Climate Change happening faster than we think?

[MunkeyGolfer]

I just read an article that stated scientists believe the ice at the north pole can completely melt this summer. This just doesn't settle well with me and I for one will try to do my part to conserve energy and natural resources.

What are some ways that you guys can think of to help conserve?

1. Drive less (obvious one)
2. raise thermostats in our homes and businesses

[effektz]

If global warming is indeed a man-made problem, there's probably very little we can do now to fix it. We've been dicking around for too many years debating the evidence, instead of erroring on teh side of caution and doing something about it. I've always done my best to try and help the environment, and I don't see why people would dislike living in a cleaner, greener world.

But like I said before, it's probably happening and it's probably too late for us to fix it, even if we wanted to.

[FlopShotArtist]

There's no such thing as global warming. The earths warms, the earth cools. It's what it does.

[immts007]

There's no such thing as global warming. The earths warms, the earth cools. It's what it does.

Wow. You stated that with such conviction and unerring certitude that I feel completely silly for ever worrying! Thanks, FSA! While the extent of man-made impact may not yet be certain, the fact that there is an impact is really not arguable. We put pollutants into the air and atmosphere and it changes the air and atmosphere. To argue otherwise would be saying that our effluents are made of pixie dust that magically become inert and dissipate on discharge. To take it down to a smaller scale it's like saying that the shit our factories pump out have not polluted our oceans, lakes, and waterways. A simple beaker of water from Lake Onondaga and a quick trip to a lab for analysis will quickly show you otherwise. Like a poster above said, why not play it safe and smart and err on the side of caution? Why does human greed and stubborness demand that we approach the brink of oblivion before seeing that maybe we should practice a little wisdom and restraint? However I would be interested in seeing a link to the article that says north pole ice could completely melt this summer. That sounds pretty fictitious to me. EDIT: I was wrong . Scary.

[MunkeyGolfer]

Something like the north pole ice melting I wouldn't make up And I am sure the Earth has it's cycles. But I bet we helped to speed them along.

Some other ideas

3. Solar Panels (I would get some if it wasn't so damn expensive)
4. Electric Car (Would need to run off of solar or wind power to be completely green)

[ChiChiIsMe]

I wonder if the volcanoes have any impcat on the melting.....

Study finds Arctic seabed afire with lava-spewing volcanoes Margaret Munro , Canwest News Service Published: Wednesday, June 25, 2008 The Arctic seabed is as explosive geologically as it is politically judging by the "fountains" of gas and molten lava that have been blasting out of underwater volcanoes near the North Pole. "Explosive volatile discharge has clearly been a widespread, and ongoing, process," according to an international team that sent unmanned probes to the strange fiery world beneath the Arctic ice. They returned with images and data showing that red-hot magma has been rising from deep inside the earth and blown the tops off dozens of submarine volcanoes, four kilometres below the ice. "Jets or fountains of material were probably blasted one, maybe even two, kilometres up into the water," says geophysicist Robert Sohn of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, who led the expedition. Chunks of broken sea floor rock, or "talus ejecta" and large-grain pyroclastic deposits cover an outer slope of the Oden volcano on the seabed floor near the North Pole. Chunks of broken sea floor rock, or "talus ejecta" and large-grain pyroclastic deposits cover an outer slope of the Oden volcano on the seabed floor near the North Pole. He and his colleagues, who describe the underwater scene in the journal Nature today, estimate that exploding mixtures of lava and gas flew out of the volcanoes at speeds of more than 500 metres a second. When the material hit the frigid seawater, Sohn says it would have formed huge clouds that rained volcanic material down on the sea floor, creating the carpet of glassy shards and bits that can be seen for kilometres. The team explored the volcanoes last summer as the Russians were planting a flag on the nearby sea floor triggering an international flap over ownership of the seabed. Sohn said in an interview Wednesday that his crew of 30 researchers from the U.S., Europe and Japan chuckled over the "grandstanding" as the Russians rumbled by in their icebreakers. But they stayed focused on the intriguing spot on the Gakkel Ridge they had come to explore. The 1,800-kilometre-long ridge, which cuts across the Arctic from Greenland to Siberia, is in international waters. It is one of the planet's "spreading" ridges where molten rock rises up from inside the earth creating new crust. The $5-million expedition was financed by the U.S. National Science Foundation and NASA, which hopes to use the know-how gained in its hunt for extraterrestrial life. The scientists sent three unmanned probes down through the ice to explore a 30-kilometre-long stretch of the ridge where a swarm of undersea earthquakes occurred in 1999. The probes, one of which "flew" just two to five metres above the sea floor, gathered samples and images that point to remarkable under sea eruptions. In the valley where the two crustal plates are coming apart, which is about 12 kilometres across, they found dozens of distinctive flat-topped volcanoes that appear to have erupted in 1999, producing the layer of dark, smoky volcanic glass on the seabed. "The scale and magnitude of the explosive activity that we're seeing here dwarfs anything we've seen on other mid-ocean ridges," says Sohn, who studies ridges around the world. The volume of gas and lava that appears to have blasted out of the Gakkel volcanoes is "much, much higher" than that seen at other ridges. Sohn says it would have been "spectacular to witness" the eruptions, but he says it is a good thing there is four kilometres of seawater on top of the Gakkel Ridge as the eruptions would have been "highly problematic" had they occurred on dry land. The scientists say the heat released by the explosions is not contributing to the melting of the Arctic ice, but Sohn says the huge volumes of CO2 gas that belched out of the undersea volcanoes likely contributed to rising concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. How much, he couldn't say. There are no volcanoes exploding in the area right now, but they scientists say there appears to still be a lot happening on the sea floor. "I had the impression this whole central volcano area was oozing warm fluid," says Henrietta Edmonds of the University of Texas, who was on the expedition tracking the plumes of warm waters rising from the spreading ridge. She says they point to the presence of "gushing black smokers" as well as microbial and other forms of life that can thrive in scalding, mineral-rich waters that percolates out of spreading ridges. The scientists say they have explored just one small stretch of the Gakkel Ridge and hope to return in a few years. "This will be a gold mine for deep sea research for many, many, many years," says Sohn. http://www.canada.com/topics/news/st...e-f48c0dc90304

[Dent]

Only running your dishwasher on a full load saves up to 6,000 Hydro carbons?

[GaijinGolfer]

Until the scientists agree on just how much of an effect humans are having on climate change, we cant really say what, if anything we can do about it.

[Mr Eagle]

GW is a Global con trick by governments to raise taxes.

[michaeljames92]

If global warming is indeed a man-made problem, there's probably very little we can do now to fix it. We've been dicking around for too many years debating the evidence, instead of erroring on teh side of caution and doing something about it. I've always done my best to try and help the environment, and I don't see why people would dislike living in a cleaner, greener world.

Yeah i agree with you. Global warming is like a slow process. Even if we stop all our carbon emissions tomorrow, there would still be a hole in the ozone layer and still plenty of gases in the atmosphere causing global warming. And politicians have spent 20 years saying it isn't a problem because: a) it will be very expensive, b) they are paid by corporations to support them and they won't get money for doing the right thing and c) it would be 'too difficult'

There's no such thing as global warming. The earths warms, the earth cools. It's what it does.

You are correct. However this process is being fast tracked by humans with the sudden explosion of gas emissions in the 20th century.

[michaeljames92]

The earth has not increased in temp in the past 10 years.

Mate that is crap. 2005 was the hottest ever year. Hire out an inconvenient truth and look at the increase in average temperature.

[GaijinGolfer]

Hire out an inconvenient truth and look at the increase in average temperature.

Dont believe anything you hear in, "an inconvenient truth" because its all coming from Al Gore.

[michaeljames92]

Dont believe anything you hear in, "an inconvenient truth" because its all coming from Al Gore.

OK. Search average earth temperature rising in google and see the billion hits that come up from scientists all over the world. So should we not believe them?

[jmoc]

If "Global Warming" is true, direct me to the Wiki site that details the thermometer that measured the temp to 100th of a degree 300 years ago. I missed that one in Science class. Oh, by the way, there is about 40% more ice in the artic this year compared to last year. Is it time to drag out "Global Cooling", we could switch back and forth every 20 years or so.... jmoc

[GaijinGolfer]

OK. Search average earth temperature rising in google and see the billion hits that come up from scientists all over the world. So should we not believe them?

What about the other scientists who say that we dont know enough about the Earth's history to say one way or the other whether global warming is real?

What we know of the temps in the past is but a blink of the eye in relation to how long the Earth has been around. Even if you drill into the Antarctic ice and take samples from that, which go back about 100 million years, thats still just a fraction of the Earth's life. Also, whats to say that these, "scientists" arent the same kind of people who were hired by the tobacco companies back in the '70s who claimed that there were no long-term health risks to smoking?

[Pinseeker81]

I want to know, why, if the earth is supposed to be globally warming, have we been seeing cooler temps here the past couple years?
Must just be global temperature redistribution?

There's just not a shred of solid proof. It's all just speculation.
As our good friend Al said "The de-bayte is owvur".

[GaijinGolfer]

I want to know, why, if the earth is supposed to be globally warming, have we been seeing cooler temps here the past couple years?

Exactly. The Earth cycles between warm years and cool years. Last year, here in southern Wisconsin, we had record snowfall.

2 years ago, they had record snowfall in northern Japan. The year before that they had record snowfall in Russia. I personally think it all runs in cycles. Back in the '70s we had winters that were very cold and snowy. In the '90s we had winters that were much warmer with less snow. The past few winters for us have been colder and snowier, so perhaps we are going back to the cycle we had in the '70s and '80s.

[iacas]

Exactly. The Earth cycles between warm years and cool years. Last year, here in southern Wisconsin, we had record snowfall.

Which may be, again, proof of "global warming." And no, it's not contradictory; my understanding of "global warming" is that longer and deeper periods of cold are part of the same formula.

I don't necessarily "believe" in global warming, but the simple truth is that I don't have to to know that we as humans are doing SOMETHING, and whatever we're doing, it's not likely to be helpful. I find it incredibly stupid to believe that humans have had no impact on the environment. The hole in the ozone is larger - there's no debating that. Los Angeles is permanently enveloped in smog. It's a long, long list. 200 years ago, the only forms of pollution were, what, the occasional natural forest fires? Now the list is huge. Clearly what we've done has had an effect. Denying that we've - humans - not changed the environment is awfully stupid. You may not think it's resulted in "global warming" per se, but thinking that we've not had an impact at all is akin to sticking your head in the sand. I'm really not interested in what you or anyone else here "personally" thinks about this issue unless you're an environmental scientist. Scientists across the board agree that we've had an effect, and that we've upset the natural balance that existed even a hundred years ago. I really don't care what you think if you think the "cycles" the earth goes in are only 20 or 30 years long. That's just ridiculous. Have you even watched the video? I believe he talks about cycles that are tens of thousands of years old, not a decade or so.