Poll: Do you believe in global warming?

[Mycroft Holmes]

I think you're misunderstanding the debate, so the poll is basically worthless. Only idiots don't believe in global warming. The important and actually contentious question is: 'if it is caused by people or not.'

And given the relative power of humanity versus the freaking sun itself. I would have to say that the sun causes global warming, go figure. Most increased heat periods follow increased directional solar flare activity.

We actually barely make a drop in the bucket as far as greenhouse gases are concerned(except by our forcible propagation of species like cows.) A dog has more carbon emissions than a dreaded hummer, and we have been constantly moving to safer and safer fuels as time goes on(wood is worse than coal is worse than oil is worse than nuclear.) Also the graph Al Gore presented to "prove" global warming is a result of bad science and disingenuous graph creation. It is far too large of a time period shoved on too tiny of a graph so that people can't tell the relationship is a reverse one. The carbon actually lags about 200 years behind heat, because the ocean(which contains a lot of carbon) acts as a giant heat sink, slowly raising and lowering temperature behind the rest of the world, causing evaporation and ipso ergo tons more carbon.

 

[VodkaKnight]

It exists, but people ignore it because people are shit.

 

[Olikar]

CO2 in the atmosphere leads to a greenhouse effect, that is a fact.

Humans have been pumping more and more CO2 into the atmosphere for more than a hundred yearsnow , that is also a fact.

It doesn't take a genius to figure out the implications of these two facts.

 

[MCerberus]

It's a rather odd issue why this is still being debated, a bit ago 97% of scientists agreed about this subject. A couple years later, some dudes whose funding came from some ultraconvservative billionaire brothers known for playing loose with facts to advance their political goals recanted.

At this point denial is "vaccine = autism, chemtrails, fluoride mind control" levels of stupid.

edit- and just think, the current temperature plateau is set to end (and rise) some time in the 2020s. That decade is going to SUCK.

 

[thewatergamer]

I think I already posted before but in response to my last post
Sorry if I got a bit ranty as stated before I tend to get pissed when people talk about how evil oil is since its what gives alot of my family jobs but anyway

I am not going to pretend Global Warming doesn't exist, It does Global warming exists and its happening right now, it happens every day and has happened since the begginging of time,

Their is a major difference between man made global warming and non-man made global warming

As far as I can tell, man hasn't really made any significant impact on climate as many people like to believe, even though its incredibly difficult to find non biased evidence since most studies tend to go one of two ways:

Man made global warming is happening right now! hide your kids ban the oil!

Or the other extreme: Environmentalists are evil propaganda cultists!


This makes it very difficult to prove either way, what really gets under my skin though is when people on either side of the argument openly dismiss the others opinions and just immediately decide that their way is a fact and anyone that doesn't agree is an idiot and should be ignored

There a debate to be had over whether or not man actually affects the globes temperature to any significant degree,

Honestly the debate over whether or not global warming exists has devolved from a scientific study into another pandering political squabble with both sides having their own agendas...

I'm not going to pretend that oil is perfect because its certainly not, many harmful things can come about due to it and its because of environmentalism that alot of toxins and chemicals that were once released into the environment are now regulated, but as of now we still need oil to power our technology and until we find another alternative that is just as reliable we are kinda stuck with it,


In conclusion:

Rename the question do you believe in "man caused" global warming because their is a huge difference

I would love to see less arguing over whether or not something exists and more fixing things that we know exist and ARE real problems, like say overfishing or extreme deforestation, but thats never going to happen because all politicians seem to care about these days are their own personal agendas and advancing themselves, crushing anyone or anything that stands in their way

 

[Frission]

And given the relative power of humanity versus the freaking sun itself. I would have to say that the sun causes global warming, go figure. Most increased heat periods follow increased directional solar flare activity.

Solar variations, which may account for an increase in the ultraviolet range of light, is only a very small part of the solar spectrum. Across the eleven year solar cycle, it varies less than 0.1% and even during the "ice age" of 1750, solar output climbed no more than 0.12%. It's likely that greenhouses gases wields more influence than the total solar output in driving the last fifty years of warming.

I'll also have to ask where you got the rest of the post on greenhouse gases, because it doesn't conform to any actual results of any experiments from any credible labs that I can think of. Particularly the part about a hummer vs a dog.

Are you also talking about the ocean conveyor belt? The ocean conveyor belt transports heat around the globe. One of it's functions is that it transports from the tropics to the northern part of the Atlantic ocean, releasing it into the atmosphere and thereby warming Europe and adjacent landmasses by 10C (18F). After which it cools, sinks and flows to the tropics again. The cooling water sequesters some of the C02 from the atmosphere deep into the ocean.

It's also one of the systems which could be changed by climate change. It's part of the thresholds and tipping points of climate change. One of the theories is that with freshwater melting off the Greenland ice sheet, the conveyor belt could be weakened or even shut down in a short a period as a decade. This will feed a feedback loop where less Carbon is absorbed, which only further weakens the conveyor belt. Not to mention that Europe and north America will have a sudden decrease in temperature, which is not a good thing. The term is climate change for a reason.

 

[Mullac]

Well I'm pretty sure global warming is near fact, the real question is whether humans are having an impact on it or not. Their is a lot to suggest that the earth's temperature goes in cycles of hot and cold (cold being an ice age). In fact there was almost a 'mini-ice age' in Victorian times, where the Thames froze over - for those of you who do not live in Britain, that is very strange.

 

[SanguiniusMagnificum]

Believing it or not doesn't matter when it's true. That's like believing in gravity, or believing that a freight train colliding with your face will cause severe injuries or death. So, to answer your question. No, I don't believe in global warming. I just know that it is true.

 

[The White Hunter]

Do you believe in global warming? I'm just asking because there is a wide variety of opinion out there and there are people a lot more educated than I am who have both claimed either side of this raging debate.

So...here we go, discuss!

You really should give your own opinion before throwing a question to the forums like that, rather than simply stating that there is a subject; discuss.

OT: No, because that's like asking if I believe in gravity. Or evolution.

Global warming is a thing, it is happening, the globe is getting hotter, this is a fact. Now what you should be asking people is whether they think it's entirely the fault of man or just part of the natural processes the Earth goes though and has gone threough countless times in the past. Are we entirely t fault or are we simply accelerating the process?

I personally think we have a large hand in the current shifts in the climate and we really need to be doing something to scale back our damaging behaviours. Partiocularly we need to move towards renewable energy sources, however the issue there is that while people may screech about the mining industry, they're also the same people that will screech and whine if you build a windfarm within their precious view of a grassy hill full of sheep.

Why do they do that? Because they're middle class and british and all they seem to do is complain.

 

[Substitute Troll]

A fact is a fact regarldess of wether you believe it or not.

 

[someonehairy-ish]

Anyone who doubts that humans can, and are, adversely affecting the environment, would do well to look up Potholer54's youtube series on the topic.

Here, I'll link the first one:

For the people saying 'no it's just the sun heating us up, we couldn't possibly affect it.' I'm afraid you're wrong.

Just look at the moon. The moon is more or less the same distance from the sun as the earth is. So it should be the same temperature, if the sun is the only factor. But it isn't the same temperature as the Earth, it's freezing cold. The atmosphere is what makes the difference.

Now look at Venus. Venus is way warmer than Mercury (860 degrees Fahrenheit), despite being much further away from the sun. Why's that? It has an atmosphere composed mostly of Carbon Dioxide.

The same gas we're releasing in enormous quantities into our own atmosphere...

And if you doubt the evidence saying that CO2 heats things up? Do the experiment yourself. Take a two containers, put them both equidistant from a heat source, or under two seperate identical heat sources. Fill one with CO2, the other with air. Stick a thermometer in both of them. See what happens.

 

[Talvrae]

The evidence are flimsy at best and don,t answer a few question that come when you look at the eventuallity of global warming.
First Antartic ice cap has been the biggest it ever was rcorded: http://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2013/08/02/antarctic-sea-ice-extent-breaking-all-records/
there is the record that last 16 there wasnt any global warming even if carbon production world wilde still increased: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2217286/Global-warming-stopped-16-years-ago-reveals-Met-Office-report-quietly-released--chart-prove-it.html
This spring in the north hemisphere was the coldest in the last 50 years: http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/uk-sees-coldest-spring-in-50-years-says-met-office-8638579.html
Many scientist deny it happens: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204301404577171531838421366.html

 

[MeisterKleister]

First Antartic ice cap has been the biggest it ever was rcorded: http://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2013/08/02/antarctic-sea-ice-extent-breaking-all-records/

That does not refute all the other evidence of rising sea levels and overall rising global average temperatures.

there is the record that last 16 there wasnt any global warming even if carbon production world wilde still increased: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2217286/Global-warming-stopped-16-years-ago-reveals-Met-Office-report-quietly-released--chart-prove-it.html

Irrelevant and likely cherry-picked data. Scientist look at overall trends over a minimum of 30-year periods to compensate fluctuations.

This spring in the north hemisphere was the coldest in the last 50 years: http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/uk-sees-coldest-spring-in-50-years-says-met-office-8638579.html

Completely irrelevant. For every extreme cold we get two extreme heat waves. We're looking at global averages and longtime trends, and not at individual anomalies.

Many scientist deny it happens: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204301404577171531838421366.html

Please refer to Q2 of this FAQ:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Global_warming
97% of climate scientists accept Man-made Global Warming.

Source: NASA GISS [http://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/]

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I know I'm repeating myself, but if you have objections against Global Warming and would like to know more, I really recommend watching potholer54's Climate Change series on Youtube.
The corresponding Wikipedia articles are of course very informative too.

 

[IamLEAM1983]

I do believe in it, because global warming is maybe one of the purest examples of causality there has ever been. We produce insane amounts of CO2, our agricultural waste doesn't help, our generally polluting and smog-causing activities sure don't help either, and I hear red termite nests are actually serious CO2 contributors. Yes, absolutely.

Nature's weird like that, sometimes.

The one problem is that meteorologists and scientists specializing in climate change are up against the great and mighty force which is the corporate culture, as well as the unfortunate truth that any *individual* aspects of human industry aren't responsible for the totality of global warming. That leads to car manufacturers saying they're fine, because they've cut back on their CO2 emissions. That leads to certain I.T. sectors refusing to address the fact that their production runs require precious metals and minerals that require a fair share amount of pollution, if not political upheaval, in order to obtain them cheaply. It also leads to politicians dismissing the issue because they think massive short-term economical shortfalls aren't worth the effort - if and when you aren't faced with politicians who flat-out refuse to consider global warming because it offends their theological belief that God will somehow fix everything.

So yes, I do believe in it, and the way large parts of the world react to it in the most sickeningly casual ways possible bothers me.

 

[Virgilthepagan]

Considering how much energy the sun bombards us with every day, I'm going to say it's pretty arrogant to think that man is the only cause of global warming. The fact is, we've been on this earth for such a short time, and even shorter is our ability to measure and catalog data about its temperature. There is no way to tell if what we are measuring is truly our fault.

I'm quite certain we did cause some damage at some point though. The ozone layer and CFC's being something completely provable.

EDIT: I forgot to point out how I also don't trust agendas with a lot of cash behind them. I remember Penn and Teller doing an episode on going green. Al Gore's motives behind the movie was hardly for the sake of the planet. Also, the episode lead with reading an excerpt from a magazine talking about the dangers and current effects of the warming, and how it all spelt certain and impending doom just over the horizon. They then revealed the article was written in the 70's, pointing out how these alarmist discussions have been around for decades, and we really aren't worse for wear.

Frankly I think that should actually make you just as suspicious of the denialist arguments. http://www.opensecrets.org/ and some other sites do a good job of highlighting the direct link between donations from oil firms and climate denial. And yup, climate change has been a working theory among the scientific community since the 70s, and that Penn and Teller are illusionists and skeptics, not scientists. Scientific projections can be wrong, and the degree to which it affects us can be varied based on projection, but the consensus is more or less there.

 

[Voulan]

Of course, except I refer to it as Global Climate Change instead, since it changes constantly anyway. It's just that currently we're set to get warmer at a much faster rate than the earth is used to.

 

[The_Echo]

I believe in global climate change.

Is the planet getting progressively warmer? Yeah, sure. But it's done that multiple times. The global climate is in constant flux. (Wasn't it at its hottest during the Middle Ages?)

"Global warming" carries implications that humanity is at the center of the planet's growing warmth, which I really don't think is the case at all. Yeah, we aren't exactly helping, and being environmentally friendly is never a bad thing. But I don't think we have nearly as much impact as some people say we do.

 

[Platypus540]

I'm afraid you're asking the wrong question here. It's not whether global warming is happening, it's whether global warming is a natural occurrence or the result of human activity.

 

[alandavidson]

Of course I believe in global warming. That's like asking me if I believe my cat likes to sleep in my clean laundry.

Good news though! Global warming isn't happening as fast as predicted!

 

[MCerberus]

I'm afraid you're asking the wrong question here. It's not whether global warming is happening, it's whether global warming is a natural occurrence or the result of human activity.

The big problem here is that there are no temperature models that can handle that global warming right now is natural occurrence. We're talking statistic disproving. Disbelievers can live comfy thinking that there's a 1% chance humans aren't roasting the planet, but I'm not.