hello to all
im new to all this so after reading so many thought provoking messages, thought i would let my prescence be know.
for some years now, we have been fed increasing ammounts of data upon global warming, and of course the blame falling upon the shoulders of mankind for this phenonenon, i am just a lowly electrical engineer, no scientist, but im also interested in my local history, not far from me there is a mountain which 5000 years ago harboured settlements of bronze age peoples, at a height of around 1300 ft, we know from seeds and pollens that 5000 years ago the temperature on this mountain was warmer than it is today, a fact, i also know that during medieval times lords of the manor as far north as york had vineyards, we also know it was warmer then than now, even taking into account continental drift we know there has been a succession of ice ages, therefore the earth has heated up and cooled down, not only in prehistory but also fluctuated many times in the short time man has been living in europe, sp are we really to blame for global warming, it is true we make a contribution without a shadow of a doubt but are we the main culprits, when one volcanic eruption spews more gases and debris into the atmosphere than mankind does in years and years of emissions, im not saying we should pollute the earth, quite the reverse, its just i come across a lot of bigotted people who cant answer my questions and who are determined to blame mankind without taking in all the data, im still waiting for answers of why our climate fluctuated many times before the invention of the internal combustion engine or factories, and why 14,000 years ago did the last ice age end, without mankinds help, one interesting paper i read, was the occurance of the earths magnetic poles switching north to south, as it does so the magnetic field protectic the earth loses its flux and therefore more solar radiation is allowed to penetrate the earth instead of being deflected by the magnetic field, ive also read that there is growing numbers of suitably qualified individuals disputing that mankind is to blame for global warming, we may be contributing but not the cause, still i thought the day after tomorow is a very good film.
RE: global warming
Hi Niceguy,
Theres a lot of division in the scientific world about global warming and if it is actually happening because of human activities. The points you raise are very valid, the world has seen some big climatic shifts through its history and that is well before homosapians and his ancestors arrived. Now whether humans are 'speeding up' this natural cycle, thats the real question.....
RE: global warming
I'd like to second both Doogle's comments, and your own, Niceguy...and I would like to add my own thought to ponder on the subject:
Through the investigations of global weather phenomenon, we have come to understand the implications of Chaos Theory. This theory tells us that climate and weather predictions are highly dependent upon getting the initial conditions correct. Small errors in initial conditions for a closed-loop computational model can yield LARGE errors as the timeframe of computational model becomes larger. This is the very reason why it is difficult to accurately predict weather patterns beyond approximately 5 days, because there is such a high probability of divergence away from the "actual" solution.
Given this, I do not see how anyone could realistically claim that they could, with any high degree of certainty, claim that human industrial activities are responsible for "global warming". Even if they have done high-fidelity, closed-loop modeling of the earth's climate....it is still subject to greater errors as the timeframe of the study increases.
HumanMatrix
RE: global warming
the film DAY AFTER TOMOROW Is very real of cource global warmign can happen and is happening. Though the powers that be thimk we have loads of time before ating upn it.
The time for acting upon it has gone long ago my friends. I just hope I am not around when it happens
Thanks
Dragon
RE: global warming
Hi Niceguy & Dragon,
Yes, the planet is warming up, that's a fact. Whether it is due to man's interference or simply a natural phenomenon, is not really known. However, I have studied Earth Science, and there is evidence of global warming in Paleolithic eras. This may have been caused by the actions of volcanoes or perhaps by the natural deviations of the Sun, or by modifications of the Earth's orbit around the Sun. This latter phenomenon has been scientifically proved to be the cause of global cooling and 'ice ages', so why not global warming?
For what it's worth, and what evidence I have seen, climate change has been going on ever since the Earth was formed, and this recent climatic change is just another example of a natural phenomenon. Man may be making it worse with the pollution that he creates, but not really enough to make a significant a difference. Changes in orbit, or inside the Sun, volcanic and other tectonic movements and man's attitudes all combine to create global warming.
Whilst we humans all have a collective responsibility for our world, we mustn't be frightened or scared into nightmarish scenarios dreamed up by film-makers. Nobody really knows what is causing it, and the world will cool down in time. Everything in nature is balanced and when it falls out of equillibrium, natural forces will bring it back.
Please don't have nightmares worrying over this.
Love,
Patsy.
🙂