Comments on: Blog Action Day: Is Climate Change / Global Warming Real?

By: Stewart Bailey

Stewart Bailey — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 03:38:56 +0000

It is arrogant of man to believe he can control the weather. God is in control.

Genesis 8:22 –
“While the earth remains, Seedtime and harvest, Cold and heat, Winter and summer, And day and night Shall not cease.”

By: t. barrett

t. barrett — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 23:00:40 +0000

fact; the sun constantly loses matter, as it does its gravitational force increases. go figure, its not rocket science.

our sun is the black hole of the future it would seem, how far or how near in the future i cannot predict.

our solar system in terms of the cosmos is nothing but a tiny piece of energy that periodicaly pulses and contracts, to us this seems like eons, to others this maybe nothing more than a blink of the eye.

By: C Ryan

C Ryan — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 22:11:27 +0000

Poorly phrased question which in turn will invalidate the poll. The climate is changing and will always change. The cause of that change is in question.

By: Graham Scott

Graham Scott — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:42:23 +0000

When this winter is over all the AGW specialists will be talking about injection of Co2 to increase temperatures.

They are cashcows for governments.

Co2 was never the problem. Just pray for the sun to wake up soon

By: samlive the red

samlive the red — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 04:06:05 +0000

yes the climate is changing, but HELLO? WE LIVE ON A TROPICAL PLANET.

we also live in an ice age, which while it has been fluctuating up and down for a couple hundred thousand years is only a blip on the scale of the 4 billion year old earth. the vast majority of this planets history has been spent without polar ice caps.

By: Dan Pangburn

Dan Pangburn — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 14:19:38 +0000

Antrhopogenic Global Warming (AGW) (and therefore ACC) is a mistake. All of the global average temperatures are readily calculated for the entire 20th century and until the present with no consiideration whatsoever of atmospheric carbon dioxide at http://climaterealists.com/index.php?tid=145&linkbox=true

By: jm1656

jm1656 — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 18:36:45 +0000

if your a politician or a liberal it is very real, if your not one its higher taxes for everyone.

By: Larrison

Larrison — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 03:38:44 +0000

Climate change is real. The world’s climate has changed dramatically in historic times. Have people caused it? That’s a different question from what was asked… ButI don’t think the data supports that humans have caused recent climate changes… Everythng I’ve read and studied shows that we can’t separate out the human-caused effects from the natural effects which are not well understood, even today.

By: Kingkong

Kingkong — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 01:18:24 +0000

The last few years has seen some brave scientists setting the record straight. The bastardization of science in the name of global warming has finally been broken. CO2 cannot be proven as cause of any warming. The last 10 years have seen steady or cooling temperatures but those with an agenda are still deluding themselves with already proven fraudulent data and media stories that support anthropogenic global warming.

A real honest to goodness hoax.

By: Fran

Fran — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 15:57:07 +0000

I totally recognize Global Warming as the leftist liberal histeria propaganda that it is. A year or so ago when things (ie Atlantic Hurricanes) weren’t becoming as apocolyptic as they’d tried to make everyone believe they changed Global Warming to “Climate Change”. (Well duh, the climate changes from when I get up in the morning to when I go to bed at night.) I’ve read plenty of literature on both sides of this issue and have come to the reasoned, intelligence conclusion that we are currently in a warming trend and heading towards a cooling trend.

Mother Nature does what Mother Nature is going to do.

By: ted

ted — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 13:23:09 +0000

dutchboy, you forgot to mention the threat of nuclear annihilation, which has been lingering over our heads since at least the 1950′s, died down after the fall of the USSR, and is now trying to rear its head again. But don’t worry, Obama will save us.

By: buddhaflow

buddhaflow — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 03:55:41 +0000

What I’m surprised about is the extremely low number of “maybe” votes. So 91% of Neatorama readers are seasoned climatologists with full access to all the relevant data?

I think the important thing to remember is that it is by no means a settled question.

Undeniably, as the BBC article above states, we have been cooling for ten years, and are expected to cool for at least another ten years. Mention this to the average person on the street, and they’ll think you’re crazy.

By: SliVe

SliVe — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 00:43:03 +0000

^^^Yes climate IS changing. It always has and it always will.
From a more philosophical point of view:
Are we to be held responsible? NO! Why? Well, because we are not even able to do that much harm.
Even if we wanted to… We couldn’t!
As many of my previous speakers said, how dare we think to be superior to nature?
I don’t know… but if we could do some real damage, wouldn’t we be detained from it somehow?

By: Josh

Josh — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 00:25:52 +0000

If you claim Earth’s increase in temperature is caused by humans then Mars increase in temperature is caused by humans.

He have way less than 200 years of accurate temperature taking and even less for regions that is not populated by humans.

We cannot claim anything is caused by humans until we can understand how our weather works. We barely can predict what weather is going to be like in 5 days let alone 20 years.

In the 60′s it was called Global Cooling. Now it is called Global Warming. It is neither. It is called Climate change and it happens everyday and we can do nothing to stop. We have survived ice ages and warm periods in time.

We are not the only planet warming. We have been watching the temperature on Mars for decades and it is warming as well. This can easily be attributed to the increasing amount of sun spots appearing on the sun in the past 100 or so years.

Global Warming is nothing more than a billion dollar business hyped up by the UN and employing millions.

By: dolphins102

dolphins102 — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 22:09:53 +0000

Is climate changing? Maybenot, but if it is, is it made by humans? Maybe not but if it is,is that a bad thing? Maybe not, but if it is, economic growth will continue and in a hundred years our great grandchidren will be rich enough and smart enough to cope. After all, people in the tropics manage ok the noo.

By: dutchboy

dutchboy — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 21:25:24 +0000

Maybe it’s large government beaurocracies making themselves look usefull to secure more funding, that is a provable and old concept.

By: dutchboy

dutchboy — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 21:17:51 +0000

I meant the fear of AIDS spreading in hetersexual community in North America/Western nations, which was proven to be overblown.

By: Derek Wall

Derek Wall — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 20:45:45 +0000

I think we are ignoring the real con.

By: Dandy

Dandy — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 20:31:23 +0000

Of course it’s real. Anytime you throw a bunch of dirt in an area, change happens. Throw dirt in your living room. Of course it is going to change from being comfortable to being a trashroom!

Our dirt is called ‘pollution’ — it’s still dirt.

We throw it in the air and the air changes. Doesn’t do what it did before. That being, filter sunlight, etc..

By: hedwig

hedwig — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 19:53:52 +0000

fyi dutchboy- I think we need to be able to figure out the difference between things like the Y2K hype and the real stuff- AIDS, Sars, flu epidemics- those aren’t ‘the sky is falling’ stuff- they’re real.

By: Candice

Candice — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 19:50:55 +0000

@ Gaulder

I agree completely. There is definitely a human factor that accounts for it. My point is that in order to dispel the myths of those who oppose curbing global warming effects (for whatever ridiculous reasons) why not argue that at the least taking action is a movement towards making things run more smoothly. If we can combat the effects of global warming while we’re at it then double win.

My comment is just a response I’ve always had to give people who think global warming isn’t happening. Oddly, I find that they don’t have much more to say after that.

By: hedwig

hedwig — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 19:50:54 +0000

I’m just watching the trend for now… There doesn’t seem to be much doubt that there is a trend. Whether it turns out to be permanent or just a trend- hard to tell. On the other hand, I find it completely impossible to believe that- given the world’s population and energy consumption and our consumer habits- hard to believe we are not impacting our environment. I have a lot of friends who like to go around making smart remarks like ‘Oooo- all this early snow and the cold fall- that’s global warming for you.’ Somehow- I think it makes them look less educated and I’m getting a bit tired of it.

umm- thanks- looks like I’ve wanted to say that for awhile! (In the interest of continuing friendship, I haven’t…)

By: required

required — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 19:43:29 +0000

dutchboy, just so you are educated on one of the items you listed (that apparently scared you) I’d like to share with you that so far more than twenty-five million people have died from AIDS (now that does not mean you will but it does illustrate a key facet of that particular disease).

By: required

required — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 19:33:33 +0000

oh brother, about your hoo-ha, doesn’t your ilk still use the term poppycock?

By: dutchboy

dutchboy — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 19:13:46 +0000

Who got to make the judgement that a temperature increase is bad?

Its all politics and fear-mongering,nothing new there it was happing in the Roman empire.

You must forgive me for being sceptical but the sky has been falling for as long as I’ve been alive:

Global Cooling
Aids epidemic
Bird Flue
Y2K
Sars
Swine Flue

Gee I’m starting to get the impresssion someone is trying to scare me.

By: Paul S

Paul S — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 18:44:08 +0000

Global Warming (and cooling) is a natural phenomena, you just have to look at the histories of this planet over the past 500 years or so…. Ice fairs on the River Thames in the 1600 and 1700′s

The UK’s winters are starting to get colder and the country is getting wetter. What the problem is at the moment is we (as the human race) seem to have made it more severe and the changes quicker.

By: oh brother

oh brother — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 18:37:47 +0000

meteorologist james spann was the guest on Oh Brother today explaining his position, which, in a nutshell, is that the notion that global warming is caused by human activity is a bunch of hoo-ha.

here’s a link to the segment:
http://ohbrotherradio.com/post/213577450/thursday-october-15th-threes- a-crowd-on

By: required

required — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 18:33:07 +0000

Now that we have looked at some of what we burn (in my last two posts), lets talk about those things that remove atmospheric carbon that we are quickly destroying such as coral reefs and rainforests. At the following link you can see the past nine years of some of the destruction in the Amazon: http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/WorldOfChange/deforestation. php

By: Andy from Chicago

Andy from Chicago — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 18:30:44 +0000

People who deny the human effects or worse the Carbon Dioxide effects of global warming need to look at the basic chemistry of the situation. Chemical bonds can be excited through absorption of energy, often through the absorption of photons, bit of light with distinct amounts of energy. When photons of an energy equal to the excitation of a bond interacts with said bond, the bond moves to an excited state. For some molecules, the method of returning to the more stable ground state is through the emission of a lower energy photon, which results in fluorescence. Some bonds do not return to the lower state, and instead break off. For most bonds, this is achieved through the loss of energy through heat. Thus, light is changed into heat. Greenhouse gases are gases in the atmosphere that absorb light emitted by the sun and convert them into heat. No matter how you look at it, Carbon Dioxide converts light into heat. The question is whether we are producing more carbon dioxide than natural cycles in global history. The answer provided through ice records, geological records, and even recent observation is yes.

Based on all this, none of which is speculation, the answer to whether people are causing global warming is obviously yes. There is the vast majority (upwards of 98%) of scientists who can see this basic teleology.

For those of you who deny it, I would love to see what scientific evidence you have for the non-absorption of carbon dioxide, the change in basic chemical behaviors, the lowering of carbon dioxide by man, or the magical pixies that are blocking this chain of events.

By: required

required — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 18:24:04 +0000

About that coal, in 2002 USA burnt through 1,065 million short tons of it. By the way that year we also ignited 23,020 billion cubic feet of natural gas. Then there are all of the biofuels such as wood, waste, ethanol, so on and so forth we burn through. We burn a lot of stuff, that in conjunction with nature (forest fires, volcanoes, and whatnot) makes a superabundance of atmospheric carbon.

By: Mara

Mara — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 18:15:38 +0000

Yes I think climate change is real. It is part of the natural cycle of things. Are humans the cause. Possibly yes to some extent. Weather or not we are, it is important to live in ways that have less of an impact on the air, water, other species, etc in our world.

By: required

required — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 18:06:34 +0000

It’s very strange how so many stick their heads in the sand muttering to themselves that it’s natural and not at all related to our daily ignitions. Just to be clear, the US alone ignites roughly four hundred twenty million (420,000,000) gallons of petroleum a day. If it helps to have a visual, think of 55,556 12′x24′x4′ deep swimming pools full of gas being set a blaze every day of the year. Or simply visualize a sea of fire that goes up into the atmosphere daily. It is totally unsustainable and very insane and then there is all of the coal that we burn daily as well…

By: Keff Foo

Keff Foo — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 17:53:36 +0000

This question is nearly saying “Is gravity real?”

Obviously ‘global warming’ is real. The question you SHOULD be asking is are we to blame?

Well with blogs spewing out hot air like this, I’m starting to think so!

By: ericm

ericm — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 17:53:21 +0000

Byrdbrain, that CFC thing was a bunch of BS. grand has a very valid argument: How did a heavier than air item spray on the surface magically make it to the upper areas? Scientists were wrong and cried wolf again.

There is climate change all the time, but the real fraud is Gore and his kind pushing their junk science with lies and missing data for lots of money!

By: Dale B. Halling

Dale B. Halling — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 17:44:24 +0000

Global warming is environment religion, it has nothing to with science. The priests of global warming cannot explain the historical periods of warming and cooling. If there is any correlation between CO2 and global temperatures, it is negative and does not support the global warming thesis. The major factor effecting temperatures on earth is the output of the sun, which varies and we cannot predict this variations with much precision. Sun spot activity was up in the 90s and this was the cause of the increase in temperatures. Sun spot has been down this decade which is why average temperatures are down this decade.

By: Jkrueg

Jkrueg — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 17:11:51 +0000

For those that answer no, or think that human activity plays no part in the climate and environment changes that are upon us, consider doing some volunteer work. That just might give you some insight into where your selfness vs. selflessness balance sits.

By: ByrdBrain

ByrdBrain — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 16:43:14 +0000

grand, you get the “Uninformed Comment of the Day” award. Unlike the Nobel Peace prize, you get this one for actually having done the thing that you are awrded for.
The hole in the ozone was caused by aerosol cans that used chlorofluorocarbons as propellant. Using CFCs was stopped on a worldwide scale and replaced with less-damaging hydrochlorofluorocarbons for aerosols. So, yeah- nobody stopped using harispray (actually, I know some who did, so that claim of yours is false) because they swapped out the bad stuff.

By: grand

grand — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 16:24:36 +0000

Whatever happened to the big “hole in the ozone” crisis in the 90′s that apparently all scientists agreed was caused by us using our hairspray bottles? No one stopped using their hairspray, but it closed up anyway.

Climate change = Hole in the Ozone 2

By: JKirchartz

JKirchartz — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 16:21:33 +0000

I got stinkbugs & palmetto bugs here in pittsburgh, it’s way too far north for them… also It’s supposed to snow tonight (WHY!?), the weather is CRAZY…

By: Jim Prall

Jim Prall — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 16:17:15 +0000

The stats for the poll so far, around 60-30-10 for yes/no/not sure seem to fit pretty closely with the results from proper random sampling polls in the U.S. (in which the question is more specific in asking if people think humans are a significant cause of warming.)

The public is quite far behind where the science is on this question. A survey of scientists done this January found only about 3% active in climate science still question whether greenhouse gas emissions caused by human activity are a major reason for global warming:
http://tigger.uic.edu/~pdoran/012009_Doran_final.pdf

I’ve done my own digging on the question of what scientists think, which you can review on my website listing climate scientists and those who’ve signed public statements either for or against the position that humans are impacting the climate (and that we thus need to cut emissions):
http://www.eecg.utoronto.ca/~prall/climate/

I also found that climate “skeptics” make up only around 2 to 3% of scientists who are widely published and/or widely cited in this field.

Why is the general public so far behind the science on this question? It’s likely some mix of the inconvenience of the news and unwillingness to face the changes it calls for; a lot of active P.R. campaigning by industries that see themselves most likely to be inconvenienced, namely big oil and coal (much of that P.R. funded by careful money laundering through foundations and “think tanks”); a small number of vocal “skeptics” willing to speak out against mainstream climate science, and actively promoted by an online network of contrarians including bloggers, talk radio and cable news; and finally, a bad habit the media have of framing any story as a “debate” and inviting one ‘pro’ and one ‘con’ “expert” – giving viewers or readers the mistaken impression that scientists are about evenly divided on that question.
Take a look at the listings on my site, ranked by number of publications on climate or by number of citations by others of that author’s work, and see for yourself where the climate ‘skeptics’ stack up against the mainstream scientists.

By: Tucker Swain

Tucker Swain — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 16:16:07 +0000

lot of people have the greenhouse effect mixed up with global warming and also many do not know that climate changes have always occurred during the history of the earth

By: Mickey

Mickey — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 16:00:55 +0000

Global Warming, No……Climate Change, Yes…….2 different things, climate change…..on-going process, global warming or global cooling is deifferent

By: rwblake

rwblake — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 15:54:56 +0000

What can I say that has not been stated?
Climate change happens as part of a normal cycle, not due to human interaction with the environment.
Global warming is not widely accepted by scientists as reported and stated by many. Their is a ton of contrary evidence. I think it is just one more way for researchers to get an inflow of cash for research, so they will say what is needed to keep the cash cow flowing.
Just because scientists agree on something does not always mean they are correct. The cause of most stomach ulcers is a perfect example. Prior to bacteria causing the problem, scientists firmly believed in many other causes and ridiculed the person who first suggested otherwise.

By: gdw3

gdw3 — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 15:50:42 +0000

Whether or not you think humans cause global warming, or that it even exists, no one can deny that we have an impact on the environment. All you have to do is look at the deforestation of Brazil or our own Northwest to see with your own eyes the devastation that humans can bring on. Look at how many species humans have hunted to extinction, or brought back from the brink. 6 billion people cannot live and consume without having some impact on their surroundings. It’s simply common sense.

The point is, we have influence. Why not do good things with it? What’s wrong with not polluting? What’s wrong with saving habitat? What’s wrong with efficient energy? What’s wrong with wanting clean water and air? Who cares if it affects global temperature? Are people just angry because they don’t want to feel like they’re being blamed for messing the world up? Grow up, and do the right thing simply because it IS the right thing!

By: eni

eni — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 15:32:57 +0000

I answered “not sure.” What I really mean is, “who cares?” The way I see it (and please note I’m leaving a lot of my opinion out, here) it doesn’t matter if global warming is real or not. Yes, the earth has gone through heating and cooling cycles before. I’m not really sure whether or not we’re exacerbating this one, because I haven’t done much research on it. Why? Because the fact is, we need to take responsibility for our planet and the impact of our actions on the environment regardless of whether global warming is natural or man-made. You only get one set of eyes. One set of teeth. One body. And we only get one planet, too. I’m really disappointed that people need the idea of global warming to be the kick in the pants that gets them caring about the environment for once. And I’m equally disappointed in people who use the “global warming isn’t real” argument to shrug off responsibility for the environment.

By: ByrdBrain

ByrdBrain — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 15:30:12 +0000

The argument that climate change must be real because of the so-called “consensus” among climatologists is faulty.
Look at it this way and tell me if you TRULY think climatologists can be seen as completely unbiased: The climate change monster is what has made climatology as a science matter and be prestigious (if that term can be applied at all here). Climate change has the gravy train coming in for these people and they are loathe to give that up- for the truth or not. Heretofore difficult to obtain research money and grants are now rolling in for these guys and nobody is going to say anything to upset that lifeline. Anybody who disagrees will be squashed by their colleagues and have their career endangered. The climate change brouhaha was engendered a social climate where it is unpopular to look at it critically. I’m sure these same climatologists, if asked, would deny farting in public as well (even though some of them do)because it is socailly unacceptable. Are we to beleive them on that as well?

By: Adam Jones

Adam Jones — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 15:25:18 +0000

I’m a medievalist and the middle ages saw a similar warming period to what people are calling Global Warming. Sure, the temperature is changing, but I have not been convinced that it is any different than the medieval warming period in which humans could not have played a part.

By: arejaypee

arejaypee — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 15:08:13 +0000

Unlike ‘whiskey’ who is dismayed by the reader comments here, I’m very pleased to find the majority of Neatonauts have not bought into the global warming hype.

My post for Blog Action Day is here on my “Learn Something New Every Day” blog: http://lsned.com/370

Basically, I’m dishing up some supporting evidence that the climate change is part of natural cycles, and human impact is minor. One interesting fact is that in the mid 1800s, when we started recording temperatures, the northern hemisphere was at an 8000 year low, so teperatures have nowhere to go but up.

By: dutchboy

dutchboy — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 15:05:26 +0000

Justin
I mean honestly the people who are railing against the idea of man made global warming are almost always not even proper scientists themselves.

I cant believe you are saying that when there is an endless parade of celebrities,musicians and politicians trumpeting global warming, some of which are being paid.

By: M555

M555 — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 14:53:21 +0000

Bye whiskey.

I agree with quite a few. The question is flawed. Climate Change and Global Warming are not synonymous.