Greenland's glaciers have been shrinking for 100 years: study

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Whether or not you agree that human activity influences climate change (for which there is certainly some evidence and consensus among scientists), I'm wary of the argument that "it would happen anyway" as a means to justify cavalier attitudes towards our industrial activities and the continued pollution of our environment, which even if you don't think is damaging to the planet, is certainly less than desirable for the people who live on it.

Oh, I agree fishdude. There are many ways we can f*ch up the planet. Pollution is a big problem. I just don't hold with the doom and gloomers when it comes to global warming. It's all junk science.

Same here. Global warming is the least of my worries. I've said it before.. I'd rather have higher sea levels than a glacier covering 60% (number just a guess) of our country.

BTW... Nuclear power doesn't contribute to global warming. An 'inconvient truth' the liberals ignore.

Nuclear power is currently the most readily available alternative to conventional fuel sources. Renewable energy (at present) simply doesn't produce anything like the sort of capacity that would supply current demand.

There's no likelihood that (in the near future at least) we will abandon an oil driven economy. Still there's no reason why we can't do away with coal-fired stations, which are the worst of the fossil fuel polluters and increase our reliance on say, LNG.

I think we should be worried about global warming, but as that is too obscure a concept for some - it just seems logical that we should try to reduce human impact on the environment if nothing else than to preserve our own health. After all there is direct evidence that pollution from heavy industry causes all manner of health problems.

Edited August 22, 2006 by erekose

[GaryC 7]

As you can see Co2 from natural sources FAR outweigh what humans do. Would you like to discount this source?

Results in natural warming of troposphere. Natural greenhouse gases - water vapor (H2O), carbon dioxide (CO2), and methane (CH4). Natural sources for CO2 include volcanoes, and animal and bacterial respiration. 1992 estimates of CO2 input to the atmosphere were 7 billion tons (humans) and 200 billion tons (natural sources) (Ray and Guzzo, 1993). Human activities add small amounts of nitrous oxide (N2O), ozone (O3), CFCs, PFCs and additional CO2 and CH4. Humans, volcanoes, and other sources add soot, particulates (including dust and sulfates) and other chemicals. However, some compounds may increase the reflectivity of clouds and may actually decrease the greenhouse effect.

Source: http://www.gpc.edu/~jsummero/EnvSciChpt11.htm

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

it just seems logical that we should try to reduce human impact on the environment if nothing else than to preserve our own health. After all there is direct evidence that pollution from heavy industry causes all manner of health problems.

It is logical. For me it's more of a pollution issue than global warming. I don't litter even though me throwing my trash out the car window will have little impact on anything. It's just the right thing to do.

[Artegal 1]

I am almost 40 years old and my whole life I have heard about the following issues:

War in the Middle East

Global Warming

Abortion

Nothing has changed in 40 years. It is still as cold and hot now as it was 40, 30, 20, and 10 years ago. Muslims, Christians, and Jews still can't get along as they couldn't in the 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s. A woman's right to choose is constantly challenged, but yet guaranteed.

The earth has been changing, will change, and what we feeble humans do to this planet won't matter one bit. We could do things to make us all feel better. Like we could all go live like the Amish, but that is not practical. We could put more money into alternative fuels--why isn't every home in the world constructed with solar panels or wind turbines, when space and geography allow it.

But even if we were to stop all human generated green house emissions tomorrow, we would still have trillions of sources of naturally occurring green house emissions. Venus has global warming, as far as I know there was never human activity on that planet. So yeah, turn off the telly, use one of those energy saving light bulbs that use less fuel but contain poisonous mercury (wait till our landfills get full of them in a few decades), and buy a hybrid car--or walk because we all know that our feet moving is what causes the earth spin properly on its axis.

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

I am almost 40 years old and my whole life I have heard about the following issues:

War in the Middle East

Global Warming

Abortion

Nothing has changed in 40 years. It is still as cold and hot now as it was 40, 30, 20, and 10 years ago. Muslims, Christians, and Jews still can't get along as they couldn't in the 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s. A woman's right to choose is constantly challenged, but yet guaranteed.

The earth has been changing, will change, and what we feeble humans do to this planet won't matter one bit. We could do things to make us all feel better. Like we could all go live like the Amish, but that is not practical. We could put more money into alternative fuels--why isn't every home in the world constructed with solar panels or wind turbines, when space and geography allow it.

But even if we were to stop all human generated green house emissions tomorrow, we would still have trillions of sources of naturally occurring green house emissions. Venus has global warming, as far as I know there was never human activity on that planet. So yeah, turn off the telly, use one of those energy saving light bulbs that use less fuel but contain poisonous mercury (wait till our landfills get full of them in a few decades), and buy a hybrid car--or walk because we all know that our feet moving is what causes the earth spin properly on its axis.

That's a big one. We want to feel good about ourselves. Even if we have to drive our SUV to the Green Peace rally to do it.