Has global warming happened before? is it just a cycle of the earth?
Answer:
It has happened before. In the time of the dinosaurs there was no permanent polar ice cap and sea level was several hundred feet higher than it is today. Nobody really knows the cause, but we can be sure it wasn't people burning coal and oil, because there were no people then.
But do not use that as an excuse to ignore the present problems of increasing CO2 in the air and running out of oil.
well put camp.
Amazing isn't it?
A NATURAL occurrence. Why won't people realize that? What if Bush proposed Global Warming? I think that maybe there would be "hundreds" of scientists that would say that Global Warming was fake.
Yes it has, think of how the Ice Age came about. And in the 17th century there was a huge heatwave that lasted years, and also with the Romans. I think this is just the earths way of changing really.
Yep, just as there are cyclical patterns of solar radiation, we have similar patterns here on earth. While I'm not convinced that we are the only reason for our global warming, there are still many compelling reasons for cleaning our air, as it is certainly unhealthy.
It's a perfectly natural event. However, humans are responsible for 99% of the extinctions that have happened over the last 200 years. That is indisputable.
~edit
One of the posters below brought up the ice age. Technically, we're in the last stages of the most recent ice age, so that, too shares a blame for the global rise in temperatures.
It is certainly cyclical. As a geologist, I am very aware of the natural changes that are normal. It is obvious that some are using natural changes to advance a political agenda. I wouldn't say that I am certain that CO2 emissions from humans isn't affecting the climate, but I think the evidence is very minimal and our impact is generally greatly exaggerated.
the climate of the earth has cycles where it gets warmer and colder. It's perfectly natural for the climate to change. There is no "normal" climate. There is no tempature the earth is supposed to be.
Nature will survive and people will adapt. its nature. Don't let people scam you out of your money with emotionally charged arguments of "destroying the climate"
yer it has happened before its something to do with all the snow in the ice age reflects the sun and then it melts so the sun isnt reflecting anymore and then the ice comes back :$ err i cant really remember but the important bit is that every time the earth pulls out of the heat or ice in time and starts the new cycle
if we make global warming any worse with CO2 etc then it could not
aaahh!
It certainly has, but we're changing the climate at such a fast rate and there are many more people living on the planet in areas where they are more likely to suffer.
But it's not the only environmental problem - there's also pollution and habitat loss all over the world. Cutting carbon dioxide is just one of the things we need to do. The way forward is a "cradle to the grave" strategy of production, where the impact on the environment is considered at every stage. For some reason people don't like these ideas, but it's not about wearing mocassins and eating tofu, it's about technology. And that means more jobs and more money and more freedom to enjoy what's left of our beautiful planet. We can do it.
Yes, it is a normal cycle of the earth. During the carboniferous period temperatures were a lot higher than they are now. A much higher level of carbon dioxide was in the atmosphere. There were giant insects and tree ferns, swamps and coal seams were laid down thus removing carbon from the environment.
All we're doing now is restoring the status quo back to what it was millions of years ago, by burning the coal and oil and releasing it back into the environment.
if you really wanted to know the answers you would have read through the thousands of answers already given on exactly this crazy statement .
everybody is aware that it is partly a natural cycle ,but now cronically speeded up by Human behaviour
Far more people already have died because of Global warming to date and thousands more are to follow in the near future ,then ever before
Can you please tell me how many thousands died during the roman grapegrowing times in England
they have palm trees by the way in England where the warm gulf stream touches ,but this has nothing to do with global warming,
There is also evidence of tropical growth in Antarctica
the polesw have shifted ,
the ice age was as well in Brittain that moved huge stones about ,
these Britains have certainly been busy ,having had lions ,tropical times ice ages and now grapes
there are so many examples of Global warming its effects that it is becoming rediculous
did then
150.000 people die each year because of it and this will be more this year,3500 people died in 2003 in Europe alone
there is so much evedence of Mans effects that speed up the Natural cycle
so much desertification ,deforestation ,contamination
only dead people can fail to comprehend that
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;...
the natural world is always changing and evolving so yes things in the past were different but its only been in the last 2centuries that man has added to the status quo by using and destroying vast amounts of natural resourses and polluting the atmosphere so nature responds in many unpredictable ways.
There have been lots of natural climate changes over history.
But, the scientific data clearly shows that, starting about 40 years ago, Man took control over climate away from nature.
http://www.globalwarmingart.com/wiki/ima...
We need to give it back.
When CO2 was high tthousands of years ago, the coastlines were very different and plants grew in very different locations. If that happens again, it will cost us huge sums of money to deal with it.
Even with the Consensus finding it "inconvenient truth" about the MWP (and the LIA) and that if they add that data to their computers unaltered, they do not come out with reasonable figures (to them anyhow), History records warm periods as warm or warmer than projected.
Just read of about 10,000 years ago evidence of growing squashes and cotton in the medium high Andes mountains.
Those are warm weather long-season plants, at least what I have played with.
The accepted graphs going back 500,000 years show warming to higher peaks than now in the Global Warmings every 90,000 years or so, based on ice core samples. Of course, if the CO2 found is plotted along with the temperatures, it generally peaks about 800 years LATER than the heat!
So it is shown that this is a natural cycle, and is not due to man-made CO2 at all.
In fact, probably is not from CO2 increase from any source at all. CO2 increase shows it happened in the past before the CO2 peak!.
So another "inconvenient truth" off their own charts!!
Yes, been a cycle ever since something, perhaps an asteroid impact, changed the Earth's poles from out in the warm oceans with gentle currents, to being landlocked in the arctic and antarctic.
Can we have the astronomers, or better yet, the Consensus, direct another asteroid over here quick, and knock the earth back where it "should" be!! A glancing blow in Siberia, perhaps? Or wouldn't it be poetic justice if the proper aiming point was on top of "Carbon Credits" Gore's house?
Global warming and cooling are cyclical events. There have been MANY ice ages. Greenland wasn't called "Greenland" for nothing. It is NOT necessarily caused by burning fossile fuels. The SUN's output is not constant. It pulsates.
To blame global warming on man is to blame it on the USA, since we are the largest consumer, which is to blame free enterprise and capitalism, with the hope and dreams of the left being that you will install them into total power over your life to save you from Global Warming by their installing their ideal form of government...COMMUNISM, thereby controlling EVERY aspect of your life.
From another of my posts:
What do the scientists tell us are the biggest greenhouse gases? (1) Water vapor, estimated to cause 36-70% of the effect. (Do you really think man has as much to do with this component as evaporation from the oceans? I guess we could try to prespire less!) (2) CO2, estimated to cause 9-26% of the effect. (3) Methane. estimated to cause 4-9% of the effect. (4) Some others to a lesser extent.
Let's do some math. The worst case estimate of the increase in CO2 over the last 300 years is 85 parts per million, starting from 280 ppm. That's an increase of 30%. Let's be generous and say burning fossil fuels is responsible for all of that. How much of the atmosphere consists of CO2? Try just 0.035%- 0.038% = 38 molecules per 100,000 molecules of air. If there were a 30% increase from 300 years ago, and if it were all due to mankind, then, man added, where X is the original number: (X + .30X) = 38; X=38/1.3 = 29; Y=man's addition over 300 years = 38-29 = 9 molecules of CO2 per 100,000 molecules of air. Can you honestly believe that 9 more molecules per 100,000 is really going to make a difference, especially if the effect is reduced by 9-26%? If you have $100,000.00, are you going to notice an increase (or loss) of $9.00?
What about methane? The PETA nuts hate it that cows flatulate and tell us that we should not have cows. Ever heard of swamp gas? Ever heard of methane gas hydrate? The ocean floor can belch more methane than all the cows (and man) combined.
Other gases: Ozone? Sunlight creates ozone (O3) by shining on O2. Much more than mankind can produce at ground level. And, don't we want the ozone cover to shield us from UV? You don't hear too much about the ozone hole these days, do you?
What about planting a tree (send your money to Al Gore's company to buy "carbon offsets!") ...the opposite of deforestation? Want to know where 90% of the CO2 that is absorbed to make oxygen is taken up? It's the oceans! Phytoplankton...those tiny diatoms you studied in high school (you were awake for that class, weren't you?) Grasses, shrubs and trees only contribute 10%. We could cut down all the trees (not that man would, unless you are likely also to believe in the tooth fairy and Communists' Utopia) and breathe just fine.
We actually need greenhouse gasses to live. Without CO2 there would be no O2. Without water vapor there would be no rain. Without all of them, the earth would be too cold to grow food and inhabit. It would mostly be a giant snowball...think about it! We NEED greenhouse gases.
Why is the planet warming lately? If it is, and even this is debatable, try increased solar output. The sun pulsates...it is not constant. What can we do about it? Put on sunglasses and short-sell our beach front condos to optimists.
These are the realities, folks. Man-caused Global Warming is positively the greatest hoax in the history of man, for the sole purpose of guilting you into giving up your money, freedoms and your personal power to those who would gladly lord over you (in our case, the Democrats...notice that with them, there's ALWAYS a CRISIS). The Who: "Then I'll get on my knees and pray
We don't get fooled again."
BTW, did you see the news yesterday on Yahoo? It just snowed in Buenos Aires for the first time since 1918. Kinda takes the wind out of Al Gore's sails, don't you think?
Comment/question to PM: Typical leftist tactic. State a hypothesis with no back up. Why "200 years?" That's the approx. age of the USA ("we're so evil"). PM, name for us some species that have gone extinct in the past 200 years, please. Did you know that the fossil record shows that at least 90% of all species that have ever lived on this planet have gone extinct, and that's before the USA was "discovered" by Europeans. It's too bad the dour leftists aren't one of those species.
--Edit again--to COSMO: "The sky is falling, the sky is falling. Please, Al Gore, SAVE US...here's all my money!!"
---Edit again--to Aquarius: What "mass extinction??"
The number of ignorant answers is astonishing. Where do these people get their opinions?
The current climate change is all well understood. Of course there have been climate changes in the past, driven by various factors: change of the Earth's orbit, changes of the Sun, natural emission and absorption of greenhouse gases. The changes in the past century are, however, *MANY TIMES FASTER* than has ever been seen before, and the only possible cause is anthropogenic greenhouse gasses. There is essentially no doubt about this, if you take the time to understand the science and the observations. The conclusion that future warming will reach dangerous levels if we persist in burning fossil fuels is a simple extrapolation of the current situation. Wake up before the Earth is destroyed, people!
campelp2002 makes a good point, but CO2 emissions are the tiniest of factors. We could go to zero CO2 emissions, ban fire even, and the warming would continue. The warming is 99.99% natural.
Yes, it has happened that the climate has changed in the past and that sea levels have changed, entirely naturally. They will do so again, entirely naturally.
Yes global warming happened may times before due to natural phenomena, BUT there is more than enough scientific evidence to prove that the current global warming and mass extinction is MAN MADE. Read the www.nature.com or Scientific American website or magazines. Those are real respected scientific journals. Don't believe any other non scientific info.
yes, and yes
There have of course been periods before when the earth warmed up and I for one tend to believe that is happening now, however like most people i just don't have sufficient knowledge to be sure if we should try not to make it worse
The answers post by the user, for information only, FunQA.com does not guarantee the right.
More Questions and Answers: