Chat on Global Warming
Here’s a sarcastic conversation I’m having with a friend in Baltimore that I post for your amusement:
Craig: Got some wicked storms back there!
Friend: Brutal. Spent the weekend with the chainsaw, cutting up trees that fell in the road. Probably one of the worst storms I’ve ever witnessed in Baltimore. 95 mph winds – and not from a hurricane. The heat wave’s been brutal, too. Not used to this 100 + degree heat for more than a day or two.
Craig: Wow, what could be causing these extreme weather events? 🙂 Just kidding.
Friend: Haha. Now Craig, it’s perfectly normal for Baltimore to have nearly two straight weeks of temperatures above 100, and massive storms with 95 mph winds ripping trees up out of the ground. Perfectly normal. 🙂
Craig: Yes, and last winter, when it didn’t even get chilly, no reason for alarm there either. 🙂
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All kidding aside, even a small increase in temperature can have profound effects on weather. Warm air holds more moisture than cool air, thus is less dense (since the gaseous water molecule is lighter than the nitrogen molecule that makes up most of our air). Like a helium balloon, the moist air rises, then cools and condenses into clouds, while the low-pressure area it leaves below causes wind. The warmer the air is, the faster and more intensely all this happens.
There is no question in my mind about whether human-caused global warming is real; I am convinced that it is and is potentially exceedingly serious. However, there are also various over-lapping natural cycles of varying lengths that can make it impossible to determine whether what we are seeing is human-caused warming or part of natural cycles. Therefore, it would be unreasonable to assert for certain that a particular storm, or even a few storms, are the result of human-caused global warming. It would also be unreasonable to assert for certain that a particular storm is not the result of global warming.
I thought that most of the skeptics accepted that Earth was warming, but questioned the role that man had in this warming. Even if one accepts that mankind is responsible for the increase in carbon dioxide and this is what is causing warming, it is unclear what mankind should do in response (reduce flux of sunlight reaching the earth, increase carbon dioxide absorption sources, decrease carbon dioxide generation sources, all of these, and if so, to what degree, etc.) and if this response can be done quickly enough and by enough countries to impact the outcome or if all of this is inevitable, we should spend our resources preparing for the outcome.
I agree with Frank Eggers’ first sentence completly, word for word. I have no clue as to how long it will take the climate to warm enough to melt the polar ice caps and glaciers around the world. When that happens, I am sure that most of the population that lives within that first 25 to 50 feet above sea level will have long before, moved inland. These displaced populations will impact every economy. The disruption will be akin to world war!
I believe it is worth our effort to respond in every way that James Gover suggests and more. If the increase in Carbon Dioxide started with the begining of the ‘Industrial Revolution’, it has been a 200 year process. To reverse the process will take longer I’d think.
Will you say you have no clue how long it will take the climate to warm enough to melt glaciers and polar ice caps. Remember once this whole planet has been covered with ice. That was about 10,000 years ago. Glaciers have been melting for 10,000 years. How do you think they started melting? It obviously wasn’t man caused because there was no such thing as fossil fuels back then. It was earths natural climate. They have been melting for thousands of years and now since there still melting its mans fault? Think about it. To me your belief about glaciers melting from man doesn’t make sense.
I am thankful for global warming. Right now at my house its 0 degrees. If there were no global warming it would be like -10. Haha that was a joke. All of our heat is not earth produced it comes from space, it comes from the sun.Im sure the earth holds in heat for a little bit but I doubt it keeps in heat forever. The earth is a little spec compared to the sun. The sun is our heater and if we get closer to the sun we heat up if we get farther we cool down and if we are way, way smaller than the sun how could you people think cars are going to affect the earths heat. sure there are a lot of them but keep in mind how large the sun is compared to earth and remember how small cars are compared to earth
Tomorrow wind chill is predicted to be 50 below 0. THANK YOU global warming