Who doesn't like warm weather

Mistermeaner

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-34763036

We all shouldn't apparently - we are repeatedly told how bad global warming is.

Is it really as bad as they say? (and who is they?).

The world has both been a lot colder and hotter before - does it really matter?

Out,_Vile_Jelly

It matters if you care about food production.

Yes, the human race has survived Ice Ages in the past. I'm not sure I'd hold out much hope for the resourcefulness of future generations though; apparently iphone screens don't work properly in really low temperatures.

Sapphire

I saw a map somewhere the other day showing what would happen if/when the ice melted – much of Britain would be underwater, as would all the major cities around the world, which tend to be sited at the edges of land masses. Can't remember where I saw it – perhaps National Geographic?

Someone really needs to build that Dyson Sphere…

Generali

Mistermeaner wrote: »

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-34763036

We all shouldn't apparently - we are repeatedly told how bad global warming is.

Is it really as bad as they say? (and who is they?).

The world has both been a lot colder and hotter before - does it really matter?

The Earth would survive almost any amount of global warming however people are adapted to exist in a particular range of climates. If you take the world out of that range then people find it harder to thrive.

A large temperature change would probably result in a lot fewer people.

There are also unknown effects of climate change, some of which are quite nasty potentially. If you want an example look up the climate of Venus.

Norman_Castle

http://www.globalwarmingart.com/wiki/Special:SeaLevel

CLAPTON

of course it is inconceivable that we could reverse/stabilise the climate

Mistermeaner

Generali wrote: »

The Earth would survive almost any amount of global warming however people are adapted to exist in a particular range of climates. If you take the world out of that range then people find it harder to thrive.

A large temperature change would probably result in a lot fewer people.

There are also unknown effects of climate change, some of which are quite nasty potentially. If you want an example look up the climate of Venus.

I always remember a friend of mine saying "Global warming won't affect me as I live at the top of a hill", I asked him if he thought the people at the bottom of the hill will just stay there.

My jury is still out on this one - climate change will no doubt cause change but everything is changing all the time, no source to reference as I'm in work but I read somewhere once that taken over geological timescales the changes attributable to us evil humans is insignificant - the earth has been both alot hotter and alot colder at various times in the past.

Our 'concern for the planet' is more accurately 'our concern for ourselves' as to the effect climate change may have on us a species.... or more particularly the effect it will have on the developed western world.

As is ever the case the root cause of humanities issue is our ever increasing presence and need to make and consume stuff.

A good bit of warming, accompanied by some significant flooding and plenty of death could actually be good for us a species in the long term.

Generali

CLAPTON wrote: »

of course it is inconceivable that we could reverse/stabilise the climate

Completely feasible in my view. I think people are finally getting their act together on climate change.

MFW_ASAP

Generali wrote: »

Completely feasible in my view. I think people are finally getting their act together on climate change.

Are you convinced that man is completely responsible for climate change then Gen?

We are just coming out of an Ice age, which would point towards why temperatures are rising. The earth has spent much longer without ice caps than with them.

I remain unconvinced that humans have much influence on global warming, but I am convinced that we should clean up our acts and invest in renewable technologies.

Conrad

On the one hand society is engaged in the task of giving third world citizens a western living standard, curtailing death and disease, as well as seeking to cause as many developed world citizens to live longer thus consuming ever more resources, and on the other hand we fret about pressure on the planet.


Similarly those that argue for an ever larger population in the UK as apparently there is no other way of providing pensions and bum wiping, can look forward to a very congested England, with massive pressure on wildlife, but no matter, all that counts for a good life is GDP, growth and the hum of Humanity at every turn, nothing else matters, we're always short of Humans.


So I'm kind of ambivalent about global warming, we're committed to fundamentally changing the natural world in our zeal to place billions more of us on planet

MFW_ASAP

The earth's atmosphere currently constitutes 400 parts per million CO2 or 0.04%. In the Cambrian period 500 million years ago it was 7000 parts per million. In the Quaternary glaciation 110,000 to 12,000 years ago it was 180 parts per million.

Currently, the earth is in an interglacial period which began between 10,000 and 15,000 years ago. This has caused the ice sheets from the last glacial period to begin to disappear. Remnants of these last glaciers, now occupying about 10% of the world's land surface, still exist in Greenland, Antarctica and mountainous regions.