Global Cooling?

[amvince]

So much for Global warming.

DailyTech - Temperature Monitors Report Widescale Global Cooling

[busa-boy33]

Its the snowball effect. This comes right after a warming trend..or so they say..

[inspiron]

As I've mentioned before, they don't call it "Global Warming" over here. It's simply called "Global Climate Change", which simply implies that the weather is going to get more unpredictable.

Now, whether we humans are to blame, or there is any damn thing we can do about it is another thing...

[themeatmanlandry]

Here we go again with the climate discussion.

[busa-boy33]

doesn't matter, the sun is going to burn out in about another 50 million (billion?) yrs from now. OR we are going to collide with Andromeda in another 100 million(billion?) yrs also.. we are doomed to die out eventually..

[inspiron]

Personally, whatever happens more than about 60 years from now won't really affect ME, so why should I care?

[Clint]

"Anecdotal evidence"? Since when is that science?

Wait.. Americans don't know that word. Look what they're trying to stick in science class lately. Science - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[themeatmanlandry]

No one wants to address our over population, but since it's 'chic' everyone's all into the green thing.

Here's a suggestion: Stop screwing without protection and making too many people. You're throwing the whole planetary food supply out of whack.

Sadly, the poorest and most ignorant reproduce more often (because their lifestyles are either non-existent, or subsidized) and now we have an imbalance of poor/ignorant people. Talk about making a bad situation worse.

. . . but that's okay, because Cameron Diaz has a Prius and Al Gore's on the speaking tours, so everything's going to be okay.

[inspiron]

Landry, you failed to mention that some very influential religious leaders have told the "masses" that using contraceptives is bad.

It's better to have lots of people infected with HIV and dying of starvation than to accept the fact that we are biologically programmed to "reproduce", and that certain simple precautions can prevent both the transmission of disease and massive overpopulation.

Oooh, it's a good thing I just took delivery of my new turnouts, because my seat is going to get really, really hot soon!

[themeatmanlandry]

I've always taken issue with a group of (supposedly) abstinent people giving advice on sexual topics.

That's like taking financial advice from a homeless guy.

[KD57]

The earth has gone thru these changes for millions of years, it just happens we are living during this one. OK, so the average temp at the poles has risen from -47 to -46.9? What's your point? Now if it goes from -47 to 80 above we might have a problem.

Note: I just made that up, don't go and research the temps and call me out on it.

[MikeHump]

Originally Posted by KD57

The earth has gone thru these changes for millions of years, it just happens we are living during this one.

This is what I keep telling everyone. We need to stop trying to prevent it from happening and learn how to deal with the new temperatures. It's called adaptation, humans are generally pretty good at it.

[KD57]

Generally when we (government) try to change or stop something from happening, it ends up worse.

[Clint]

Originally Posted by KD57

Generally when we (government) try to change or stop something from happening, it ends up worse.

LOL. Can't argue with that.

Can argue with those who've chosen one side of the celebrity debate and glommed onto it rather than coming to logical conclusions based on real evidence.

Originally Posted by MikeHump

This is what I keep telling everyone. We need to stop trying to prevent it from happening and learn how to deal with the new temperatures. It's called adaptation, humans are generally pretty good at it.

And casually disregard all the eco-destruction and loss of life diversity that we may well be causing?

[B-Rex]

You can take all the political, moral, religious and pseudo-scientific opinions, "yay or nay" and toss 'em into the toilet. The only thing that matters are the facts. The facts ARE that the average sea levels are rising and the polar ice caps are receding.

With global warming you get increases in average ocean temps. Even 1 degree increases the available energy for the formation of storms, hurricanes, tornadoes and typhoons. Furthermore, any large chunks of land or ice mass falling into the ocean create the possibility of destructive tsunamis.

Our experiencing cold snowy winters MAY be attributable to global warming by the increasing energy affecting the atmosphere and the shifting weather patterns. Local and yearly temp changes are pretty much irrelevant. It's the overall average increase in temp over multiple decades and the ice melts and sea level changes that are indicative of global warming.

Additionally, things like droughts, desertification, coastal erosion, changes in wetlands location are things that can/do accompany global warming. With the shifting of wetlands (i.e. swamps) comes increases in human diseases like malaria, yellow fever etc. We can expect a re-emergence of tropical type diseases in the USA (as well as eleswhere in the world) as the wetlands and temp patterns shift. We can also expect some previously green areas to become "dust bowls" and deserts which will affect agriculture and animal populations.

Based on the available data, IMHO, global warming is very real. However, the REAL question is whether or not human beings are causing it. That has NOT been proven yet. There are tons and tons of fossil and geoplanetary evidence that the earth has been going through these cycles for millions and millions of years.

So, I think it is a good thing that we do try and cut emissions, CO2 and various other pollutants to try and lessen any effects we are having and to keep from toxifying the environment. I just don't think the hysteria on both sides of the "issue" is very helpful.

IMHO, the most serious issue we face is running out of fossil fuel energy. Whether it causes global warming or not, we need MORE energy, not less. That problem MUST be solved in our lifetimes.

(Exiting soapbox....thank you )

B-Rex

[themeatmanlandry]

The way I see it, we're living on a planet that's a million years old, and we've got good data on the 2 or 3 hundred years or so. The rest is educated guesses based on what we *think* is true scientifically.

It's akin to making a 10,000 mile trip in a car, looking at the gas milage on the last two fill-ups, and saying, "Oh, no. The car's getting bad mileage, it must be broken."

Bottom line: We don't know what the planet's done in the past and can never really know for sure.

I stand by my old standard when it comes to global warming: It takes a pretty pompuos creature to think that it has the power to influence mother nature on a grand scale. If the Earth wants to get warmer, it will. Can't cause it, can't stop it.

For every "study" that suggests global warming is man-made (or even true for that matter) there is another that refutes it. If you really look at it, one volcano blowing it's top is worse than a year of US driving (in terms of SO2, CO2, NOx and particulate matter . . . not sure about volatile organics, heavy metals or any of that other stuff.

That's what I think and after having gone through several of these threads I can honestly tell you that I will continue to think that way.

[Thundurburd]

Just a short note. I don't have a clue what's happening, warming, cooling, staying the same, all of the above, none of the above, or, ...whatever.

I have however come to the conclusion that much of what is being said is simply to sell books, go on lecture tours, start new industries, raise taxes, or otherwise create financial opportunities.

That's not to say there isn't someone out there who has figured this out and is telling us facts.

The question is, who would that be?

[Apertureguy]

There might be a simple solution to this...well it would at least prevent 2 common problems.


Feed the Homeless to the Poor.

[inspiron]

LOL. They were talking about how the summers in Europe are going to get hotter and dryer, and all I could think was "Excellent! A better and longer riding season! Woohoo!"

[intimid8er]

I maintain that a single Brontosaurus fart was more damaging to the atmosphere than a year of me driving my piddly little V-Twin.