Global Warming

[shazza]

Is global warming true or a myth? Discuss.

[abunaidesu]

the weather has always been bipolar in sf so it's pretty hard to tell

[Austrian ViceMaster Alex]

Weather has changed a lot in the past 10 years here, it's getting warmer and warmer and there's an increase of unusual weather phenomenons in Austria that we never had before in my time. So I'm inclined to say it is real.

[Dryk]

Probably real.

But supposedly the temperature has not increased by as much as we anticipated in the last half-century. I'd rather not find out how much carbon we can load into the atmoshpere though.

Although we would get larger trees.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/31/Redwood_large_sherman.jpg

[Blademaster]

Probably.

++

[kainashi]

i think it could possibly be real but i remember hearing something about some scientists reversing their stance on it? :confused:

[Heald]

I don't particularly care about global warming/climate change, I just fail to see:

a) why climate change sceptics feel that businesses and corporations should have free reign to pollute the atmosphere and destroy the environment with reckless abandon (especially considering there are strict laws on people not to pollute in even the tiniest ways, such as littering and the disposal of certain materials and chemicals), because even if it isn't contributing to climate change, it still have absolutely awful effects on the environment and the welfare of living beings, and

b) why they are so opposed to making attempts to wean people and businesses off horrible and expensive methods and fuels when a little investment in the short-term into sustainable, clean energy and industry will be far, far cheaper and better for all of us in the long run. As long as we are still so disgustingly dependent on oil, we're going to be far poorer and less healthier in the long run. If humanity does manage to get off fossil fuels, our generation will be mocked in the history books for being some of the most wasteful, backwards idiots with absolutely no forward-thinking whatsoever.

[Dryk]

I may have heard that somewhere, too, but I'm not sure. And I've talked with someone who's a nonbeliever, and they claim that some of the data they gather about global temperatures is using extremes. I'm not sure if it is just extreme heat, or both. Still, in the science books I've read, all of them seem to support it.

Edit:
Didn't see Heald.

As far as I understand it: Quick Money. That's all that will ever run the world... unless you manage to get some ideological person into power.

[Heald]

Didn't see Heald.

As far as I understand it: Quick Money. That's all that will ever run the world... unless you manage to get some ideological person into power.
It's so idiotic though, even the most basic person can see that you can either continue to use old technology and old fuel with ever-increasing cost, or make a short-term investment and pay off the cost of that investment within 5 years in terms of how much you save in running costs.

I will admit that the technology for this is not quite there, but purely because no one is bothering to invest in it because we still have fossil fuels. I don't see why we should wait until fossil fuels run out until we make the switch, look at the Gulf Spill, do we really want more of that because we refuse to give up our addiction to the black sludge?

[Telume]

Because no one is stopping them, the governments just let them do what they want 'cause they're pumping all the money into the economy.

[Blademaster]

Which is in the $1,000,000,000,000 shitter anyway, but who cares about that, mirite guys?

[Dryk]

It's so idiotic though, even the most basic person can see that you can either continue to use old technology and old fuel with ever-increasing cost, or make a short-term investment and pay off the cost of that investment within 5 years in terms of how much you save in running costs.

I will admit that the technology for this is not quite there, but purely because no one is bothering to invest in it because we still have fossil fuels.


Yeah, but I think they probably just look at the 18-month returns. And you're right about solar power and wind energy because I think they get near 20% of the potential energy. That needs to be around double I bet before they really go after it. I've also heard that very few hybrid cars come close to paying off the extra cost for the new materials, and then you have the fact that some of the materials in those engines are extremely rare. I've heard the Prius is the only one that comes close in the U.S. Lots of problems to go around.

On the other hand, I have heard of some oil companies doing lots of research into alternative energies that could be very very profitable for them. Not sure how long that research is going to take though.

[Heald]

Hybrid cars when they were first rolled out commercially were false economies: most if not all would never be cheaper to drive in both the short and long run. However, newer generation models are closing the gap fast, with more every year being able to pay off the extra cost of being hybrid at the pump a lot faster than older models. Within five years time I imagine that'll be the norm and no manufacturer would push a hybrid model at too high a price so that it would never realistically pay off in the long run.

Of course ideally we'd give up on hybrid cars and just go for hydrogen, which are far more efficient and far cleaner, however, because we're dividing our resources, the first fully hydrogen-powered commercial car is at least ten to twenty years away.

[Blademaster]

I wish cars got a complete overhaul, to be honest. Not just from a fuel consumption standpoint, but from a design one. Having the driver be on one side of the vehicle instead of in the middle doesn't really seem practical to me...

[Heald]

I wish cars got a complete overhaul, to be honest. Not just from a fuel consumption standpoint, but from a design one. Having the driver be on one side of the vehicle instead of in the middle doesn't really seem practical to me...
Just a quick question, but do you drive?

[DarkestLight]

I am learning, and I do agree, I do not completely understand the logistics of having the driver on one side of the vehicle instead of in the center. Maybe its due to the way cars are built to help evenly divide space so you are not left with lighter portions of the car in the front...but its still weird.

Especially since everything gets reversed on the other side of the world. Why don't they just make cars with driver functions in the center?

Back to the main Topic: Global warming/cooling trends are here, and they're normal for the planet, but not for the creatures that do not have a very long time on the planet. We oly been around in a relative blink of an eye, so yeah all these wonky weather changes seem fricking weird to us and yeah, we're prolly influencing them at a higher rate than nature by itself, but whether we are around or not, it'll even out.

So meh. Gimme my warm winter and scorching summers. I like the heat anyway. Melt the ice caps and change the complete layout of the tropics. I'm down for inland seas and destruction of all coastal cities -.- Fatties float anyway amirite?

[Heald]

I'll say this much: because there are far more and better reasons why cars are built that way than there are to stick the seat in the middle, and since generations of engineers and designers have kept it that way (and believe me, engineers are not people who keep in bad designs because 'that's the way they've always been done') I think it's safe to say it's better than the alternative.

[RedStarWarrior]

Global warming is not a myth, but the fact that humans really make much of an impact on it is quite fictional.

Compare the average volcanic eruption to a century's worth of human pollution and you'll see that the Earth does more damage to itself than we could possibly do. I personally feel that the warming of the planet is part of a long cycle...

[Katie]

I remember a lesson in an ecology class where my prof explained a few facts about "global warming" that won me over, hands down no questions. I can't for the life of me remember anything exact, though! It all revolved around how mysteriously around the time of the industrial revolution onward we've done what the earth regularly cycles through in tens/hundreds? of thousands of years in like 100. Go us!

I have no idea how I'd debate on that though, I wish I'd kept my notes 8( Convinced me though, at least. shrug.

[Blademaster]

Just a quick question, but do you drive?

Not yet.

[kazr]

Regardless if it causes global warming or not I'd rather not breathe in a bunch of pollutants from combusted shit. So get on that, world.

tia,


kazr

[Blademaster]

Your request has been submitted and filed away for future reference.

It'll never see the light of day again. ;_;