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Global warming as a result of human activity is BS. We all just hashed this out in 2 different threads. This one makes 3 in the last couple weeks or so.


Sorry Ian, we'll have to disagree. And as far as hashing it out, all I saw was postings about global warming being a farce without any real data or statistics to back up those assertions. If you believe that 6,900,000,000 people, over 1,000,000,000 cars,and over 2300 coal-fired power plants all pumping out carbon dioxide,carbon monoxide, and other pollutants, combined with the fact that we have massively reduced the amount of trees and arable land in every country on the globe and replaced it with buildings, asphalt, etc... has no impact on the planet, then all I can say is we will have to disagree. And yes, I know the statistics about how 1 volcano can put out more gases and all of that, but those are spikes, not an incessant daily emission that only grows. And while it's growing, countries like China, India and Brazil are all clear-cutting more forests, clearing more farmland, building more, and so on. And like it or not, what the Chinese do, or what we do, does affect other countries. Each country, or continent does not have it's own little climate system, it is all one massive system joined together by the jet streams, the oceans, and so on. The point is, we have ONE planet to live on, PERIOD. If we are gradually throwing our system out of balance, it is being done over a couple hundred years, and if we royally frack it up, turning it back around could take even longer. IF we can't turn it around, it's not like we can just jump ship and leave for another planet. I don't know what the long term predictions are, I'm sure the climate scientists are only slightly more able, since it is such a big complex system, but whether it goes drastically colder or warmer, we can't tolerate too much variation. Our society certainly cannot handle an ice age even approaching the severity of the last real ice age. And if we're talking warming, we can't handle that either. The loss along major coastal cities with a couple inches rise in ocean levels because of the disappearing ice packs (which has been easily verified by surface area measurements which are readily available from satellite images among other methods) could bankrupt this or any other country. Not to mention drought (like what has hit Texas over the last couple years or South Carolina a couple years back) and other things. Even the migratory paths over birds have been seeing changes. In fact, it might not even be us going as drastic as an ice age or toward tropical temperatures, the mini Ice Age we had in the early 1800's wrecked crops all over the plant and cause all kinds of problems. It could be just enough warming or cooling to cause a greatly increased frequency of severe weather like the tornado season that took a pretty heavy toll on the US last summer, or increasing the frequency of Katrina level storms, or a drought in the midwest where it actually affects our ability to feed ourselves and the world. What would happen to this country,and others, if the Midwest had a drought even half as bad as that hitting Texas?

Last edited by Bayern710; 01/14/2012 10:21 AM.