|
| Thread: I gave up on believing in Climate Change. |  This thread is pages long: 1 2 3 4 5 6 · «PREV |
|
stankelbenet
Adventuring Hero
bringer of nostalgia & darknes
|
posted November 28, 2009 01:03 AM |
|
|
My thoughts on climate change:
The things i'm pretty sure of:
Carbondioxide absorbs more light than other gasses and thereby theoretically should warm up the earth.
All our observations on the climate point in different directions. Some places the temperature is rising while other places it's falling.
Though a lot of talk has been made nothing so far has been done to prevent this "threat".
My thoughts:
we've all heard of it: Climate change. The temperature is rising, the glaciers are melting and we're all going to die.
Though the glaciers are melting we're not all going to die. We will have less room and perhaps the warmer climate will make the areas in the south less fertile but the areas in the north will become more fertile. Human kind won't become extinct that easy.
Even if the climate is rising there won't be done anything about it. We got nations developing extremely fast consuming incredible amounts of coal and oil. They will still claim to be developing countries and thereby not having no responsibility, because their economy can't handle it. Also the normal citizens should think about their own consumption but they don't. Just look at us discussing this over the internet which requires a computer which consumes energy .
I don't believe in climate change. Most of the places on earth where the temperature rises are in the cities. Cities absorb more of the sunlight than rural areas do because of all the buildings with large surfaces. This produces more heat so of course the temperature is rising in growing cities.
Also the weather is impossible to predict. Just watch the weather channel and see how many times they were right. The Hurricanes aren't hitting the places we predict either. More carbondioxide in the atmosphere doesn't necessarily warm up the globe because it also indirectly could have a cooling effect. We can only observe the climate and see what it tells
On the other hand:
Oil, coal and gas has become not only a good profit but also a powerful mean of political power. Remember back in the 70'ies when OPEC chose not to sell their oil? Today wars have begun because of some nations having control of areas with oil. The world would be a much better place without the dependence of fossil fuels. I also think countries could find a great economic advantage in use of continuous energy sources such as hydro electricity or wind power.
So though I don't believe in climate change I support all actions taken to prevent it .
|
|
Corribus
Hero of Order
The Abyss Staring Back at You
|
|
posted November 28, 2009 05:53 AM |
|
|
Quote:
Carbondioxide absorbs more light than other gasses and thereby theoretically should warm up the earth.
?????
____________
I'm sick of following my dreams. I'm just going to ask them where they're goin', and hook up with them later. -Mitch Hedberg
|
|
friendofgunnar
Honorable
Legendary Hero
able to speed up time
|
|
posted November 28, 2009 08:52 AM |
|
|
Stankelbenet, as well as the link provided by TA on the first, have both illustrated something about the climate debate. There's an entire layer of information missing, namely the layer that deals with the actual physics involved. My basic understanding is pretty well summarized by this wiki jpg
note that whoever edited wiki gives this lineup as the contribution of greenhouse gases:
* water vapor, which contributes 36–72%
* carbon dioxide, which contributes 9–26%
* methane, which contributes 4–9%
* ozone, which contributes 3–7%
while the author of TA's link says this:
Water vapor constitutes Earth's most significant greenhouse gas, accounting for about 95% of Earth's greenhouse effect
Without that bottom layer of information, it's impossible to evaluate these competing claims.
It also occured to me that there could be several factors which influence this discordance, for example: the difference in energy absorbtion and re-radiation between water, ice cover, vegetation cover, and mineral composition of soil and rock. Also perhaps thrown into the mix is where the CO2 is being generated (urban centers).
Before I spend any more time googling this particular topic or searching through my collection of mostly outdated textbooks is there anybody that can shed some light on this process?
edit: I'm scanning through the wiki references right now.
man, that's a lot of information to digest....
|
|
Binabik
Responsible
Legendary Hero
|
|
posted November 28, 2009 09:53 AM |
|
|
Well, I haven't gotten involved in this debate and have read almost none of this thread. But here's my take.
1) First, my views are admittedly based more on "faith" and "gut instinct" more than anything else.
2) This whole issue is extremely complex and I'm sure even the expert scientists don't understand it fully.
3) The expert scientists don't all agree, but there seems to be a consensus that yes indeed we (humans) are ****ing up the atmosphere with potentially serious consequences.
4) My very strong gut feeling is to side with the consensus.
5) All the things that need to be done to curb "global warming" need to be done anyway.
6) I see global warming as a rallying point as much as anything else. In other words, even if global warming happens to be a moot point (which it probably isn't) it still can serve as a wake up call.
7) In my over 50 years and having traveled throughout N America fairly extensively, I've seen with my own eyes just how much mankind can **** up the earth.
8) In my over 50 years, I've also seen MAJOR strides in environmentalism. For example it's been 2-3 decades since I've had tears in my eyes and choked from breathing red air in the big industrial cities. The strides in environmentalism since the 1960s and especially since the 1970s has been tremendous.
9) I have no idea whether #7 or #8 will win out, but I'm absolutely convinced that we need to take this issue very seriously.
10) I see the biggest problem facing the earth as overpopulation. It's a problem with no acceptable solution. But we need to find a solution anyway instead of sticking our head in the sand and pretending like it's not there. The world population has more that doubled in my lifetime and in a very short time it will be triple. And if I live a long time it might even quadruple.....all in one person's lifetime....
____________
|
|
TheDeath
Responsible
Undefeatable Hero
with serious business
|
|
posted November 28, 2009 07:13 PM |
|
|
Quote:
10) I see the biggest problem facing the earth as overpopulation. It's a problem with no acceptable solution. But we need to find a solution anyway instead of sticking our head in the sand and pretending like it's not there. The world population has more that doubled in my lifetime and in a very short time it will be triple. And if I live a long time it might even quadruple.....all in one person's lifetime....
http://vhemt.org/
____________
The above post is subject to SIRIOUSness.
No jokes were harmed during the making of this signature.
|
|
|
|
