Global warming

marke14

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My take is the \\"Global Warming\\" issue is blown out of proportion and is not as extreme as many make it out to be.

Hellgate, I agree that I have also seen alarmist and sensationalistic articles and bits on TV that were hyperbolic and exaggerated. However, I do not think that the gravity of the problem is overstated in the general media.

It's not that the 2 degree increase, on average, will necessarily in and of itself prove to be the end of the world. It's that it is symptomatic of a tipping point being reached.

For instance, if enough polar ice melts it will change the salinity of the oceans and the currents that have prevailed for thousands of years will stop. This affects the 75% of the planet which is covered in water, causing major aquatic life dieoff, including probably most significantly changes in the plankton and all the life that depends upon it (which is everything).

There are many books written and studies that show that once we hit a certain saturation of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere, it becomes a runaway compounding effect the likes of which will be far beyond our ability to cope with.

The thing that tears me is that this is a survivability of the human species issue, yet even the super wealthy and powerful people who are working against greenhouse gas reduction and moving quickly to develop alternative fuels will suffer the same fate as everyone else. It's sad people in general are so shortsighted - will will all suffer this folly.

The point is that a major retreat in the amount of greenhouse gas production right now could possibly prevent us from tipping over a certain threshold from which there will be no return. Venus' atmosphere is comprised almost entirely of carbon dioxide, 92 times as dense at the surface as Earth's (the equivalent of being underwater 1 kilometer). I'm not saying that it will become like this on this planet, but it teaches us about the runaway greenhouse effect and its implications.

Sorry I'm rambling - I have had a s**ty day and I'm beat. As you were. :Flash:
 

dark_isz

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I have trouble putting faith in an article written by Chris Monckton for the Science and Public Policy Institute. Christopher Monckton has been denying Global Warming for a long time. He's not exactly an unbiased source. He is also a journalist and not a scientist, so I'm not sure I trust his analysis. He has tried to pass off his aritcles as scientific papers before. I doubt that his analysis of the data wasn't affected by his own Anti-Globlal Warming views.

The Science and Public Policy Institute is also biased against GW. Every link on thier site links to another GW Denier site, like the Heartland Institue. It seems like they are only concerned with one side of the issue, which isn't the scientific way of looking at things.

Science and Public Policy Institute - SourceWatch

Heartland Institute - SourceWatch

Personally, I trust what the scientists write about GW much more than the journalists, politicians and celebrities. Here's a list of scientists and scientific organizations that believe humans are affecting the climate, and we need to do something about it before it's too late.

Below is a list of joint statements calling for action on mitigating climate change. The National Academies representing the 21 following countries and districts have signed joint statements:

Australia
Belgium
Brazil
Caribbean
Canada China
France
Germany
India
Indonesia Ireland
Italy
Japan
Malaysia
Mexico New Zealand
Russia
South Africa
Switzerland
United Kingdom United States

G8 Statement

National Academy of Sciences: 2007 Joint science academies’ statement on growth and responsibility: sustainability, energy efficiency and climate protection:

The problem is not yet insoluble, but becomes more difficult with each passing day. A goal of confining global warming to an average of 2 centigrade degrees above pre-industrial levels would be very challenging, and even this amount of warming would be likely to have some severe impacts. . . .

We call on world leaders, especially those meeting at the G8 Summit in June 2007, to:
• Set standards and promote economic instruments for efficiency, and commit to promoting energy efficiency for buildings, devices, motors, transportation systems
and in the energy sector itself.
• Promote understanding of climate and energy issues and encourage necessary behavioural changes within our societies.
• Define and implement measures to reduce global deforestation.
• Strengthen economic and technological exchange with developing countries, in order to leapfrog to cleaner and more efficient modern technologies.
• Invest strongly in science and technology related to energy efficiency, zero-carbon energy resources and carbon-removing technologies.

Academia Brasileira de Ciéncias,Brazil
Académie des Sciences, France
Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, Italy
Russian Academy of Sciences, Russia
National Academy of Sciences, United States of America
Royal Society of Canada, Canada
Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina, Germany
Science Council of Japan, Japan
Academy of Science of South Africa, South Africa
Chinese Academy of Sciences, China
Indian National Science Academy, India
Academia Mexicana de Ciencias, Mexico
Royal Society, United Kingdom
Joint Statement I

Here is a press release from the National Academy of Sciences (USA) which opens with the words “Climate Change is real”. It’s conclusion begins with “We urge all nations, in the line with the UNFCCC principles, to take prompt action to reduce the causes of climate change, adapt to its impacts and ensure that the issue is included in all relevant national and international strategies.” It recognizes the international consensus of the IPCC (2001), IEA (2004), and UNFCCC. It is signed by:



National Academy of Sciences, United States of America
Chinese Academy of Sciences, China
Royal Society, United Kingdom
Russian Academy of Sciences, Russia
Academia Brasiliera de Ciências, Brazil
Royal Society of Canada, Canada
Academié des Sciences, France
Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher, Germany
Indian National Science Academy, India
Accademia dei Lincei, Italy
Science Council of Japan, Japan


Joint Statement II

Here is another press release from the Royal Society (UK) which says “The work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) represents the consensus of the international scientific community on climate change science. We recognise* IPCC as the world’s most reliable source of information on climate change and its causes”. It is signed by:



Australian Academy of Sciences
Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Sciences and the Arts
Brazilian Academy of Sciences
Royal Society of Canada
Caribbean Academy of Sciences
Chinese Academy of Sciences
French Academy of Sciences
German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina
Indian National Science Academy
Indonesian Academy of Sciences
Royal Irish Academy
Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei (Italy)
Academy of Sciences Malaysia
Academy Council of the Royal Society of New Zealand
Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
Royal Society (UK)
*recognise is the british spelling of recognize

Other Organizations:

Union of Concerned Scientists
Woods Hole Research Center
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
American Meteorological Society (AMS)
National Research Council
Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society (CMOS)
Federal Climate Change Science Program
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
UN Project on Climate Variability and Predictability
American Geophysical Union
Geological Society of America American Chemical Society - (world's largest scientific organization with over 155,000 members)
Federal Climate Change Science Program, 2006 - commissioned by the Bush administration in 2002
Stratigraphy Commission - Geological Society of London - The world's oldest and the United Kingdom's largest geoscience organization
Engineers Australia (The Institution of Engineers Australia)
American Association of State Climatologists
US Geological Survey (USGS)
National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR)
NASA's Goddard Institute of Space Studies (GISS)
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute – Ocean and Climate Change Institute
World Meteorological Organization
United Nations Environment Program
Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospherice Sciences
International Council on Science
State of the Canadian Cryosphere (SOCC)
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
American Astronomical Society
The Australian Meteorological And Oceanographic Society
American Institute of Physics
Pew Center on Climate Change
World Wildlife Fund

Individual Scientists:

NASA's Gavin Schmidt
Stephen H. Schneider Ph.D. - Professor at Stanford University
Dr. James Baker - NOAA
Michael Tobis Ph.D. - University of Texas Institute for Geophysics
Steven Sherwood Ph.D. - Yale
Steven Hawking
Jerry Mahlman, NOAA

Link to full article:

Logicalscience.com - The Consensus On Global Warming/Climate Change: From Science to Industry & Religion
 
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