climate change

[FFrenzy]

I recently read Micheal Crichton's book "State of Fear" that tells about some eco-terrorists planning some catastrophic weather-related events, to make some point for some convention about the so-called "Global weather catastrophe" work. It poses some very interesting questions about global warming etc.

 

Firstly though, i know it it fiction, but anyone who has read crichton, knows that he backs up most of his books with actual facts ( this book is littered with them, a lot of footnotes referring to actual research-data )

 

some of the points :

- 10 years ago, scientists warned that the temperature of the earth would rise several degrees in the next decade. the ACTUAL rise is 0.3 degrees C

- Although the ice on the shores of antarctica is getting smaller, the inland ice is actually getting larger, nullyfying the overall effect.

- Locally, temperatures seem to have risen more then the 0.3 degrees earlier stated. The scientist however, take their measurement DOWN, because of the effect of out modern cities ( they generate heat, so any measured temperature must be compensated for that ). The question is, have they taken the population growth of our cities into accourd enough ? the books tells there are scientists that think the numbers should be adjusted down even further ! so even the local temparature rise is questionable.

 

Come to think of it : how long do we have accurate measurements of the global temperature ? 30 years ? 50 years ? even if it was a hundred years, how is that compared to the history of the earth ? Even if there IS a trend that the global temp. is rising, does that prove that that trend is consistent ?

 

BTW, i recently read that we should be more afraid of a coming ice-age ! although the water that melting from the northpole won't make the seas rise ( due to the fact that it's all floating ice, and when it melts, it gets smaller, see above postings ) it WILL make the seas go colder, which will make the gulfstream ( which warms europe and parts of the USA ) go slower, or even stop. Without this gulfstream, we'll be getting another ice-age !

 

Above shows that things are much more complicated than most of us are aware, that there are more nuances to the things in question. i Myself are a bit in between....YES, i think our lifestyle has a lasting effect on the earth ( pollution etc. ), but i'm do not agree with all the doomsday theories.

 

ah well, that just my 2 cents.....

 

 

[DFreed69]

I have heard all there is to save the earth campains out there. I can tell you that everything involved in the environment works in circles. Have you ever really payed attention to your local weather forcast where they tell you the historical highs and lows. Think about it. Here in the N.E. US we have been dealing with about an average of 55 this past winter. and everyone screams about global warming. I guess this has never happened before...like about 7 years ag when it was an average of 65 up to this poing then went down to the mid 20 for the month of February. Come on every THINK. Do your research.

[TFMF]

In my opinion - the UK is getting more weather extremes - warmer summers (which i can't stand!) i think and more stromy/worse weather like blizzards, downpours etc....

[Mav]

wasn't it this past summer Paris and other places in EU had the really hot temperatures? I remember hearing about it on the news cause the news said alot of European homes and businesses didn't have air condition units or systems installed, so the heat was making people quite ill.

 

I couldn't picture a place thats too far toward one side. Even in America I'm in a state where it's not below 30ish in the winter, maybe 90ish in the summer and spring/autumn are pretty nice. The most extreme weather we get in my area is just the thunder storms from the summer heat and the hurricane season toward the end of summer. other than that it's fairly nice year round. of course i saw that now then tommorrow nigth the temps will drop till it ices on the ground (speaking of which it rarely snows here, maybe once a year).

 

My ideal place would be somewhere, "semi" warm. Like a place that's around 65-75 degrees at the most, with humidty in a non-annoying range as well. A decent amount of rain each week, but never any actual storms (wind, lightning etc). The rain would definitely have to be the kind where it doesn't get shivering cold, so like if you're walking home and get caught in it it's not cold as crap it's a nice luke warm. you know the kind, it's a summer day and it's been hot out all day and it rains but its a good rain, lasts maybe an hour or so then drys fairly fast. Sadly no place on earth is like this, most have their draw backs of usually being too hot or too cold or a good temp but the rain also comes with storms.

[TetsuoShima]

My ideal place would be somewhere' date=' "semi" warm. Like a place that's around 65-75 degrees at the most, with humidty in a non-annoying range as well. A decent amount of rain each week, but never any actual storms (wind, lightning etc). The rain would definitely have to be the kind where it doesn't get shivering cold, so like if you're walking home and get caught in it it's not cold as crap it's a nice luke warm. you know the kind, it's a summer day and it's been hot out all day and it rains but its a good rain, lasts maybe an hour or so then drys fairly fast. Sadly no place on earth is like this, most have their draw backs of usually being too hot or too cold or a good temp but the rain also comes with storms.[/quote']

 

I second this unoffical vote for a global climate control system, allways 75 degrees (we're talking Fahrenheit I hope :cyclops: , would be rather hot if not... LOL) and exactly the kind of rain as you asked for! Yes, my kinda weather too! :)

[Carlvsi]

Could I have permission to carry the motion and start work on the device?

;)

[kyran]

I assume that everyone realises that we are on the upward gradient of our worlds cycle?

It's getting warmer still. After a few more millienia it's gonna start getting colder

I wonder what they are gonna say about that when it happens

global cooling (censored) we're all gonna die cut down on the carbon emissions

wow it has a censor built in ain't that great ?

 

[Tigerplayer]

Well, I remember my grandmother telling me that there was a snowstorm on her birthday (that's in May) once many years ago. (Remember I live in Denmark...) That has not happened since, also one of the worst snowstorms here was in 1979 i think (before I was born anyways). Thogh we have had some rough winters since, nothing has been worse than this.

 

Also in 1998 there was almost no summer (apart from two days in May with temperatures of ~25 degrees C) The temperature almost never climbed higher than 18 degrees C.

 

After Y2K We had some hot summers instead, sometimes with temperatures reaching ~45 degrees C, not very normal here. I remember one year I had to underclock my CPU for it not to reach too high temps

 

I have also noticed that the SPF rating on sun lotion gets higher and higher, about 10 years ago, you could get sun lotion with SPF 1. Today you can consider yourself lucky to find anything less than SPF 15.

 

 

[magestorm]

Well, there is an old saying.

 

Never take a dump where you eat. (changed due to language)

 

I have noticed areas that normally get large ammounts of snow and bitter cold temps aren't getting it anymore. Summers are getting hotter.

 

Also, more and more of the water table is polluted. uneuseable.

 

And what kind of arrogant people are about? Save the planet?????

The planet is just fine. It's been areond long before we evolved, and will likely still be around after we become extinct. What we need to worry about is saving OURSELVES, not the planet. If we do nothing, the ecosystem will adapt. However, we won't be able to adapt our biologies fast enough to survive.

 

Realize the world is fine. But if we do nothing, WE HUMANS, as a species, will be frakked.

[Tenebrae]

As Adama said - we never stopped to ask if we were worthy of survival.

[Steveo]

I have noticed areas that normally get large ammounts of snow and bitter cold temps aren't getting it anymore. Summers are getting hotter.

 

Changes on the timescale for you to notice is more likely to be due to changes in procecces such as the North Atlantic Oscilation.