice age, mini or otherwise.

Here is a good site.

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Originally posted by riskbreaker86:
the world naturally goes through various cycles, and i think another ice-age is unavoidable...although i do agree emissions need to be cut down, for the health of not only our planet but for its occupants.

Firstly, what is your evidence that another ice age is unavoidable, and secondly what "emissions" are you talking about. CO2, or things like sulfur dioxide and particulates. I support the reduction of the latter, but the former is another issue.

the world naturally goes through various cycles, and i think another ice-age is unavoidable...although i do agree emissions need to be cut down, for the health of not only our planet but for its occupants.

Reducing emissions will probably do next to nothing because CO2 levels have not been shown to have a signifigant effect on global atmospheric temperatures. No model has ever been accurate.

And the only way that we can change our farming methods to affect global warming might be for a massive global shift towards hydroponics, which is completely ridiculous and impossible.

I also keep hearing this "Plant trees!" argument. Well, maybe if we were to plant thousands of hectacres of artifical forest around the globe, it *might* make a difference. Planting a tree in your front yard is a do nothing solution.

The truth is we have no true idea what is causing this warming trend, or how large the trend actually is. Because of this, we can't come up with any practical or effective solution worth the investment of billions of dollars.

Not true.

We can reduce emissions, plant trees, change our farming methods, and, though global warming cannot be reversed, we can LESSEN the damage that may be caused.

fyi there is nothing you can do about global warming

Hold on a second! I said around, not in 1975.

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Ironically, global warming will cause global warming will cause global cooling. It's the nature of the world to correct itself."

Then why are we even arguing on this?

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America produces more carbon dioxide than any other country, but our volcanos still beat us in releasing it into the air.

Wrong. By the numbers you gave, the US still puts out more carbon dioxide than volcanoes. Look at the numbers:

17600000000000 (1.76x10^13) kilograms/year of CO2 - United States
250000000000 (2.5x10^11) kilograms/year of CO2 - volcanic eruptions

Do the math. That's a full 17350000000000 kilograms/year more that the US produces. Unless, of course, you screwed up your exponents.

However, I will accede that the volcanoes have been erupting for much longer than humans have been around. But that's still no excuse for poor mathematics.

And as I sat here writing this, another thought occured to me. The industrial revolution was in the 1800s, right? That's when factories became popular and smoke was first spewed into the sky. This practice has been occuring for roughly two centuries. Before that time, the only source of mass air pollution were volcanoes. And the earth went into those vicious warm/cool cycles just with that. The average temperature rose, an ice age was caused, and then everything was back to normal. Now add in the human element. That just makes the problem worse, even if not by a lot. Regardless of what we as humans do to the environment, there will be another ice age cycle in the near future. It's been going on for millenia. Why should it be any different now?

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Originally posted by clpo13:
Ironically, global warming will cause global warming will cause global cooling. It's the nature of the world to correct itself."

Yes, but in 1975 (when this article was published in Newsweek), scientists had no information on global warming or anything remotely close to it, and yet they were able to come to a conclusion about global cooling without it.

Now don't get me wrong, I do believe that there is a small amount of global warming nowadays, just like there was a small amount of global cooling in the 1970s. Like you said, the earth is just correcting itself, and its all natural.

It's very nice to think that we humans could have an effect on the global environment, but we can't even come close. Within the United States, 17.6x10^12 kilograms of carbon dioxide is released into the air every air. On the other hand, one volcano eruption emits 5x10^11 kilograms of carbon dioxide. There, according to the United States Geological Service, are an average of 5 major volcanic eruptions a year. That means that volcanic eruptions produce 25x10^11 kilograms of carbon dioxide on their own.

America produces more carbon dioxide than any other country, but our volcanos still beat us in releasing it into the air. Now if, as you evolutionists claim, the earth has been around for close to 6 billion years (volcanos for at least 1 billion), think how much carbon dioxide has been released into the environment over the history of the Earth.

According to the evolutionist earth time history, if the world's history is 24 hours, we humans have been here for the last 5 seconds. It is not logical to say that humans have had any impact at all with the environment.

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Originally posted by freedomordeath:
Oh and reactionary, look at that time period. There was a political revolution around that time. When Democrats were following modern Republicans' party lines and vice versa? Look into that.

What? The only political revolution even near that timewas the when the Republican Party switched to Neo-Conservatism from Paleo-conservatism in 1980. The Democratic Party that was operating in 1975 is the same party that is operating today, and has been since the Dixiecrats left in the 1950s.

1975 was the height of power for the Warren Court, the very definition of today's neo-liberalism. Please enlighten me as to what major "political revolution" occured in 1975 that caused both parties to do a 180 on their issues.