Is Global Warming True?

Australia
November 5, 2009 6:39am CST
My brother who has recently graduated from year 12 has told me today that global warming doesn't exist. He told me that the CO2 we put into the atmosphere are just billions of the percentage in the atmosphere and the rising of temperature (and decreasing) are just part of a cycle on Earth. What are your thoughts on global warming do you think it exists?
2 people like this
27 responses
• China
5 Nov 09
hi~ aulius! it's good to know you ~ haha ,i gotta say your borther is very cute ~ but as both know that the Global warming is ture ~ it definitely right that the release of the CO2 is the part of the cycle on earth , but compared with the past , the amount of the release have increase severalfold `!! that is far more than the earth could deal with ~ have a nice day ~ my friend ~!
• Australia
6 Nov 09
It is true we have been putting a mass amount of CO2 into the atmosphere. Our emissions may be increasing but does that mean it has any effect on earth? Is the rising temperature just a coincidence that it is happening at the same time that we are putting more CO2 in the atmosphere? Perhaps our CO2 we are releasing from our factories is a very minuscule amount compared to the massive amount already in the atmosphere.
@suspenseful (40193)
• Canada
5 Nov 09
We are right now going through a cooling periods because there are not as many solar flares. Solar flares are what causes global warming and for some decades it was warmer. Before that there were hardly any solar flares, thus we had a cold spell. Unfortunately when you live near the equator and have those dark eyes, you get a lot of sympathy from people who live in the moderate zones and who travel a lot, and they seem to have the idea that if it is warm down near the equator, wow "global warming!' and they take steps to stop the industrialization up north so those poor people down there do not have to endure the droughts, etc. So when they try to cure so called global warming, it is those up north who suffer, those who have minus 40 degrees in the winter and whose furnaces have to run for at least two months in the year. This campaign on global warming is just a way to transfer the wealth from the north to the people who live near the equator and they sort of forget that back over more than a thousand of years ago, the people up north were poor and the people in the equator and sub tropical areas had the wealth. So God in HIS Wisdom, made sure that the earth went through a cycle of global warming and global cooling so each section of the Earth, around the the equator and in the moderate zones would have their turn in having the most prosperity.
@jb78000 (15139)
5 Nov 09
not it isn't a sinister conspiracy suspenseful. as i already said global warming is not disputable, and i will probably debate whether or not it is caused by human activity later.
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@jb78000 (15139)
6 Nov 09
think there is a confusion with sun spots there.
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• Australia
5 Nov 09
That is an interesting theory but i'm not sure the earths temperature could change due to solar flares.
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@deebomb (15304)
• United States
5 Nov 09
I also don't believe in global warming. it is a hoax to get control of energy that will cost so much that we can't afford it. 31,478 American scientists who have signed the “Global Warming Petition Project” asking the U.S. government to reject the Kyoto global warming agreement. The petition states that "There is no convincing scientific evidence that human release of carbon dioxide, methane, or other greenhouse gases is causing or will, in the foreseeable future, cause catastrophic heating of the Earth's atmosphere and disruption of the Earth's climate. I doubt that any of these scientist have changed their mind since then. http://www.examiner.com/x-25141-Green-Bay-Conservative-Examiner~y2009m10d12-Free-Speech--Not-when-it-comes-to-global-warming Her's a copy of that petition http://www.petitionproject.org/index.php
@deebomb (15304)
• United States
5 Nov 09
I admit that we have climet change but it happens every so often. I remember 40 years ago the big concern was global cooling. Yes I do have 4 children and 9 grandchildren. last winter my son said he believed in global warming as he shoveled 3 ft of snow of his drive way to get to work in his totally air conditioned car.(It was so cold it couldn't get warmed up by the time he got to work. There isn't any public transportation where he lives.
@jb78000 (15139)
5 Nov 09
already said, global warming is indisputable, sorry. also last time i checked 97% of climatologists said it was caused by human activity (source new scientist, will find you a link later) and most scientists in other fields agree. i will look at your little petition later but the title of your source suggests an agenda. i won't dispute that climate change may well be hijacked for political purposes however this does not mean it isn't being caused by human activity. i guess you don't have children because if i did i certainly wouldn't be taking any risks with the future because of a political agenda.
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@jb78000 (15139)
5 Nov 09
had a look. love the fact that most of these scientists don't even have phds. here's your link: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn11462
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@jwfarrimond (4473)
5 Nov 09
Your brother appears to be a bit confused here. He seem to think that because the amount of CO2 that we are putting into the atmosphere is only a relatively small part of the total then global warming does not exist. It's certain that the world is getting warmer, there is far to much evidence from all over the world. It's debatable however, just how much of that warming is due to natural climatic variation and how much, if at all, is due to human activity. Personally, I'm inclined to think that it's entirely natural variation, but that's just my opinion for what it's worth. Nor do I think that anything that we can do is likely to change the way that the climate is changing.
5 Nov 09
I'm just saying tht it's debatable. I don't know how thay can separate warming caused by our activity frm natural warming. I do know that there have been bigger changes in climate in the pre industrial past and which can have had nothing to do with industrial pollution which was practically non existant at the time. Warm period Roman Empire - grapes grown in the North of England, still not possible today. Cold period - 14th to 19th cenuries - European rivers frozen solid on a regular winter basis - ice fairs held on the frozen river thames in the 19th century. all natural variation. Certainly the Roman warm period can have have had nothing to do with human activity.
@jb78000 (15139)
5 Nov 09
but slower changes. yes climate naturally varies but the problems here arise from the fact that it is happening too quickly, that it will accelerate, and that it will be irrversible (at least with current technology). natural changes have to be accepted, this doesn't.
@jb78000 (15139)
5 Nov 09
nicely put jw - i disagree with you (on human activity) but will come back later.
@rsa101 (37933)
• Philippines
6 Nov 09
I don't think so.... I am living in a temperate place and the temperature has indeed risen beyond normal on our place. I can compare it with my childhood experience that summers were not as hot as today. I am living in a place that is elevated in the metropolis and it doesn't flood there but this time we were hit by a very strong rains and suddenly it flooded in us. There seems to be an abnormal volume of rains that poured in us for the past 2 two months. I really do not think that as a natural occurrence as it is frequent already. I really think this are all the effects of the Global warming where we dump many carbon in the atmosphere.
@rsa101 (37933)
• Philippines
6 Nov 09
I think it is we humans are the ones that produce these excess carbon emissions from our factories and cars. There is not much volcanoes erupting around the world and the only thing that triggered a similar event was when carbon accumulated because of simultaneous volcanic eruptions around the world. But the way we emit carbon to our atmosphere is much more dangerous than that of which is naturally emitted by nature. We have accumulated that large that for nature it took her millions of years to produce.
@jb78000 (15139)
6 Nov 09
and when all this carbon was in the atmosphere the first time round the sun was much weaker but the earth was still hotter.
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• Australia
6 Nov 09
Yes, the temperature worldwide is heating up and satistics show that but I disagree that it is humans' fault. I think it is just a natural variation.
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• China
5 Nov 09
I have saw the news that some scientist fond that CO2 did rarely influence to the atmosphere on the previos period. I usually think my earth is movement, a period tend to be cold and another period tend to be warm. You can't say the global getting warmer and the earth will be bad, it maybe just in the period. Of course we must pretect the earth, but need't fell afraid of the carbon dioxide.
• Australia
5 Nov 09
Yes I think I agree with you and this heating of the Earth we are experiencing is temporary. And yes global warming is just a tiny problem compared to the slew of bad things going on in this world.
• China
5 Nov 09
hehehe~~Instand of worry about the global warming, I'm anxious more about the winter's coming. Now winter will come soon, the weather become more and more cold, and the ice ,the snow will hit me. Oh can we use the carbon dioxide to change the winter warmer?...
• Australia
5 Nov 09
haha. I live in Australia so it's just starting to become hot now. Yay! it can get up to 40 degrees Celsius or 104 Fahrenheit here.
@udnisak (609)
• Australia
6 Nov 09
i think global warming is existing.. but i am not an environmentalist of seientist to prove that.. however i know that world leaders have agreed to reduce the release the percentage of CO2 to the air... previosly america did not like the idea coz they thought china would be the best country in the world if they do that..but barack obama agrees to do that as he wants different..now china also likes the idea coz their president thinks the recent natural disasters happend in china took place due to the glabal warming... however this is a good news for animals like polar bears...
@jb78000 (15139)
6 Nov 09
aurelius - sorry btw for completely hijacking your discussion - of course you are entitled to your opinion but if you could actually explain your position you would be more convincing. you don't need to be a scientist to understand scientific ideas.
• Australia
6 Nov 09
Hello and thank you for responding. It's not so much if global warming exists, because it does. It is a question whether humans have caused it. In my opinion I don't think they have but I'm no scientist either so i can't really prove that.
@solson (406)
5 Nov 09
Some may think this but it has been proven. I am currently studying it and it has to do with the Greenhouse effect. Its really our emmisons from cars and what not that are putting little holes in the atmosphere. The atmosphere is what keeps us safe from the suns harmful rays. So if there are holes in the atmosphere the suns rays are a lot stoger and more harmful. It is a hard concept to understand. The reason may not think it is true is becasue the earth does change in climate over millions of years. I just read that the earth if it was not for humans should be in another ice age now or coming close to it, but since the world is heating up ice cannot form. I hope this helped a little it is really hard stuff to explain.
@solson (406)
5 Nov 09
Well bud sictist have done a lot of studying on this and and ice age occurs around every 2 million years(i do not know if that is right number somewhere close though). They can tell this by going to Antarctica and drilling out the snow and ice and looking the difference. The snow there is like a onion with layers. So i believe that is how they do that kind of work. If you would like me to get you absolute facts i can try and do that for you.
• Australia
5 Nov 09
yes the idea of global warming seems to just be lots of predictions and guesswork and nothing can be proven for certain. I don't know if there is a way to know if we should be in an ice age right now and couldn't begin to imagine how people could know that. I do agree that it is definitely a hard concept to understand.
@jb78000 (15139)
5 Nov 09
ok, well first of all global warming is indisputable. the thing questioned was whether it has been caused by human activity and climatologists nearly all agree that it has been. now i would like to know what cycle you are refering to and what your brother was studying?
@jb78000 (15139)
5 Nov 09
this does happen but is not exactly what is happening at the moment. this is a bit quicker.
• Australia
6 Nov 09
Yes, I suppose that might be a possibility.
• Australia
5 Nov 09
Okay well this supposed cycle i'm talking about is a natural cycle in which the earth changes temperature maybe due to its orbit or something. The temperature may decrease(an ice age for example) or increase.
@rg0205 (2636)
• Hong Kong
5 Nov 09
I've been reading and watching conflicting information about global warming. Actually, another theory is that the Sun is getting hotter - not the earth. And, in addition to that, the global temperature has actually cooled down a bit in the last year. I think I'd have to agree with your brother.
@jb78000 (15139)
5 Nov 09
you are talking about sunspot activity - which does have an effect on climate and until the 70s matched what was happening. it is not what is causing the current changes.
• Australia
6 Nov 09
hi, I never really thought about that, The Earth may be cooling and we may be exaggerating global warming. Perhaps things will return to normal in the next few decades.
• India
6 Nov 09
global warming exist.day by day the temperature's increasing every day ur own experience will tell it .
• Australia
6 Nov 09
Thank you for your response deep, The temperature is rising but is it because of humans or is it a natural thing?
• India
6 Nov 09
it is because of human being who affected the nature.i hope so it is clear .
• Canada
6 Nov 09
Yes! There is scientific evidence to prove that global is a very real problem and it's getting worse everyday. The Polar ice caps a melting due to global warming.
@jb78000 (15139)
6 Nov 09
that is the problem - this kind of warming can't reverse.
• Australia
6 Nov 09
I suppose that may be true but what if in a few decades the world will stop heating and maybe reverse? And even though humans are putting more greenhouse gases into the air I dont believe that is contributing.
@sabirin (95)
• Singapore
5 Nov 09
they take abt the global warming that cause the ice berg to melt.my teaory its all becau the human pupulation in increasing.just give a room with 2 person inside and place the termometer and record the tempreture after that place 15person inside in the same room and read the tempreture u can see a drastic tempreture rising.
@jb78000 (15139)
5 Nov 09
which cycle would this be exactly?
• Australia
5 Nov 09
Im not completely sure my brother says the earth just changes temperature as a part of a cycle and the ice that is melting will refreeze from water.
• Australia
5 Nov 09
Apparently the ice melting is just part of a cycle of the Earth. Global warming can't be caused because thee are more people on the Earth. In a building it may heat up if more people are in it but the atmosphere is large and the heat of the sun is only being trapped in more because of the CO2 emissions from our factories and things. At least that's the theory. Have a nice day.
@sabirin (95)
• Singapore
5 Nov 09
nope global warming does exist centuries ago.i dont believe global warming at all.
• Australia
5 Nov 09
Yes I must say my brother has changed my mind. Apparently in the industrial age when we had lots of factories going the temperature actually decreased. Part of a cycle.
@jb78000 (15139)
5 Nov 09
carbon emissions have been steadily increasing since the industrial revolution - dramatically so since the seventies. in addition there is a delay before effects are felt. a cold spell during the industrial revolution is irrelevant.
@flurbl (60)
• United States
6 Nov 09
It's hard to say if it exists. Earth temperatures have fluctuated naturally over the years, and in accordance with geological time and temperature patterns, we are due for rising temperatures. However, it could easily be argued that we are speeding up this process by greenhouse gas emissions. We just had this discussion in an environmental science class I am taking. The discussion got pretty heated!
• Australia
6 Nov 09
Yea the Earth has changed temperature over it's whole life, an example being the Ice Ages. it can be argued we are helping it along and that definitely is the right question to ask. The discussion did get pretty heated didn't it lol. Debating is fun!
@suprad1 (251)
• India
6 Nov 09
Yes. For sure, global warming is true. It might be a natural phenomenon, but civilization, industrialisation and urbanisation has added to it and aggravated the problems associated with Global warming. We need to all put our best efforts on a war footing to contain this and reverse the damage being caused. It is high time.
• Australia
6 Nov 09
Maybe you are right Suprad but i have to disagree that humans are the main cause, I believe it is natural and the temperature may change on it's own.
@millertime (1394)
• United States
8 Nov 09
I don't know what to think about the whole "global warming" issue. I was convinced it's real and I watched Al Gore's movie, but now it's coming out that some scientists are challenging some of what's in that movie and it appears some of the "science" in the film is flawed. It also appears that Mr. Gore is poised to reap huge financial benefit from the green movement, cap and trade, etc. so I tend to discount what I saw in that movie and somewhat being propaganda. I remember back in the 1970's, the scientists were raving about global cooling and throwing out dire warnings that if we didn't change our ways, we would cause the earth to enter an ice age within ten or twenty years. Well, that obviously didn't come true either, so who do we believe now? Some scientists say that man is causing global warming, others say it's natural cyclical warming and cooling of the earth. For those of you old enough, you'll remember that back in the 1960's and 70's, our pollution levels in America were very high. We had smog problems in a lot of cities, factories were polluting heavily, our cars didn't have emission controls, etc. We have cleaned up our act by huge margins since then, cutting way back on automobile and factory emissions in this country. There are other countries now that pollute far worse than we do but we tend to get blamed for the most part. I believe that we should continue our efforts toward clean energy production and becoming more planet friendly but I don't think that taking extremist views either way is warranted at this point. Climate change doesn't happen as fast or as drastically as the alarmists would have everyone believe, but that doesn't mean we should ignore the problem and do nothing either. How's that for being on both sides of the issue, lol...
• Australia
9 Nov 09
Thanks for your response. I was also very convinced that humans were causing global warming after watching An Inconvenient truth but as I said my brother changed my mind and I believe now that it is cyclic thing, like you have explained.
@rkiran (21)
• India
6 Nov 09
oh no..... actually global warming is there... there are many people telling us everyday to plant a tree.... in practical they state that there is an increase of 0.11 degrees centigrade rise in temperature every year.. your brother told you only about CO2 but there are many other gases and chemicals like Chloro-Flouru carbons causing global warming..... i believe that global warming exists and i can feel it.....
• Australia
6 Nov 09
The temperature may be rising but is it because of humans emissions? That is the question and I don't think it is.
• Philippines
6 Nov 09
I believe that global warming happens, but i think its all because of the sun i.e. solar activity because mars also has melting polar ice caps, (recently discovered evidence) now i think this will pass because the sun's activity fluctuate high ,low then high as a cycle, i just cant believe that CO2 is the only cause for global warming and i think it will pass in a number of years, this is just my opinion and is what i believe, so if you can show me proof of my opinion being wrong, please correct me, and change my mind. u r welcome to do so...
• Australia
6 Nov 09
I completely agree with. Wow, I didn't know Mars also has melting ice caps. If they are in the exact same situation than us, then human CO2 emissions obviously hasn't played much of a part. Thanks for your response.
@tokouchi (370)
• Philippines
6 Nov 09
It all adds up. There is a disturbing change of weather patterns, particularly in the tropics, which has not happened centuries ago. The melting polar ice caps. Stronger, more frequent natural disasters and holes in the atmosphere. These are the facts, and if it not caused by those "billions of the percentages in the atmosphere" then who/what do we blame? If it is just part of the cycle, then can anyone predict when the next "Ice Age" comes?
• Australia
6 Nov 09
The Earth is heating and there are some unexplained weather patterns and i don't think there is a way of predicting an Ice Age because the time between them seems to vary nor do I think there is a 100% way of knowing what will happen next.