Is Global Warming Real or Not? [SURVEY]

Originally posted by Charis
I also wouldn't be too quick about jumping to conclusions that AGW is disproved by the fact that the rest of the solar system is warming up. I haven't seen any hard evidence that the rest of our solar system really is warming up. Last heard, only four planets were experiencing warming, out of eight official planets and hundreds of moons and other bodies. It would be surprising if some planets were NOT experiencing warming or cooling as a result of orbital or seasonal variations. If warming of our entire solar system is occurring, why isn't Venus warming up?

Without knowing much about this theory, Venus is more or less at a critical temperature. It would take a significant increase in sustained solar output to have a reasonable effect on Venus. Without going into too much detail, the atmosphere has reached a point where much of the incoming energy is reflected by the cloud cover. What does get in is trapped and converted to heat much more efficiently than on earth. Cooling by radiation (how all planets cool) is a function of atmospheric temp vs temp of space; a larger difference gives off heat faster, making it harder to raise the temp; i.e. as Venus grew towards 1200 kelvin, 900 or so deg. Celsius, it took more and more energy input to raise the temp 1 unit. That is, moving from 500 to 600 kelvin was much faster than 900-1000 kelvin. Of the inner 4 planets, Venus could show almost no net heating while every other planet heats a reasonable extent.

Just checking in on the thread, still the majorty see climate change as being a naturally occuring event, sped up by man. I see that some of you have the very strong opinion though that it is all about a carbon credit scam, but I don't see any 'proof' of that yet. I personally can't believe that it is just a scam, because of when I first found out about it and the world's lack of concern for something so detrimental to human survival, yet so distant that it was easily pushed aside for other issues, only it began to excel faster than expected. I don't doubt for a second that politicians are making money off a related scam, but that does not mean it isn't real.

Is there climate change? Yes The climate on Earth is always changing. During the rein of the Dinosaurs Earth was MUCH warmer. During the Age of Megafauna the climate was MUCH colder. Over the last 10,000 years or so Earth has had a relatively stable temperature. Will this last forever? No. It can't. Solar activity increases and decreases. We just ended a Solar Maximum period in which all of the planets in the Solar System got warmer. Now we are entering a Solar Minimum so the Solar System will cool. The continents are slowly shifting which will cause ocean currents to change. The currents changing will cause some places to get warmer and others to freeze. It's happened before humans evolved, it will happen while we are here, and it will happen after we are gone. The Earth will survive until the Sun in it's death throws expands and takes out the inner planets. Until that day it's climate will be constantly changing.

Is climate change caused by humans? We may have a very small roll in climate change. We how ever can not stop climate change. We evolved during an Ice Age. In Africa it was warm, but most of Europe was under 2 miles of ice! Then we survived rapid natural global warming when the Ice Age ended. We may go into another Ice Age or we may go into another rapid global warming. We don't know what our climate will do.

Humans have one advantage when it comes to climate change. We can move to where we want on the planet. If we enter an Ice Age we can move closer to the equator to get warmer weather. If a period of rapid Global Warming happens we can move closer to the poles. We will survive Climate Change. We have in the past and we will in the future.

Are humans making the air poor quality in many areas?
Yes

Could that affect the areas in which it occur in, heat wise?
I think so.

Are we to blame for global warming as a whole? Hell nah.

Is Global Warming real or not? -- My vote is yes.

Is humanity the cause of global warming? -- There are no single causes, but our activities on this planet have worsened the problem.

Of all of the IPCC findings so far, some of the more ominous are the projections in sea level rise. The history, reports, and future plans of the IPCC are summarized below:


en.wikipedia.org...

Climate change is a real phenomenon.

It is a long-term, natural cycle. Unfortunately, this cycle is being accelerated by man-made emissions.

I believe that both sides are partially correct on this issue.