Forbidden Donut

i dont know a whole lot about the issue, i just know im damn sick of hearing "welp, i blame global warming" coming from peoples mouths....

I agree that we should use energy more efficiently. We shouldn't waste anything.

Global Warming? Well, the world is getting warmer. I'm still not sold that humans are to blame for that. I understand the green-house effect, but thats been around for a long time. It all comes down to how much humans are contributing to an increase in the green-house effect. I haven't seen any hard evidence for that, just conflicting reports. I've heard that humans contributed 5% to the CO2 in the atmosphere and I've heard that humans contributed 95% of the CO2 in the atmosphere. I guess you can see the conflict.

People suck.

Dear people, get better at energy consumption.

Sincerely, Jake

I'm unwilling to do a lot of research on the topic because I think the results will be biased either way. From what I've seen, I don't think I could bring myself to trust the results, compared objectively. The "hard statistics" seem to be warped. Given that, I'm content to continue my current lifestyle because it may be an unnecessary inconvenience that will have no real effect on the situation. Though I would like to clarify that I don't mean change by one person will do nothing; I simply want to extend the view that a mass change may very well have no real effect on the situation.

I'll add some more fuel to the fire. Saw this on Digg.

Founder of Weather Channel on Global Warming

Bill Nye the Science Guy is "Da Man"!

I'm a geography major, the link jedd posted is essentially correct, the only sliver of truth in the whole craze is that yes it is warmer now than it was in the 1800s.

You can't deny the fact that humans are producing more CO2 and that CO2 is a greenhouse gas.

If that is effecting the temperature.... I'm still trying to figure that out.

"While manure-derived methane is proving very useful, the methane cows burp is causing problems. Methane is a greenhouse gas and, in the atmosphere, contributes to global warming. Cows burp an abundant supply of it every day — about 280 liters per animal (in other words, the average cow could fill 140 two-liter soda bottles with gas daily). Unfortunately, burped methane is more difficult to collect, with the result that about six million metric tons of it float blissfully up into the atmosphere every year. And that's just from herds in the United States. (Worldwide, ruminant livestock — including cattle, sheep, goats, and buffalo — produces about 80 million metric tons of methane per year, accounting for 22% of anthropogenic methane emissions.)

Methane is second only to carbon dioxide in the list of greenhouse gases. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, it's 21 times better at trapping heat in the atmosphere than CO2 (a fact that can be attributed to the larger size of CH4 molecules). The six million tons of methane that North American cows burp annually are equivalent to 36 million tons of carbon dioxide."

I'd heard something about this before, but couldn't find a... "more credible" source than this.

Oh, and this doesn't even take into account the cow crap. Fucking cows.

Also people saying that cutting down rain forest is destroying the ability to utilize the CO2 and creating O2 is a big impact is also a stretched truth.

The uptake of CO2 from trees is actually as big as you think. Most of the photosynthesis actually happens in the ocean, all the photosynthetic bacteria that live on the ocean surfaces actually are the ones that contribute the most for intaking CO2 from the atmosphere and releasing O2 into the atmosphere. As well as contributing massive amounts into the carbon cycle to the oceanic life.

People say that global warming is this and that but to tell you truth, to my understanding, we may have something to do with it yes, but I believe this is more of a natural phenomenon. Does that mean we should say fuck nature, fuck rain forests? No, but I feel as if people are being way cynical about all this and freaking people out for no reason.

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Makes you think. But that's about it.

The link didn't work for me Arvin.

What about the other part of this issue, the use of energy and water. Are you guys at all concerned about what we are going to do to meet our needs for energy/water in the future?

broken link Arvin /sad.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":(" border="0" alt="sad.gif" />

fixed for you bud



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDsIFspVzfI

^Thanks!

Global warming doesn't exist, IT'S SO COLD IN HERE

I am hoping the steadily rising temperature is a reality that will continue. Think, in 20 years alaska is the next fucking hawaii, but our generation gets to settle it and rock out!

Jesus

Will you experts just take a basic Geology class and think about it a little?

It makes me sick to see some of you I know personally, get sucked into this stupidity.

Where the hell do you think all the carbon that is locked up underground as oil, coal, & methal hydrite get there? Think about what it took to produce / cause this?

Just yesterday in earth time (12,000 years ago) 70% of North America was covered by a sheet of Ice more than 1 mile thick.

You want me to belive all the nomads back then and thier camp fires heated the earth and melted the glaciers?

Yes

Should have left your ass at the rest stop /dry.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="<_<" border="0" alt="dry.gif" />

I do suggest watching Gore's movie... He has a lot of research in it that is easy to understand.

P.S. I love Bill Nye! Ya lucky bastard....

I somehow overlooked this entire thread. Thanks for the bump, Arria.



Bud, no one [worth your time] is trying to argue that the earth's environment has not fluctuated dramatically over the past 4 billion years. A billion years ago, the earth was smoldering hot. 700 million years ago the entire surface was covered with miles of ice (it would have made our most recent ice age look like Bermuda). And as you mentioned, the earth experienced glaciation up until about 10,000 years ago.

Over the next few million years, the earth will surely go through more completely natural, dramatic changes. New forms of life the like of which have never been experienced could surface with these changes, or all life as we know it could be completely wiped out. Such is life in the case of a planet like our own.

However, that is in no way evidence to refute the claims that modern human activity is contributing to a time-localized, life-altering change in the earth's environment. We're not talking about cataclysmic change that would probably threaten all life as we know it -- the earth itself has that kind of change under its belt, we'd be pretty foolish to assume that we were that powerful. We're talking about slight changes that will have immediate effects on human life. Geological changes occur over thousands and even millions of years. The glaciation that ended 10,000 years ago began almost 40 million years before, yet we're talking about significant warming over the last century alone; 100 years is nearly indistinguishable in terms of geology, and we're discussing the complete reverse of a glaciation process that took forty million years to accumulate in just a few hundred!

As a practical person, I know, understand, and respect the fact that we are not going to be able to reverse the affects we've had on the environment. In order to do that, we'd have to completely change our ways of life because so much of what we all do every single day has a negative affect on the earth. I for one am not willing to give up the internet, my electricity, my heating, my education, and pretty much everything else in my life just so the earth can continue its destructive tendencies unhindered by me. However, as a practical person, I can also see how I can very easily see how I can at least try to be more energy conscious especially when it is in my best interest. Warming temperatures makes the ice caps melt which in turn leads to more rapid warming with less of the sun's light being reflected. These rapid changes in temperature change tidal and meteorological activity in ways that disrupt farming around the world. It might not make the US not be able to grow corn, but it certainly makes growing corn a variable exercise in a lot of regions. The more variable farming is, the higher costs it incurs and the higher price it passes on to consumers. Through my own laziness, I help contribute to higher priced groceries. Clearly this is a very simplified example of the affects I have on my own environment, but it is no less viable. So, as a practical person who is looking out largely for his own self-interests, it pays to be energy-friendly.

I want a button that says that on it.

According to corrections to Mann's graph, the world was actually warmer in the 1400's than it is today... Read up on it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hockey_stick_controversy

edit: Wanted to add: It was actually warm enough at one point that England grew its own wine (Medieval Warming Period). I was reading through the Wiki and remember that.

While I love reading whats on wikipedia...it's not always "correct". I mean, you can point out the main "uhh, wtfs?" easily, but some bullshit may be stuffed in the middle or between the lines somewhere. My science teacher told us not to use it as a source for a project we had to do because of this.

Xemplar, you are gay.

"OH LOOK AT ME! I PROMOTE THAT I SMOKE WEED! I'M COOL!"..... /dry.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="<_<" border="0" alt="dry.gif" />

Global warming is BS

Sure more humans are creating more CO2, but CO2 and the earth's temperature don't coorelate. From 1940 to 1970 the amount of CO2 rose continuously as it has been for years, but the temperature during the time actually decreased.

That doesn't mean I don't give a shit about the environment. I think it's cool to see companies take small steps like recycle more, reduce the amount of waste, and work on alternate forms of energy that are cleaner. But I absolutely hate the people who take it to the extreme and think the end of the world is around the corner because the earth's temperature has risen a couple degrees over a hundred years -- blowing it out of proportion is going to lead to an enourmous amount of wasted time, money and effort.

The warming that we've seen over the past century is largely misunderstood by both sides. For one, you're absolutely correct that an increase in the earth's temperature will not result in the end of life on earth (or at least it would be very unlikely), but it could have serious impacts on our lives. As the most complex organisms on the earth, we are also the most fragile and affected greatest by sweeping environmental changes.

A few degrees over thousands of years is totally normal, but a change of a few degrees over a single century (a length of time that is generally considered negligible in terms of geology) is detrimental to the environment that has allowed us to thrive for thousands of years. What many people do not understand is that it really only takes a change of a few degrees to spark massive changes in the earth's climate. Entire ice ages are caused by a very slight drop in temperature over a long period of time (as the temperature changes by a few degrees, more ice forms at the top of mountains and around the poles which reflects more sunlight away from the earth which leads to a sort of exponential cooling affect). The exact opposite can happen as ice melts at the poles while the temperature on earth increases slightly over a period of time.

The problem is the speed at which our temperatures have changed over the past century. Once again, I can't stress how significant a few degrees of change is to the very fragile global ecosystem of our planet.

You're absolutely right, we are not going to suddenly burst into flames or anything outrageous like many people who support global warming tend to argue. People like hyping up stuff to support their claims especially when they don't really understand the very ideas they are arguing. But as someone who really tries to take a practical approach to the idea of global warming, I find it extremely discouraging and a bit frustrating that people like you seem to think global warming is some massive hoax just because it is hyped up a lot.

The earth has warmed dramatically over the past century whether we like it or not. If you are completely adverse to the idea that humans have had an impact on that change, whatever. But you clearly do not understand the situation enough to comment on it if you think that the earth's temperature raising "a couple degrees over a hundred years" isn't a huge problem for the future of our species.

Fuck it all and i say we just do a Meaton rush to all are deaths /tongue.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":P" border="0" alt="tongue.gif" />

it is good, but at one point i recall him saying something about how the trees are having trouble breathing, and that's why they lose their leaves in the fall. that threw me off...

It's easy to understand because it's pants-on-head retarded.

The subject was brought to my attention in chemistry class. The research is nationally recognized. I'm not an expert, so I can't say how accurate it is, but the Mann's graph which is what a lot of people saw in Al Gore's movie was said to be inaccurate due to mishandling data.

Still hogwash imo