Global Warming seems to be really taking over lately. It's not just a scientific topic anymore, it's hitting mainstream. Very soon here in Canada, the government is going to pass the toughest laws in the world for Greenhouse emissions. This is a really big deal since the energy industry here in Canada is the driving force of our economy. A side affect of these new restrictions may create a massive rise in the price of Crude oil, resulting in Gas prices in the $2 per liter range.($7 per gal for Americans). Locally, the booming housing market could also drop off drastically when expansions and plans for a massive upgrading station will likely be cancelled and moved to the States. The oil companies will survive and continue to pump, but it'll be at a higher cost, which could slow production, and everyone will pay for this. The domino affects of this push for Greenhouse gas reduction will cause world wide recession which is very likely to lead to a depression. We are literally throwing away everything we have that makes life comfortable, so we'd better be damned certain that we are right about global warming.

In my opinion, the Scientific community is blowing hot air up our asses. The biggest arguement that they have is an increase in bad weather. The first thing everyone should know is that the planet has been warming since the Ice Age. The Ice Age was started by a meteor strike that filled the atmosphere with dust, blocked out the sun and froze a large chunk of earth. Ice caps are not a normal phenomenon on this planet, and were created by external forces, and are not necessary. In fact, there was a time when CO2 levels were much higher than they are today, and the fossil record shows that there was more liveable habitat at that time, and more species than there are today. Arctic Tundras were massive ancient forests that were filled with diverse life, and are currently only barren wastelands with a few species. The reality of it is, is that the Ice caps are whats causing bad weather, and the earth is still within a normal temperature range to support life, and will never leave that range due to natural heat regulation through cloud generation. Clouds are created when water evaporates and binds to dust or most likely phytoplankton. Phytoplankton increases with CO2 levels in the ocean, so higher CO2 levels will help cloud creation. The real problem is the massive temperature differentiation between arctic/antarctic areas with tropical and sub-tropical areas. Due to this massive temperature difference, powerful high and low pressure areas are created, causing nasty weather. Once the ice caps have completely melted and the far north and south start to warm the severe weather will slowly disappear, leaving the Earth with a new climate that is more desireable to us. We may actually be prolonging the bad weather by reducing global warming. The earth is just returning back to it's former climate and we're just suffering the transition phase as the climate re-adjusts to the factors that manipulate it. Now that we've already entered this phase, there is no going back to the old climate, and greenhouse reduction may do nothing but keep us here longer, and dealing with catastrophic weather for a hundred years instead of 35-50 years. Nobody ever listens to logic though when there's money to be made.

I promise you, I'll read this, and edit my post, when I'm not totally fucking wasted. Also, I appologise, and I love you all. And your families. And your goat.

-deus-

either way. Burning of fossil fuels causes more problems then just the potential climate shift. Which will most likely result in another mini ice age. Theres this little thing we call SMOG. When cities are blanketed by thick toxic smoke thats not from backyard BBQ's. And it causes a whole shitload of health risks. Not to mention the fact that Oil and coal is NOT a renewable resource. We will run out eventually anyways.

In my opinion, the Scientific community is blowing hot air up our asses. The biggest arguement that they have is an increase in bad weather.

You're talking about thousands of scientists coming to the same independent conclusions.

So the question you really have to ask yourself is, if not for the science being genuine, then how are climate researchers coming to the same conclusions independently of each other?

The first thing everyone should know is that the planet has been warming since the Ice Age. The Ice Age was started by a meteor strike that filled the atmosphere with dust, blocked out the sun and froze a large chunk of earth.

That's one theory. Another is that there was a supervolcano that erupted and cast all the debris onto the air.

Ice caps are not a normal phenomenon on this planet, and were created by external forces, and are not necessary. In fact, there was a time when CO2 levels were much higher than they are today, and the fossil record shows that there was more liveable habitat at that time, and more species than there are today.

You're talking about hundreds of millions of years ago. The species alive back then look completely alien to what we find today.

The species that are alive today evolved to live in a completely different habitat than those from the precambrian period. They are specifically designed to live in an interglacial period, like we're currently experiencing.

The thing with climate change is that the change is, for the most part, very slow and gradual which gives species the necessary time to adapt with evolutionary changes.

Mann and Jones published a summary of numerous global temperature reconstructions (http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/pubs/mann2003b/mann2003b.html) spanning the previous 2 thousand years in Geophysical Research Letters. Their data indicates that while the Middle Ages had a warmth spike, the heating trend we face today is totally is unprecedented and likely, in large, to be artificially induced.

The reality of it is, is that the Ice caps are whats causing bad weather, and the earth is still within a normal temperature range to support life, and will never leave that range due to natural heat regulation through cloud generation.

The earth's ice sheets actually are what keep the earth's temperatures down. They act as a heat shield, reflecting 90% of the solar energy that falls on it back into space. The oceans do the opposite, absorbing the energy. The arctic ice also has gigatons of arctic gas sealed within it that releases back into the atmosphere, contributing toward the greenhouse effectas it melts. The effect the ice melting has is it reduces the shield and increases the water volume that absorbs the heat from the sun/atmospheric greenhouse gases, begetting a positive feedback loop.

NASA has published a scientific study confirming Global Warming (http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2005-06-12-global-warming-cover_x.htm). The cause is the emission of CO2 and other green house gasses, of course. Just as it was suspected for so long.

An imminent scenario of catastrophic climate change is "plausible and would challenge United States national security in ways that should be considered immediately," according to this report commissioned by the Pentagon (www.ems.org/climate/pentagon_climatechange.pdf).

I'm not actually saying that the climate isn't changing, only that it's not as bad as they're predicting. Only the shift from what we have to what will come will be a rocky ride, but once it restabilizes itself, we may have a more desirable planet to live on. We most certainly could have lived before the Ice Age and we did.
Actually, the water at the base of the Ice Caps Here in Canada is only about 100,000 years old. Humans have been on this earth for about 150,000 years. Hmmmmmmmm. So for 50,000 years, when humans were most vulnerable and suseptable to the climate we thrived. Not only did we thrive, we lived in Central Africa, where it should have been too hot for us according to scientists today.
And guess what they're finding underneath those Ice Caps as they melt? A massive petrified forest very similar to the Boreal.

I would agree that we should try to eliminate other pollutants, like heavy metals, pesticides, etc from the food chain. These things will definitely kill us in the long run. Most smog is actually a result of sewer gas binding with water melecules. We should be trapping these gases and using them for fuel instead of just venting them.

Double post...somehow....

Who the HELL told you that most smog is sewer gas binding with water molecules?!

I'm sorry, but you are sadly misinformed.

The burning of coal and fossil fuels, according to data from the EPA, is over 99.9% of the damage...and no I'm not pulling that out of my ass.