Global Warming (again)

Saw this on ceefax:

ââ?¬Å?This January has been the second warmest in the UK since records began and the 5th warmest in 350 years. Met office began recording statistics in 1914 with the warmest January since that time being 1916.ââ?¬Â

I wonder then - did global warming begin about 1657 and could it have been all the open fires etc contributing :rolleyes: as they certainly didn�t have lots of vehicles in those days and there was a smaller population.

Or is this ââ?¬Å?Global Warmingââ?¬Â hysteria all a lot of bunkum and the natural cycle of the worldââ?¬â?¢s weather would happen anyway?

 

There are natural cycles jjordie and I understand that we have been coming out of a mini ice age since the 1600's when the Thames uses to freeze over. And the earth has, in the past, been a lot hotter than now. But what has convinced me is not the change, but the RATE of change. Scientists can produce graphs for the last 10,000 years showing natural variations, but on these graphs the last 100 years shows a virtually vertical rise both in temperature and carbon dioxide levels. No change has happened as fast as that during the last 10,000 years, and this vertical rise does not appear to be natural - nature generally changes more slowly.

 

Hi jjordie
I wouldn`t worry, it`ll all balance out in the end.
Assuming it`s a natural change..there`s nothing we can do about it anyway
If it is caused by humans, things will improve as the oil runs out.

Do a google search for "peak oil",
It could transpire that global warming is the least of our problems :D

 

Very much agree with Pete. The graphs were shown by David Attenborough recently. The major factor accelerating warming was clearly shown to be manmade and the steepening gradient of recent decades truly alarming and unforgettable.

The planet will adapt and what no one seems to pay much attention to is natural balance. Sure - the climate is warming and the polar ice is melting. When sufficient Arctic ice has melted into the north Atlantic, the Gulf Strean will switch off. That will mean a new ice age in Europe and so the ice will reform over Britain and northern Europe. The sun's warmth will hit that new ice and be reflected into space and the climate will cool again.

The Earth just needs to shrug off the malignant parasites that currently infest it - us.

 

I would agree that we do have natural changes in temperature, for example in Roman times Britain was a good deal warmer. However it is the general trend and the speed of change that is worrying. The rates of warming are related to CO2 concentrations - that is backed up by antarctic ice core samples. We do not usually hear it referred to now as global warming hysteria, that is more of what you tended to hear in the 70s. Scientific thinking now supports it, don't be fooled by the 'pretend science' that the US oil industry has come up with. Even President Bush has now come to acknowldge it.
The sad thing is that most Americans don't believe in it, but I suppose that is down to its media. We knew about in the 70s and Margaret Thatcher believed it was happening - and she was one who absolutely had to see the evidence. So much time was wasted.
Incidentally we are still in an Ice Age. The last Ice Age lasted several millions of years and during that period there have been several interglacials or warm periods. One of those at least lasted over 40,000 years and average temps were warmer than today, so we are just in an interglacial. Thing is climate change is slower when its natural and species get time to adjust or move...or they die out.Climate change can be pretty catastrophic normally as weather patterns change. For it to be speeded up is pretty horrendous. We have been cushioned to some extent cause we are smack bang in the middle of a climate zone. it is different if you are near the climate boundary. People in parts of Africa can talk of seeing the desert zone spreading South year on year, which must be terrifying.

 

I agree Hornbeam - James Lovelock had it right in his book Gaia. Man will never hurt the earth - only himself. The earth will raise its temperature enough to wipe out most of mankind, and it will then be able to settle back to its original temperature range.

The world seems to have just about accepted global warming, but no one seems to even talk about the cause - overpopulation. As long as the population continues to rise, all the measures we take will be in vain.

 

Peter is right and people do try to live in increasing areas where the earth cannot support them. So we have famine relief and immunisation programmes and more children survive to grow up and have babies who are immunised and so we have more famine reief and they grow up to have babies... That sounds horrid I know, but its just facing facts.

If we don't work out an effective global method of birth control, nature will do it for us.

 

Nice to see a common sense approach Peter and Hb.
All this messing around pretending to cut down on emmissions is like re-arranging the deckchairs on the Titanic, its futile without a lowering of world population or at least stabilising it.

 

Yep and still the Vicar of Rome insists that birth control is a sin. And still poor families in the third world measure status by the number of sons they can breed.

 

Which brings me to my approach to global warming Hb.
If the so called educated people of this world truly cant see the real problem then there's not much I can do about it.
So if it means that I'm going to get a few more good summers and some mild winters before I pop my clogs, then I'm going to make the most of them.

 

Yep - so am I

 

Overpopulation isn't causing most of global warming - not up to now anyway. Most of the greenhouse gases have been produced by the minority that live in the rich countries, but it is the majority who live in the rest who are already suffering the consequences. I think the typical American produces 10-20 times as much greenhouse gas as an African. If we all had as much impact on the world as the people in Africa and Asia then we would not have half the problem we have now.
Overpopulation - we are one of the worst countries for that. We have something like double the population that our land can support. We can only live as we do by bringing in resources and food from other countries.
We would probably survive as a specie in the worst case scenario. We evolved as a specie in a time of changing climate. We are an aadaptable specie and that is why we have been successful, occupying virtually every environment while other species have become extinct.
Unfortunately the world will end up a very different place, depleted of species and unstable climate systems - storms, famines and resource shortages. I am not so sure I want to just resign my descendents to such a mess. That is one reason why for example I have planted lots and lots of trees- not necessarily for global warming, but i want to leave something for those people that follow me on this planet, it is against my nature to do nothing and stand by while the place gets trashed by the selfish and greedy.

 

You have certainly chosen a good time for this topic as its all over the news today..I dont want red hot summers it was bad enough last year !!!

The world's top scientists have issued the direst warnings yet about the threat from climate change.

After six years of research, they predict the average world temperature will rise by about three degrees by the end of the century - with potentially devastating consequences for melting ice caps and rising sea levels.

They also make the strongest causal link so far between human behaviour and global warming.

The evidence in a new report published in Paris has the finest pedigree - the work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which draws together 2,500 scientists from more than 130 countries.

The study highlights the strengthening international scientific conviction that human activity is largely responsible for the rise in the Earth's surface temperature.

 

I do acknowledge it must be true with so many top scientists saying the same thing.
Not only us older generations but the younger ones must also make sure that everybody
does their bit to counteract global warming when and where-ever possible.
I believe they are now being taught about global warming in schools.

One heartening bit in the report said that if everybody takes this on board now
then things could reverse and fairly quickly- but the worst offenders -
China, India and America must also change their ways.

 

One of the worst problems - though not for a bit - is going to be the rising sea level. An increase of a mere 10 foot or so could devastate many seaboard cities, holding a large percentage of the world's population. Within the last few ten of thousands of years sea levels have changed by hundreds of feet, albeit due to natural causes. So a 10 or 20 foot change is nothing.