Global warming

[ReefGuy]

Weather tends to go on cycles. If you take a look at the most deadly hurricanes (here, from wunderground), look at the strength and dates of these hurricanes.

http://www.wunderground.com/hurricane/usdeadly.asp

We are seeing a more active time for hurricanes, but there's nothing to indicate that this is related to global warming.

its not just a few, if you take the last 5 or 10 years, the storms are increasing in severity and numbers.

 

[Bill51]

it wasn't a joke it was a statement!

exhaust gases increase the greenhouse effect which is effecting the climate.

there is no denying that the frequency and severity of the storms you and the rest of the world have increased considerably.

If exhaust gas CO2 is the prime cause of global warming, why haven’t we yet discovered any of the internal combustion engines that caused the medieval warming period, which was much more drastic than what we’ve seen at anytime since the end of the last mini-ice age? I really don’t see any evidence that there was that much manmade CO2 production prior to 1862 when thankfully this warming period started and moved us away from the death and famine that struck much of the world during the preceding ice age.

You may want to rethink your phrasing of severity and frequency of storms and be more specific and correct by noting that there are more storms hitting populated areas because only in the past 100 years has large population centers grown up in areas known to be hit by frequent storms. Just ask the people in the Keys in 1935, or the folks that witnessed Galveston being wiped off the map.

You might also want to check your sources about the overall effect of manmade CO2 as a greenhouse gas. Since most people conveniently forget to point out that the primary greenhouse gas is water vapor and it contributes roughly 98% of the greenhouse effect and is in constant flux, and as a total of all greenhouse gases manmade CO2 only accounts for about .2% at the high side and is much less than the yearly fluctuations in natural CO2 releases from sources such as volcanoes, forest fires, and peat bog decomposition.

 

[H2Andy]

You might also want to check your sources about the overall effect of manmade CO2 as a greenhouse gas. Since most people conveniently forget to point out that the primary greenhouse gas is water vapor and it contributes roughly 98% of the greenhouse effect and is in constant flux, and as a total of all greenhouse gases manmade CO2 only accounts for about .2%

hmmm... well... first, let's put things into perspective:

99% of all gas in the atmosphere has nothing to do with the greenhouse
effect or global warming (about 78% nitrogen and 21% oxygen).

that leaves 1% of all atmospheric gases that DO play a part in the greenhouse
effect. and that means that the slightest change to this 1% can have possitively
dissastrous consequences. that 1% of important gases are:

Carbon dioxide
Methane
Nitrous oxide
Ozone
Water vapour
Halocarbons

now, water vapour is the biggest contributor to the NATURAL greenhouse effect.
that is, before human intervention, water vapour was "it."

HOWEVER, CO2 is "the most important of the greenhouse gases as it accounts for the largest proportion of the 'trace gases' and is currently responsible for 60% of the 'enhanced greenhouse effect'."

in other words, greenhouse due to water vapor is natural. greenhouse due to
CO2 is a a man-made phenomena because man-made CO2 is in addition to
naturally occurring CO2. CO2 in the atmosphere has increased 30% since the
Industrial Revolution began (you could argue, i suppose, that this is just
a coincidence).

basically, we don't know exactly what will happen, but we DO KNOW that man-made
CO2 is changing the climate, the weather, and the world.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/climate/evidence/carbon_dioxide.shtml

 

[BIGSAGE136]

Actually peeps its methane. Powerful stuff. Its probably what helped break the last ice age. I have a friend that refers to it as the piston in the earth's cyclical weather engine.

 

[H2Andy]

well, let's not forget about halocarbons (completly man-made).

"The best known in this group of gases are CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons), HCFCs (hydrochlorofluorocarbons) and the newer substitutes HFCs (hydroflurocarbons). While the concentration of halocarbons are much lower than those of the other greenhouse gases, the warming effect that they produce ranges from 3000 to 13000 times that of carbon dioxide."

in other worlds, while small in percentage, they pack a WHALLOP when it comes
to greenhouse effect

and...they are totally man-made... they very rarely occur naturally

http://www.bbc.co.uk/climate/evidence/halocarbons.shtml

 

[H2Andy]

Actually peeps its methane.

actually, methane accounts for only 20% of the enhanced greenhouse effect.

CO2 accounts for 60%

http://www.bbc.co.uk/climate/evidence/methane.shtml

 

[Rick Murchison]

When I look at the geological record I see that sea level before the last ice age was about 250' higher than it is now. Humans didn't exist yet.
From that I conclude that it is the height of arrogance to assume our contribution to the natural vast climate change cycles of mother Earth is significant, or to believe in our ability to cause, accelerate, decelerate or stop global warming. Earth's climatalogical cycle is going to do what it's going to do. If we are wise we will prepare for the changes, not waste time and energy trying to stop the unstoppable.
Sorta like a squirrell trying to stop winter instead of laying in a supply of nuts.
Rick

 

[Bill51]

When I look at the geological record I see that sea level before the last ice age was about 250' higher than it is now. Humans didn't exist yet.
From that I conclude that it is the height of arrogance to assume our contribution to the natural vast climate change cycles of mother Earth is significant, or to believe in our ability to cause, accelerate, decelerate or stop global warming. Earth's climatalogical cycle is going to do what it's going to do. If we are wise we will prepare for the changes, not waste time and energy trying to stop the unstoppable.
Sorta like a squirrell trying to stop winter instead of laying in a supply of nuts.
Rick

:yelclap: BINGO!

 

[Kim]

When I look at the geological record I see that sea level before the last ice age was about 250' higher than it is now. Humans didn't exist yet.
From that I conclude that it is the height of arrogance to assume our contribution to the natural vast climate change cycles of mother Earth is significant, or to believe in our ability to cause, accelerate, decelerate or stop global warming. Earth's climatalogical cycle is going to do what it's going to do. If we are wise we will prepare for the changes, not waste time and energy trying to stop the unstoppable.
Sorta like a squirrell trying to stop winter instead of laying in a supply of nuts.
Rick

In which case building things in places that are probably undefensible would sound like a rather silly thing to do.

 

[H2Andy]

rick and bill:

we have the ability to affect the natural cycles, and we have been
affecting them in a serious scale since the industrial revolution began

we (humans) are not as separate from nature as you guys seem to think.

what we do HAS an effect (we, for example, can wipe out species, create
deserts in our passing, destroy natural rainforests which act as CO2 filters,
contribute to erosion through deforestation, etc, etc. etc...)

we do have (and have had) an effect on the natural world

to pretend otherwise is to play ostrich