Fact. I've seen some of the impacts like flooding. And my Uncle went to Antartica. He saw the ice melting
So you are 100% positive that global warming exists?
And you are basing this entirely on the following two criteria?
You've seen some flooding that you've somehow attributed to global warming.
And your uncle has gone to Antartica and stared at glaciers until he's sure he's seen them "melt." Your uncle seeing some ice "melt" doesn't do anything to prove the existence of global warming. The ice he saw "melting" could be "melting" for any number of reasons, yet you want to attribute this to a phenomenon that you have no way of quantitatively measuring?
Well guess what. The temperatures in areas like Southern Africa and Southern California all managed to hit record lows. The seawater temperature of the Atlantic ocean has gone down by 1 degree. If your uncle can
see ice "melt" and claim that it's global warming, I'm going to
see these temperatures and claim that it's global cooling.
Like Aliens, or black holes? Or maybe it might just be... Global Warming.
I've got another idea.
And this might sound crazy, so bear with me.
How about it's
Nature.
We, as Humans, have only been monitoring the climate for around 200 years. Whether you're a Christian, or a scientist, or a Buddhist, or worship the Flying Spaghetti Monster, I believe we can all agree that the Earth is much older than 200 years.
So supposedly, the temperature of a few places in the Earth has gone up a few degrees in the past few decades, and you want to say that it's our fault? What if the temperature of the Earth was lower-than-average when we started measuring it? What then?
But, if you insist on saying that all of these "greenhouse gases" are being thrown into the atmosphere and are slowly cooking us to death, then let me show you a few excerpts from a study done by the United States Geological Survey:
"U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) scientists are inventorying gas emissions at many of the almost 70 active volcanoes in the United States. This effort helps build a better understanding of the dynamic processes at work on the Earth's surface and is contributing important new information on how volcanic emissions affect global change."
"Ash column generated by the eruption of Mount Pinatubo, a volcano in the Philippines Luzon volcanic arc, on June 12, 1991. The climactic eruption of Mount Pinatubo occurred three days later on June 15, 1991, and was one of the largest eruptions of this century. The climactic event lasted about 9 hours and erupted over a cubic mile of rock material. It injected a 20- million ton sulfur dioxide cloud into the stratosphere to an altitude of more than 20 miles. The climactic Pinatubo cloud was the largest sulfur dioxide cloud ever observed in the stratosphere since the beginning of such observations by satellites in 1978. It caused what is believed to be the largest aerosol disturbance of the stratosphere this century, although smaller than the estimated disturbances from the eruptions of Tambora in 1815 and Krakatau in 1883. Sulfate aerosol formed in the stratosphere from sulfur dioxide in the Pinatubo cloud increased the reflection of radiation from the Sun back into space. Consequently, the Earth's surface cooled in the three years following the eruption, by as much as 1.3 degrees ( Fahrenheit scale) at the height of the effect. The sulfate aerosols also accelerated chemical reactions that, together with increased stratospheric chlorine levels from man-made chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) pollution, destroyed ozone and led to the lowest ozone levels ever recorded to date in the stratosphere."
"Huge amounts of volcanic gas, aerosol droplets, and ash are injected into the stratosphere during major explosive eruptions. Some gases, such as carbon dioxide, are greenhouse gases that promote global warming..."
"The aerosols increase the reflection of radiation from the Sun back into space and thus cool the Earth's lower atmosphere or troposphere; however, they also absorb heat radiated up from the Earth, thereby warming the stratosphere. Several eruptions during the past century have caused a decline in the average temperature at the Earth's surface of up to half a degree (Fahrenheit scale) for periods of one to three years."
Now. We may draw several things from this.
1) That mother nature was polluting her own atmosphere and destroying her own ozone far before Human Beings ever stepped foot on her.
2) That natural occurences like volcanoes can both drastically raise and lower the temperature of the Earth by far more than Humans can. Cooling the Earth by 1.3 degrees is a mighty feat that we haven't quite been able to match yet.
3) That we aren't doing nearly as much "harm" to the atmosphere as the planet is doing to the atmosphere. Events like this aren't terribly uncommon. Things as big as the eruption of Mount Pinatubo happen at least once a century. How old did we agree the Earth was earlier?
Many centuries old? So what you're saying is that natural events that cause drastic climate change have been happening at least once every couple centuries
And when did the Industrial Revolution start? 1780's? I'm going to venture out here and say that Mother Nature has been "damaging" her atmosphere more profusely and for longer than we have.
ok i thgink i have a better answer
The world goes in a big long cycle over and over. We have good times then it gets too hot and the ice melts disrupting the currents and causing flooding. Then the temperature drops into an ice age. We had an ice age before and then we 'thawed out'. It would slowly warm up again to livable conditions and then the cycle restarts.
Here I was, being long-winded, and this intelligent gentleman sums up the gist of my points in a few short sentences. Bravo, sir.
Global warming. Fact.
1) The Sun emits, infrared, uv and visible light rays which when reaching the Earth warm it up.
2) The Earth in turn releases some of all the heat as infrared (which going by the EM spectrum means not all of the heat is going back out only a minority) through the atmosphere.
3) Some of this infrared is blocked by greenhouse gases (methane, carbon dioxide and water vapour, the first hugely contributed to by humans see the 'carbon cycle') and reflected back to Earth.
4) This means slowly but surely the more carbon dioxide is being pumped into the air and methane in some cases the more infrared is being reflected before reaching outer space resulting in the Earth's temp going up.
Note: that was all from memory
So since it was "all from memory", I suppose it would be too much to ask for sources for a more in-depth explanation?
And I would also like to see some statistics that prove this supposed "temperature increase" that you keep talking about.
I would also be
particularly interested in seeing a reliable authority proving that methane was first largely introduced by Mankind, becuase
I have some authorities that say otherwise.
And even if everything you say is true, I have already stated that the Earth itself has been releasing its own greenhouse gases into its own atmosphere in larger quantities and for longer than we have.
there is good historical evidence that the early middle ages were hotter than now (e.g. vikings settling in greenland)
there is evidence that the 17th/18th centuries (the little ice age) were colder (e.g. river thames freezing over enough to hold fairs on it)
trouble is we dont *know* if the warming we are seeing is natural or if its caused by greenhouse emissions
*but* if it is caused by greenhouse emissions its getting serious...
Now, I find myself in gleeful agreeance on all your points except for the last one.
What makes you say it's getting serious? What catastrophic world events have there been that have been irrefutably tied to "global warming"?