Discussion: Global Warming and Other Environmental Issues

[Ace of Knaves]

Okay Ace.

In person, with my own eyes, I never saw Mickey Mantle hit a homerun. But does that mean it never happened?

Ay? I don't understand what you're getting at.

Look, maybe we as humans do effect "global warming" even though we haven't had a proper summer over here in about 4 years but anyway, we may effect it with all our cars and planes and what not, but who says other factors that we aren't in control of are effecting it even more than us?

 

[The Senator]

Now your just being silly! I meant who says this isn't just the way it is? Think back to when the dinosaurs were wiped out, did they pollute the atmosphere? Errrrr no. Who says this global warming isn't just natural? It's funny you chose to completely ignore the thing I said about large volanic eruptions.

Well, I chose to ignore the part about large volcanic eruptions because it had nothing to do with the statement I wanted to make mocking the idea of a "mother nature."

 

[Carcharodon]

OK then smarty pants, how can you prove that humans are causing global warming? And perhaps more importantly can you prove that we have the means to reverse it or stop it?

I was referring to this statement:

There could be a thousand reports saying we cause it, but i'll guarantee you there will be a thousand reports saying we don't cause it.

I thought you would have caught on when I told you that in science, nothing is ever proven. I guess I gave you too much credit.

 

[Carcharodon]

It's funny you chose to completely ignore the thing I said about large volanic eruptions.

Wanna know why?

Spoiler

It's ********.

http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/emissions/co2_natural.html

The primary natural processes that release CO2 into the atmosphere (sources) and that remove CO2 from the atmosphere (sinks) are:

-Animal and plant respiration, by which oxygen and nutrients are converted into CO2 and energy, and plant photosynthesis by which CO2 is removed from the atmosphere and stored as carbon in plant biomass;
-Ocean-atmosphere exchange, in which the oceans absorb and release CO2 at the sea surface; and
-Volcanic eruptions, which release carbon from rocks deep in the Earth’s crust (this source is very small).

The other, primary reason that this line of reasoning is flawed is that these natural contributions are regulated by an existing Carbon-cycle that maintains a sort of equilibrium between sources and sinks. Our input can and will ultimately cause a shift in said equilibrium. In other words, these fossil fuels we keep burning? They're PART of the Carbon-cycle: the natural processes that regulate the amount of carbon in any form on this planet have resulted in the storage of large amounts of carbon in this form, maintaining equilibrium.

Not only are we creating a contribution of carbon in a form that is free to cause potential problems with existing natural systems, we're also altering this equilibrium from the other end of the spectrum by depleting these natural stores. The net effect would be an imbalance, forcing the planet to adjust in ways that tend to be bad for whatever is alive at the moment. My favorite example is the ocean as a carbon sink (perhaps the most important) having to take on additional carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, ultimately causing its acidification.

Do you sort of see what I'm getting at?

 

[chaseter]

We are putting more C02 in the air and we are sawing down and paving over the plant life that converts it. We are altering the carbon cycle. After a period of warming, there is a period of cooling...it is a cycle. Either way, if we keep at it...we either get an unnaturally warm climate that kills millions of species, allows tropical disease to advance Northward, creates catastrophic weather patterns like hurricanes, etc... and/or a horrible winter or another Ice Age that kills millions of species...you get the point. So why not prevent one or even both??? Humans are so ignorant, greedy, and selfish.

 

[Danalys]

But, but, I thought that we were heading toward Global Warming?

I guess everyone was just wrong before then.

you need not worry, your source is the daily mail, and since you are not english, i can forgive you for not knowing what ******** it is.

you should add questioning sources to your list of thing to learn.

 

[Ace of Knaves]

Well it comes down to this for me, I don't give a toss about "global warming". Over here in England we haven't had a proper summer for a bout 4 years, I don't see any warming. I want us to discover new fuels and ways to power things, I mean, who doesn't? But I ain't gonna put up with a load of green peace muppets preaching to me and telling me to buy a frickin Toyota Prius, i'll stick with my turbo diesel van thanks.

 

[chaseter]

Nice attitude. With that mind set, your future generations will have a lovely Earth to grow up in.

 

[Ace of Knaves]

Excuse me? So your saying I should go out and buy a Toyota Prius? **** that. I'll buy whatever I want, I ain't gonna sit there and go "oh no the green peace people are banging on about carbon emmisions, I better get a crap electric car!" Errrrrr no.

I recycle, I don't litter and i do care about the animals and rainforest and stuff, but I'm not going to change the way i live for a "theory". The cost of living throughout the whole world is sky rocketing, i'll be ****ed sideways if i'm going to start paying out extra for "ozone friendly" things like cars.

 

[Ace of Knaves]

Excuse me? So your saying I should go out and buy a Toyota Prius? **** that. I'll buy whatever I want, I ain't gonna sit there and go "oh no the green peace people are banging on about carbon emmisions, I better get a crap electric car!" Errrrrr no.

I recycle, I don't litter and i do care about the animals and rainforest and stuff, but I'm not going to change the way i live for a "theory". The cost of living throughout the whole world is sky rocketing, i'll be ****ed sideways if i'm going to start paying out extra for "ozone friendly" things like cars.

 

[The Battousai]

^ I bet you don't care that the current rate of CO2 emissions will cause a 3+ degree rise worldwide by 2050, either.

Then again, you might not care if you don't live to see it yourself...

 

[The Battousai]

BTW, I could care less about the Prius - it's a half-assed attempt at fuel efficiency, anyway.

 

[Ace of Knaves]

3+ degree? HAHAHA Na mate to be honest, I don't give a crap about that. As i've said before I don't feel no global warming, over here in the UK we haven't had a proper summer in about 4 years so to be honest i'll welcome a bit of global warming.

 

[Danalys]

you do realise that climate change effects localised areas differently. around the 1900's the thames used to be covered in snow in winter. things change. anyway aparently the gulf stream that keeps us warm in the winter is messing up. only takes a little change in average temperature for the world to shift currents.

 

[Ace of Knaves]

Edit

 

[Ace of Knaves]

OK fair points. It's seems i'm coming across as the bad guy, that's not my intention. Us as humans should take care of our planet, for me that means recycling and things like that. I care about the rainforest, I don't like seeing it get torn down. But the thing that really pisses me off is there is alot, and I mean a lot being spent on stupid things like environmentally friendly road signs and crap like that. No i'm not even joking there is something called a "environmentally friendly road sign"!!! It's just I think there is much more important things to spend the money on like schools and hospitals, I'm not saying there shouldn't be funding into research to find new fuels though. I think that's very important.
But what it comes down to is this, who says there is anything we can actually do about global warming? Yea we may have contributed to it but what i'm trying to say is how do we know there isn't other factors that effect it more than us? And what if we can't stop these factors? Are we just gonna keep throwing money at a lost cause when there is more important things to deal with?

 

[SuBe]

OK fair points. It's seems i'm coming across as the bad guy, that's not my intention. Us as humans should take care of our planet, for me that means recycling and things like that. I care about the rainforest, I don't like seeing it get torn down. But the thing that really pisses me off is there is alot, and I mean a lot being spent on stupid things like environmentally friendly road signs and crap like that. No i'm not even joking there is something called a "environmentally friendly road sign"!!! It's just I think there is much more important things to spend the money on like schools and hospitals, I'm not saying there shouldn't be funding into research to find new fuels though. I think that's very important.
But what it comes down to is this, who says there is anything we can actually do about global warming? Yea we may have contributed to it but what i'm trying to say is how do we know there isn't other factors that effect it more than us? And what if we can't stop these factors? Are we just gonna keep throwing money at a lost cause when there is more important things to deal with?

I agree with you Ace. We don't know what causes Global Warming, but signs DO show less solar activity = less warmth on earth. But, do we really need to hamper our economies, and take away liberty for a Maybe?

I think not.

And, your Avator is freaking awesome. When was Deadpool on a cartoon?

 

[Danalys]

OK fair points. It's seems i'm coming across as the bad guy, that's not my intention. Us as humans should take care of our planet, for me that means recycling and things like that. I care about the rainforest, I don't like seeing it get torn down. But the thing that really pisses me off is there is alot, and I mean a lot being spent on stupid things like environmentally friendly road signs and crap like that. No i'm not even joking there is something called a "environmentally friendly road sign"!!! It's just I think there is much more important things to spend the money on like schools and hospitals, I'm not saying there shouldn't be funding into research to find new fuels though. I think that's very important.
But what it comes down to is this, who says there is anything we can actually do about global warming? Yea we may have contributed to it but what i'm trying to say is how do we know there isn't other factors that effect it more than us? And what if we can't stop these factors? Are we just gonna keep throwing money at a lost cause when there is more important things to deal with?

those signs are a scam. waste of money that could go to other things. the production of useless things takes an environmental toll aswell.

other things do effect the planets temperature more than us. we are the straw that broke the camels back. we are the little weight that throws things of balence.

 

[chaseter]

I agree with you Ace. We don't know what causes Global Warming, but signs DO show less solar activity = less warmth on earth. But, do we really need to hamper our economies, and take away liberty for a Maybe?

I think not.

And, your Avator is freaking awesome. When was Deadpool on a cartoon?

I love your rhetoric. Instead of trying to stop a catastrophe or preparing for it f*** it. I am living my life the way I want and my kids, grandkids, greatgrandkids, etc...can deal with it You sir are a hero. When the tornado alarm starts ringing in town, don't go to cover because that hampers your daily life and mother nature cannot get the best of you

 

[The Battousai]

3+ degree? HAHAHA Na mate to be honest, I don't give a crap about that. As i've said before I don't feel no global warming, over here in the UK we haven't had a proper summer in about 4 years so to be honest i'll welcome a bit of global warming.

I see the misinformation has taken its toll.

The main problem is the name people have given it, "Global Warming". In fact, this is not wholly accurate for the short-term consequences.

They really need to start referring to it as "Ocean Warming" (or some equivalent), because that's what's happening to the planet.

Eventually, this will lead to a whole host of other problems we'll be unable to control.

It won't help when oil reserves dry up in a few decades, either.

 

[psychocheeseman]

I'm kinda shocked that so many people in the US think that Climate change is a myth... or that our actions (as a species) do not effect the global environment. It's a ridiculously ignorant stance. Quite simply, amongst other environmental depredation

We are putting more C02 in the air and we are sawing down and paving over the plant life that converts it. We are altering the carbon cycle.

to ignore that this could have consequences is crazy or at leasst on par with believing the tobacco company research that cigarettes do not give you cancer.

Excuse me? So your saying I should go out and buy a Toyota Prius? **** that.

The emissions of a Prius, whilst lower than most modern cars, is still around the level of a 68 morris minor...
but you raise a good point - it shouldn't be up to the individual alone, massive government assistance will be required to assist in changes for a more sustainable future.

I recycle, I don't litter and i do care about the animals and rainforest and stuff, but I'm not going to change the way i live for a "theory". The cost of living throughout the whole world is sky rocketing, i'll be ****ed sideways if i'm going to start paying out extra for "ozone friendly" things like cars.

which is perhaps a reason why products should be taxed in accordance to their environmental impact, or subsities offered on environmentally friendly alternatives to encourage use not only by the environmentally conscious, but also the financially responsible consumer. Personally i also believe public transport should be free, but i can't see that happening any time soon...

 

[Exploding Boy]

Well it comes down to this for me, I don't give a toss about "global warming". Over here in England we haven't had a proper summer for a bout 4 years, I don't see any warming. I want us to discover new fuels and ways to power things, I mean, who doesn't? But I ain't gonna put up with a load of green peace muppets preaching to me and telling me to buy a frickin Toyota Prius, i'll stick with my turbo diesel van thanks.

This is such an ignorant statement. Its called climate CHANGE. The climate is changing...its not all getting hotter.

 

[thedeadite]

Even if there are natural elements that are contributing to climate change more than we do.
Even if our contribution is 1%.
We can and should do our best to eliminate that.

I just feel that if we know that something we are doing as a society (humans in general) are contributing to something that is destroying our environment, and in turn helping create a problem that could possibly put the human race on a track to extinction, we should do whatever possible to stop that.

 

[Galactus]

This is such an ignorant statement. Its called climate CHANGE. The climate is changing...its not all getting hotter.

Exactly. And "global warming" is the increase of the average temperature for the entire planet. That doesn't automatically means it will get hotter everywhere. If one place gets four degrees hotter and another place gets two or three degrees cooler, the average temperature will still have increased. And the thing is that it is the polar regions that is effected most from the warming effect. It hasn't been uncommon in recent years that some places in polar regions have seen periods with temperatures ten degrees or more above normal.

 

[Carcharodon]

As ice cover decreases, I wonder whether we'll see an increase in the rate of polar warming. The ice cover itself is one of the best tools the earth has for deflecting excess solar energy.