Question about the global climate....

[blue1]

I can believe in global warming, after all the winters here at least are getting warmer. We only had a few days of frost and a single day of snow this year. I know that's not true everywhere, least of all the US.  The summers here are pretty much the same except for extra rain.
But I can see how there might be global warming. We had global cooling in the nineteenth century. The Thames in London froze and people could skate on it.  A thousand years ago Greenland was warm enough for Viking settlers to live there and grow crops. I can handle all that.

No, where I diverge is the now holy tenet among environmentalist and scientists is that the current warming is the result of our doings and our fault alone not some sort of cyclical warming which happens from time to time. But it's hard to say stuff like that. Sometimes it's like standing up in church and saying there's no God.

The current belief everywhere is that global warming is no longer just a theory or a possible outcome, it's a proven fact and it's happening now! Anyone who disagrees with this 'fact' is a heretic or in the employ of the oil companies and is hammered mercilessly with every flood or drought, sunny day or wet day as proof we are all doomed unless we give up our cars and take the bus.

Little inconsistentcies are ignored like the reality that carbon dioxide is used by plants. Lots of carbon dioxide improves plant growth and what do plants exhale; oxygen. It's seem Mother Earth has already worked out the balancing act to prevent the greenhouse effect. Then there effect of clouds themselves formed we are told by all this CO2. Yet like shades in a greenhouse once a cloud covers the sun it's cooler on the ground.

But there's no point in arguing far too many people have made their careers out of this global warming caused by humans idea. They are not going to accept evidence to the contrary.

What bothers me about all this is that arrogant assumption that we humans are responsible for the weather and the global climate. Just who do we think we are? God?

Just to show how theories like this can be quietly dropped. Whatever happened to the big Ozone layer crisis of nineties? Haven't heard much about that lately have you? Apparently it was all caused by old fridges, cows farting and hairsprays. But then a volcano exploded in the Phillippines and it made a bigger hole than all the cows in Texas.  Scratch one theory.

[midnight Target]

Midnight, the "greenhouse" gas theory is great until the facts are reviewed. A greenhouse uses glass, not CO2 gas, to keep the heat in. The most prevalent gas in our atmosphere AND greenhouses is nitrogen. Until CO2 replaces nitrogen and water vapor in the atmosphere, its effects on the earth's temperature are speculative and negligable at best. Venus is hotter because it is closer to the sun.

Sorry bud, but Venus is not just "hotter because it is closer to the Sun", it is hotter than Mercury, which is much closer to the Sun. Why is it hotter than Mercury? Greenhouse Affect.

Nitrogen is indeed the most prevalent gas in the atmosphere, but that means nothing. Greenhouse gases do not have to become the majority to have an effect.

Check This Out

[GrimCO]

JB73, the Earth's distance from the sun at various times of the year has VERY little to do with the climactic changes. Although Earth's orbit is eliptical, there is very little difference in temperature at it's farthest vs. closest point to the sun. The seasons are caused soley by the tilt of the earth's axis.

As an amatuer astronomer, I love this kind of stuff. History suggests the Earth goes through repeated cycles of global warming, then ice ages. This is mainly caused by volcanic activity which releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere which acts like a greenhouse. There are many theories as to why, including a group of very large asteroids that pass by the earth every 65 million years or so. The gravitational tidal effects of these asteroids passing by the earth causes increases in tectonic activity which in turn causes increases in volcanic activity. The more volcanoes, the more carbon dioxide, and the warmer it gets. The only drawback is that sometimes these asteroids actually hit the Earth causing mass extinctions (dinosaurs, etc...).

I think we're due for another pass in about a million years or so, so LOOK OUT!!!!!!!!!!!  LOL

[GrimCO]

Originally posted by CMC Airboss
Midnight, the "greenhouse" gas theory is great until the facts are reviewed.  A greenhouse uses glass, not CO2 gas, to keep the heat in.  The most prevalent gas in our atmosphere AND greenhouses is nitrogen.  Until CO2 replaces nitrogen and water vapor in the atmosphere, its effects on the earth's temperature are speculative and negligable at best.    Venus is hotter because it is closer to the sun.  

Is there any evidence that the polar "wobble" created changes in the size of the earth's orbit?   That might explain the temp changes between ice ages.

MiG

Venus is as hot as it is because of greenhouse gasses due to tremendous volcanic activity. In fact, if the atmosphere of Venus were similar to Earth's, it would have nearly an identical climate even though it's a bit closer to the Sun.

[midnight Target]

a study by UK researchers, earlier this year, compared recent satellite readings with data from 27 years ago and found that less radiation is now escaping into space. This suggests that the greenhouse effect has increased, at a rate in line with rising greenhouse gas production.

but there are so many variables to Climate...

Other explanations - the Sun
Even if we are increasing the greenhouse effect, global climate change might not be entirely our fault. Some scientists suggest that changes in the solar wind (electrically-charged particles coming from the Sun) might affect the Earth's cloud cover, increasing global temperatures. This would have a far stronger effect on global temperatures than greenhouse gas emissions.

Go figure.

[AKS\/\/ulfe]

Earth always goes through a warming trend before an ice age hits.

We're well over due for an ice age.

It can take as little as two weeks for an ice age to begin (or a pleistocene epoch if I have it right)...

If 1+2=3, then...
-SW

[GrimCO]

Two weeks?

Man I better put in for my vacation and get the skis out of the attic!

[AKS\/\/ulfe]

It doesn't take two weeks to transform the globe into an ice age, it takes two weeks for the temperatures and climate to change to the onset of an ice age.

Agriculture is a fragile thing, wouldn't take much for the entire US agricultural system to be out of business.
-SW