Origins view and opinion on global warming

[Servant222]

According to EPICA (European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica), the Dome C ice core will allow climate data to be extended back to 900,000 years before present. Right now, the data indicates that atmospheric CO2 levels are higher than they have ever been in at least 720,000 years.

 

[Smidlee]

Actually everyone knows ALIENS CAUSE GLOBEL WARMING .
Globel warming is all about one thing, a scam to raise your taxes (or products).

 

[Mallon]

"Global."

 

[Servant222]

An interesting news item today related to this topic was the paper (The role of the ocean and atmosphere in creating an ice free Arctic) presented by research scientist Dr. Bruno Tremblay at the American Geophysical Union's fall meeting in San Francisco.

The paper maintains that arctic sea ice cover has been decreasing by about 2.9% per decade, and that the Arctic may actually become seasonally ice free by about 2040.

Does that mean I'll be able to sail to the North Pole to celebrate my 100 th birthday?

 

[Gwenyfur]

not to be a complete smart aleck or anything...
but...
global warming???

puhlease!!!! it's freezing out there!!!!

 

[RenHoek]

I'm always a little chilly anyway. Bring the tropics to MI!

 

[Willtor]

not to be a complete smart aleck or anything...
but...
global warming???

puhlease!!!! it's freezing out there!!!!

Haha!

Actually, in Rochester, NY it's a comfy 52. Very strange weather.

 

[gluadys]

It has? When? Where? Last I heard it had been estimated, modeled, guessed at, but not measured.

Of course, measured. What do you think models are based on if not measurements?

The more measurements and the more accurate the measurements, the more accurate the models. And the measurements have been multiplying in both quantity and quality over the last decade or so.

One thing the measurements have been telling us is that the models we have been using are too conservative. The measurements keep outpacing the models, indicating that global warming is proceeding at a faster pace than predicted by the models and will have more severe effects than indicated by the models so far.

One of the significant effects of global warming will be the extinction of many plant and animal species which will not be able to adapt quickly enough to the new climate conditions. There is already a great deal of worry about coral reefs around the world which are bleaching due to higher water temperatures which kill the coral and many of the species which depend on it. And about polar marine mammals which depend on ice floes to carry them to their prey. Arctic fish are also in peril, because their food source is often near the shore where the aquatic plants have access to sunlight, but the temperatures are growing too warm for the fish.

There are all kinds of effects of global warming which have already been observed.

 

[Deamiter]

This world was cursed to be destroyed *long* before the industrial revolution loomed on the horizon, let alone came to pass.
Am I partly to blame...well...I breathe...I live in the burbs and work an odd shift, so I drive...

Am I bothered...NOPE!

I recycle what I can, and reuse my yard waste as composte in my flower gardens...

Much more than that...well...oh well...

Yeah...You can guess right...I'm not a tree hugging, "kill the people so the planet can live" kinda person

Have you ever considered the effects of global warming on the PEOPLE? Yeah, we'll be fine in the 1st world west, but an increase in global temperature of just a few degrees could cause multi-decade droughts and some of the worst famines ever seen for hundreds of millions in Africa and India.

You're flippantly talking about leaving hundreds of millions of the poorest people in the world to die because "the world is cursed anyway... oh well."

Forget our God-given directive of stewardship, you're talking about a potential human tragedy as if you can't be bothered...

You don't have to be a tree hugger to work towards sustainable living!

 

[FranciscanJ]

The frogs are dying too. Global warming is wreaking havoc on amphibians.

In the early 80s, you could have visited the rainforests of Costa Rica and seen dozens of brightly colored species of Harlequin frogs. Not anymore. Rising temperatures have caused fungus to wipe out many species and 2/3 of all 110 amphibian species in Costa Rica.

"Looking at more than 65 harlequin frog species that had vanished, researchers found that 80 percent of the time there was a correlation between higher temperatures and the species' disappearance. After a warm peak in 1987, for example, five species died off."

(Washington Post)


Whatever is causing global warming, it is obvious to me that it is happenning. And why deny it?

 

[Gwenyfur]

Have you ever considered the effects of global warming on the PEOPLE? Yeah, we'll be fine in the 1st world west, but an increase in global temperature of just a few degrees could cause multi-decade droughts and some of the worst famines ever seen for hundreds of millions in Africa and India.

You're flippantly talking about leaving hundreds of millions of the poorest people in the world to die because "the world is cursed anyway... oh well."

Forget our God-given directive of stewardship, you're talking about a potential human tragedy as if you can't be bothered...

You don't have to be a tree hugger to work towards sustainable living!

Geeze, you make it sound like I'm Al Gore crying "polution" and driving around in an escalade. My car is hybrid, I do recycle with what's available in our area...but other than that...who really cares?
Seriously...this earth was destined to be destroyed by fire long ago...Stewardship doesnt' cancel out private property rights and it certainly doesn't mean I should walk my 19 mile trip to work...

The problems in Africa are their problems, if they'd quit fighting so many wars and using chemical weapons and work the land instead htey mgiht be a LOT better off

 

[Deamiter]

Geeze, you make it sound like I'm Al Gore crying "polution" and driving around in an escalade. My car is hybrid, I do recycle with what's available in our area...but other than that...who really cares?
Seriously...this earth was destined to be destroyed by fire long ago...Stewardship doesnt' cancel out private property rights and it certainly doesn't mean I should walk my 19 mile trip to work...

The problems in Africa are their problems, if they'd quit fighting so many wars and using chemical weapons and work the land instead htey mgiht be a LOT better off

You do know the vast majority of African people aren't fighting wars and are, in fact, working off the land right? If we paid them a hundreth for the minerals and oil we take from Africa we spend to get it in North America, they'd be ABLE to build irrigation systems and wells they need to survive.

Yeah, there are corrupt African governments. No, those governments would not be able to support their people if they were NOT corrupt and experienced multi-year droughts.

I'm not calling you a hypocrite, and I'm not even arguing that global warming is our fault (though I have my own personal opinion). I'm saying that IF global warming does happen, hundreds of millions of the poorest people in the world will die of starvation.

When I read my Bible I see hundreds of passages telling me to care for the poor. Whether we work to limit our environmental impact or work to fight corruption, or send help to poor African farming communities to be able to sustain themselves through long droughts (or both), this IS an important Biblical issue from more than just a stewardship standpoint.

 

[Gwenyfur]

Sorry Deamiter...but I'm still of the opinion (politically of course) that we need to worry about feeding the poor and hungry, and caring for the old and sick right here in our own country before we start providing for and policing the entire planet

 

[Servant222]

My car is hybrid, I do recycle with what's available in our area...

This represents a popular sentiment- we are aware that climate warming may be a problem and are willing to do our two bits worth, but still don't really know how big a problem it is likely to be, and therefore whether our efforts to help solve the problem are adequate or not. Sort of like taking a garden hose to a house fire without really knowing how serious the blaze is.

...but other than that...who really cares?

I think we have to care because right now, it's looking like there may be some very serious consequences if we don't- flooding in places like Bangladesh and crop failures in Africa come to mind. At the very least, we'd better quickly find out what the consequences are before it's too late. I can't really buy the notion of not doing anything- after all, we intervene in all sorts of other areas where harm is likely to occur- like limiting pollution, discouraging smoking, using unleaded gas, etc.

The problems in Africa are their problems, if they'd quit fighting so many wars and using chemical weapons and work the land instead they might be a LOT better off

We are a global community and as Christians, I don't think we can just dismiss these things as being "their problems". Civilized societies help those in need, care for those less fortunate, even if it is "their" problem.

 

[Gwenyfur]

We are a global community and as Christians, I don't think we can just dismiss these things as being "their problems". Civilized societies help those in need, care for those less fortunate, even if it is "their" problem.

One step closer to that "one world government" thinking...nice

 

[Servant222]

Sometimes I wonder whether we need to make a radical change. Currently, we try and figure out who the "good" people are over there and send them aid. Trouble is, so many of the ruling governments seem to be corrupt, inefficient, or war-mongering, and so the aid seems to be of limited good.

So maybe we should continue to identify the "good" people over there, but then bring them over to our country and give them the help they need here.

Many of the world's disadvantaged people are that way only because they are taken advantage of by corrupt governments- remove them from that environment, and they will be a lot better off (and cooler too!).

 

[Gwenyfur]

That's a pretty good idea

 

[Servant222]

What??? I thought from one of your earlier posts that charity stops at the border.

 

[Gwenyfur]

yeah...but if we bring 'em here...there inside the border....legally at that

I don't have a problem giving people a leg up or a helping hand...(if you only knew!)...I do have a problem with helping the world while there are people literally starving to death right here in America...how can we be the "land of plenty" when people are hungry and starving right here at home? I hope you understand what I mean now?

**blonde moments really suck**

 

[Servant222]

The world food/poverty issues probably create more feelings of guilt and helplessness in me than just about any other issue.

In Africa, the masses have to struggle with totalitarian, corrupt and often ruthless governments, the AIDS epidemic, malaria, revolution, blood diamonds, hunger, and now global warming.

Donations of aid seem to do little good; sometimes I wonder whether the food aid provides just enough relief from the daily struggles to encourage procreation, which then just brings another child into a world that already has its resources stretched to the limit.

So what can we possibly do?