Quote:
Originally Posted by wheresmy50
Just keep in mind that there is not a consensus that people are causing global warming. There's a fairly loud minority out there, but some, including myself when I researched it 5 years ago, feel that the "proof" is pretty thin. Also, these people tend to reference each other in their publications. I found myself going around in circles when I tried to follow their sources.
What's not up for debate is that there have been drastic climate changes before people were ever around i.e. the ice ages.
It's very easy to believe things that seem reasonable. Pollution is bad, therefore pollution can cause global warming. Just be careful. It took the FDA 15 years to re-approve silicone breast implants because of hysteria-based faulty logic. In the end, the statistics proved the truth beyond any shadow of a doubt.
Here there is no way to do that, there's no way to prove what the temperature of the earth will be in X years, so it's easy for people to create a lot of fear with little in the way of facts. Similarly, the other side can't point to indisputable facts that it's not going to happen, they can only disagree with the alleged evidence.
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Its real, its happening, I work in a lab that studies climatology and my gf is working on her phd on it as well. its true that in the past there have been perterbations in climate, consisting of warming and cooling periods, but never on the scale and the pace that is occuring now. One of the biggest effects is that the CO2 in the atmosphere is being absorbed into the oceans forming carbonic acid which attacks calcium carbonate, which is what makes up most shells and coral reefs.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/276613_coral06.html
one thing that non-scientists often site is that the proof of global warming is only a "theory." to the general public "theory" doesn't necessarily mean fact, but from a scientific perspective a theory is about as solid as you can get. not long ago i was a skeptic myself about the effects of global warming thinking that the earth was just in a warming cycle. but through reading papers and speaking with many people MUCH smarter then me at WHOI where I work, and at other research institutions, who have been studying this for a long time, they have convinced me.
the reason the papers continually cite the same people is that these people are experts in the field and are working on these problems non-stop so they continue to produce papers.
I have not seen the Gore video, I would like to. but from what I hear it is pretty accurate. The time scale at which these things are occuring might be slightly slower then is implied but they will happen. ice is melting and sea level is rising.
Hybrid Mode
