climate change

[s2 rich]

It seems all these climate change do gooders who say we are ruining the country buy running cars and goin on planes etc etc saying we have no seasons etc. Is it just me or have they all gone quiet now we are having snow in winter and wintery conditions . Ok mini rant over.

[Jenks]

Turns out that this cold spell we're having is supposed to be a result of global warming, according to people who know more about this kind of thing than I do, and that we need to get used to these 'freak' weather conditions. Does this mean that in the eighties, when this amount of snow was around for about a month, we were globally warmed?

[Keeper of The Kitten]

I think the words "global warming" were substituted for the words "climate change" when the global average temperature fell for the tenth consecutive year.

Climate change does happen, the inferrence is that it is human influenced. There is climate change occurring on planets that humans have no influence over, so clearly it's not always a result of human influence.

It is nigh-on impossible to state that the planet is not being killed by human influence because the moral high ground has already been taken by those who believe that it is.

My personal opinion on this matter is that the increasing population will be the biggest influence, if there is an influence, rather than the actions of humankind in general. The suggestion that the population should be controlled is politically even less popular than the suggestion that climate change will happen whatever we might do or not do.

[Jenks]

I think the words "global warming" were substituted for the words "climate change" when the global average temperature fell for the tenth consecutive year

oops I should only use this thing for porn at this time of night! sorry, morning!

[Rusty]

Watched a series of programs yesterday that were very interesting, Earth Story on UKhistory. The world is currently in an ice age apparently and is a 15degC cooler than it was millions of years ago... that wasn't human influenced. We should plant more trees and all that but stop targeting the motorist and get to the root of the problem, industry and China and America.

[Jenks]

Andy did it say we were entering, in the middle of or on the way out?

[Rusty]

The coldest point was what we would term the last ice age when the ice sheets covered Europe and North America. We are on the up at this point in time although the ice ages are a relatively recent phenomenon, until about 300 million years ago there were no ice sheets at the poles and there is evidence that since these ice sheets have existed, they have retreated and grown several times in 'recent' history. Interesting watch, love programs like that. Strangely enough, the evidence that the ice sheets have grown and shrunk over time came from Barbados!

I do not doubt at all that the destruction of the rainforests and the increase in emissions from industry, cars, human activity has caused many problems as we are releasing stored carbon into the atmosphere and have not increased the amount of plant life to cope with this situation, to the contrary the forrests have been reduced. The thing that gets me is that the focus in on a small area of the problem, the motorist & consumer. In business, if you want to increase profit marging there's no point in spending all your time trying to reduce the cost of a part that contributes 1% to the cost of the product, you analyse the situation, rank and prioritise the parts which make the largest contribution and spend your energy fixing them... as consumers and users we need to do our part but it is industrial changes that will make the largest contribution to change.

[Keeper of The Kitten]

Apparently deforestation is not significant at all when it comes to control of carbon dioxide, far more of that is done by algae on water. Trees account for very little. Deforestation isn't handy when you want soil to stay where it is though.

(The carbon question depends on who you choose to believe anyway, there is a fair amount of evidence to suggest that carbon levels track with global temperature at a time lag of a few years, and that the influence is the reverse of that which is peddled by the doom merchants.)

[Heat Seeking Missile]

I think the use of fossil fuels needs to slow down as they wont last forever, but I'm pretty convinced that were merely in a periodic cycle of climate more than anything, and thats after watching "The Day After Tomorrow".

Mark

[Error404]

I agree with Andy that industry is the main issue here not the consumer - its just that us little tax paying minions can't bribe the corrupt ruling classes to shift the blame

For instance, global shipping accounts for 10% of "greenhouse" gas emmissions, yet I've never heard any politician suggeting we cut global trade allinances and become more self sufficient.. they just tell us not to drive or go on holiday.

Also there is about 3 billion poeple too many on this planet, all of whom want heating, air conditioning, electricity, food and water. The maths just doesn't add up.

If we were to kill everyone with an IQ under 100 however we 'd all be better off....... :mischeif:

[Rusty]

If we were to kill everyone with an IQ under 100 however we 'd all be better off....... :mischeif:

But then most of us would have a lower IQ

Oh, and is that on a rolling scale

[Error404]

there'd be no need for IQs if there weren't any retards

[EspenW]

It seems all these climate change do gooders who say we are ruining the country buy running cars and goin on planes etc etc saying we have no seasons etc. Is it just me or have they all gone quiet now we are having snow in winter and wintery conditions . Ok mini rant over.

More than 97% of climate scientists agree that emissions of greenhouse gases is the main cause behind the rapid warming that we have seen over the past 30 years. The globe has been warmer in the past, but the rate of change that we are seeing now is unprecedented. There is a lobby that tries to spread the word that the experts don't agree, but it is not the case.
Now, I agree that seemingly solely targeting the auto industry is wrong, and the solution is not added taxes or fees. The only real solution for the auto industry is to develop alternative fuels. GM is investing heavily in new technology that genetically engineers bacteria that consume CO2 and produces vast quantities of the finest Ethanol.
About the wintery conditions this year: this is to be expected with the non existing sunspot activity. The output of the sun hasn't been this low in a very long time. In addition, we have seen two La Nina effects in the Pacific (this brings cool water to the surface and has a cooling effect on the planet) The El Nino is the opposite.
Still, there is record heat in Autralia and the west coast of the US is setting new heat records as well. The average temp over the year is the only thing that can tell us anything about the trend, although climate scientists expect 09 (as was 08) to be cooler than the preceding years due to the very strong natural cooling that will mask the ongoing warming from greenhouse emissions.