With our nation's politics so split, it seems like just as many people that believe in Global Warming think its a lie. What are your views on it? Are we really damaging our Environment with our huge production of carbon dioxide? Or are scientists and enviromentalists simply exaggerating?

I was flipping through my Chemistry book today in class, and found a very interesting section on Global Warming. It's an A Beka Book, published by a Christian college... last updated in 2000. I completely disagree with what the book says, but I thought it'd be interesting to share and debate on.

Global Warming
Recently, some scientists have speculated that mankind's production of CO2 (from fossil fuel combustion, agriculture, and cement manufacturing) may significantly enhance the greenhouse effect, causing average global temperatures to rise. Although man's annual contribution of CO2ot the environment is far smaller than nature's (roughly 7 billion tons vs. 200 billion tons), these scientists worry that this small increase may cause unpredictable changes in the global climate. Environmental activists have gone much further, predicting global flooding, disease epidemics, mass famine, and even the extinction of the human race if drastic action is not taken to slash CO2 emissions.

Earth's climate history
Actually, mankind's effects on the global climate are probably far smaller than some would like to think. Although the earth's climate is not well understood, the science of climatology has shown that the earth's climate tends to fluctuate over long term cycles. For example, between AD 900 and AD 1100, a period climatologists call the Medieval Climate Optimum or Medieval Warm Period, global temperatures are thought to have been significantly warmer than at present. The weather was so mild that grapes and citrus fruits were grown in England; the Vikings established successful farms and colonies in Greenland; and the Anasazi Indians built a large agriculture-based civilization on the Colorado Plateau (which was then characterized by a warm, moist climate). By the 1300's, however, global temperatures dropped sharply, plunging the world into a period called the Little Ice Age. The Vikings' crops and livestock in Greenland began to fail, the colonists died, and the island became covered with ice. Widespread exhaustion and malnutrition due to poor weather and crop failures left Europe vulnerable to huge plague epidemics that killed millions of people. Cooler, drier weather on the Colorado Plateau spelled the end of the Anasazi civilization in America, while at the same time the Thames River near London froze over in the winter with ice thick enough to support annual "ice fairs." In the years to come, the unusually cold winters would cause great hardship for early American colonists. About 1850, the climate began to warm once again, gradually ending the Little Ice Age; by the early 20th century, citrus fruits were being grown in the United States as far north as the Carolinas. This warming continued until 1938 or so, when temperatures leveled off and began to drop once again (probably related to ta decline in solar output). As late as the 1970's, unusually cold winters prompted environmental activists to call for drastic government action to save the planet from "global cooling" and an imminent Ice Age. In the late 1980'sand 1990's, temperatures once again began to climb (corresponding to an increase in solar output), prompting renewed calls to save the planet - this time for global warming.

The Kyoto Protocol
The United Nations responded to fears of global warming by convening a 1992 "Earth Summit" in Rio de Janiero, Brazil. Under the direction of radical environmentalist Maurice Strong, leaders of 150 nations drafted the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which called for nations to "voluntarily" clash CO2 emissions, at great cost, to 1990 levels. In 1995, at a second UN conference in Berlin, developing nations voted to exempt themselves from any restrictions while approving mandatory CO2 cutbacks for developed nations such as the United States. These mandatory cutbacks were later incorporated into an amendment to the Freamework Convention called the Kyoto Protocol, drafted in Kyoto, Japan, in December 1998.

The Kyoto Protocol demands that the United States reduce its CO2 emissions to 7% below 1990 levels by the year 2010 (a 30-40% reduction below estimated 2010 levels). It also calls for restrictions on hydrofluorocarbons and perfluorocarbons, methane, nitrous oxide, and sulfur hexafluoride.

Interestingly, most other nations fare far better under the treaty than the United States. China, Singapore, Mexico, and many other rapidly industrializing nations are specifically exempted from the Protocol, while the nations of Western Europe are allowed to count the shutdown of pullution-emitting Communist factories in Eastern Europe in the early 1990's as if they were cutbacks in their own CO2 production.

Costs of Kyoto
Proponents of the Kyoto Protocol have argued that slashing CO2 emissions by as much as 40% below estimated 2010 levels will have little if any economic cost. The Clinton Administration estimated that the only noticeable effect would be an increase in gasoline prices of 6-8 cents per gallon, while some environmentalists have even argued that the treaty will save money and jobs. However, since the treaty lays heavy burdens on U.S. industries while copletely exempting most overseas industries, it is likely that it will only accelerate the flight of energy-intensive U.S. industries to other nations, with the inevitable loss of American jobs. Some critics predict that by 2010, the Kyoto Protocol could result in the loss of 2.4 million U.S. jobs and cost the average family as much as $2700 per year in price increases and losti ncome. Energy shortages like those of the 1970s may once again become commonplace, particularly if environmentalists continue to obstruct the construction of new nuclear plants.

Possible benefits of rising CO2
These huge costs are particularly ironic in the light of the fact that increased CO2 levels (and even global warming, should it occur) would likely be a net benefit to mankind. It is a known fact that plants grow much more efficiently at higher CO2 concentrations; if the CO2 content of the air is experimentally doubled, crop yields increase up to 50% while requiring much less water and fertilizer. In addition, history reveals that periods of warmer average global temperatures tend to be associated with better living conditions for humanity as a whole. During the medieval Climate Optimum (when average global temperatures were 6-9 degrees warmer than at present), average life expectancies increased significantly due to reduced disease, higher crop yields, and better nutrition. The global cooling that ended this period (the Little Ice Age), by contrast, was associated with a 10-year drop in average life expectancies.

Looking ahead
Unfortunately, the Kyoto Protocol seems to reflect a "ready-fire-aim" approach that characterizes many environmental issues. Although the fate of the treaty is not yet certain, it is likely that the global warming debated will continue for some time to come. As Christians, however, we can be certain that "while the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and sumer and winter, and day and night shall not cease" (Genesis 8:22). Although we should do all within our power to protect the world God has given us, we must always remember that the fate of the earth rests in the hands of its Creator.

That last paragraph scares me the most... the idea that the earth will only cease to exist when God's ready for it to. The first few paragraphs just lead up to global warming... most of the bizzare content is in the last two paragraphs.

Agree, or disagree on the book's claims? Discuss.

BUMP BECAUSE I FEEL LIKE ARGUING
IS THERE ANYONE WHO THINKS THIS IS MAN MADE?

Theoretically, global warming is man-made because it is due to human activities that global warming is happening in the first place. Our factories and vehicles which emit exhaust into the atmosphere has created that extra layer of greenhouse gasses which simply added on to the exisiting layer of greenhouse gasses, resulting in even more energy from the sun being trapped ultimately leading to global warming.

Wrong.

Sorry Jedi Master, teach me your ways.

lmao, actually, it is.

Hmm, kay.

Do you realize that the Earth has been considerably warmer in the past? I'm talking about the medieval times. Wait, let's go back further. Remember when the Chinese were first exploring the earth? Did you know they sailed through the northern passage? The very same northern passage that is covered in ice today. We can't sail through without sending in ice breakers, and I sure as hell can guarantee that the ancient Chinese didn't have the current ice breakers that we have in our Navy.

You know the Senate, right? Well they recently released a bunch of papers basically saying that everything that they had said about global warming in the past was a crock of shit, as they had overlooked and not listened to many many prominent meteorologists, and instead had listened to scientists with very skewed information. Many of these scientists that had said it's our fault for global warming are taking back what they said as they did not have sufficient evidence, and they were making things up. All of this is cited, I can find these papers later if you want.

Do you have any citations that are credible that say it's a man-made problem? If so, I'd love to see and then respond with even more credible sources.

Do you know how long they have been able to record temperatures? About 100 years. Clearly long enough to know that the Earth has exponentially heated up, and it's clearly caused by the Human race. The earth is 6.5 Billion years old.

Do you know where they place the thermometers they use? Weather channel stations. Do you know where these stations are? In the middles of big cities. Big cities are going to be warmer than in the middle of nowhere. Clearly the earth is covered by big cities and it's incredibly representative of the entire earth.

Do you know how accurate the thermometers they use are? Within a couple of degrees. That means they're not precise. Do you know how much the earth has "warmed" up by? A couple of degrees. It's a good thing those thermometers are precise.

What's wrong, what he said?

Nigggas we all gon die.
Da earf is gettin warma.


But seriously, last year I did a powerpoint on it and I said it was real, but inevitable.
And everyone was on my nuts for it.

Truth.

I'm not arguing that the earth isn't getting warmer, rather that the doomsday ideals behind it are stupid. It's not caused by humans, either. Recently, a report was put out by some scientist (I'll find it later) saying that the earth may actually be cooling, now.

Oh, I definately know that theres Global warming going around in this world. I thought you were going to ask if it was man made or not. Well, I always thought that its a natural process of the Earth. Overheating to clean out the planet and then life continuing afterwards. I'm not saying that we're the reason why the Earth is dying but we are contributing to its death.

Who's to say it's dying?

Dang I got testy in this thread.

It's definitely a man made theory.

I dont know where i stand with global warming

I always think the media or the news is just trying to scare us thats why its there... so we sit at home and watch whats going on in society and go into a panic...

but I dont see enough stuff on global warming on the news... I rarely watch the news but when I do I dont see anything about it...

I think that the world goes through it stages of dramatic weather changes... such as ices ages or whatever... so if this is happening I think its only natural

only post you need to read in this thread

Global warming is real buttt it scientifically it will not effect us for like 2,000 years and by then the world will be eaten by the sun. So i shall not worry about it. Of coarse its going to get a couple degrees higher each year because the earth is moving toward the sun a little bit more each year, but the temp. approx every 7 years declines or get higher and as of right now we are in the decline. Thats what i think.

al gore says it's true, and he invented the internet so you know it's the real bees kneez

I really don't think that global warming has much to do with human activity on the earth.

Global warming is real.
However, I strongly disagree with the way it's being campaigned. The media is making it seem like this sudden change happened within a year or 2 when really, it's slowly been building itself up for many, many years.
The "Go-Green" thing is a recent trend and the whole thing seems to be exaggerated.
Yes, the earth is heating up and could lead to truly catastrophic events.
No, our generation will not live to see that day and I doubt our grand children or even several generations after that will.
But yes, we should do something about it.. I just don't think "scaring" people into it by exaggerating things is an honest method.

to me,
global warming is not existing.
its just a big word, that is overly used,&it expands the actually meaning.
i think its ALL propaganda.
yeah, sure the worlds a little polluted&'warm'
but why exxageratee it soo much? eh. haha

Are you kidding? Global Warming is very real. If we didn't have global warming, then the planet would be too cold to survive on.

"For lack of a better word?" Just use a different word. You believe that someone who disagrees with you on global warming is brainwashed and I bet you think people who disagree with you on anything are brainwashed. Just because someone has a differing opinion from you does not mean they are "brainwashed" or even "ignorant" (which I bet you use that word too) so just don't use that word because it just shows your "stupidity."

Oh and to reply to the actual question: if or if not global warming is happening, I could care less.

this is called a debate thread for a reason.
frankly, if you don't believe at least that global warming is happening, you're either stupid as f*ck, brainwashed to shit, or ignorant as hell.

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It's like he cancels me out.

^


I usually disagree with Nate, but this isn't even an issue that's debatable. It's like saying that I don't believe there's salt in the ocean. It's been proven. The exact cause is what's debatable.