Fun Stuff > CHATTER

Weather Channel founder wants to sue Al Gore

<< < (28/33) > >>

Nodaisho:
I have a question. Why has global warming suddenly become such a big topic? Isn't it the same thing as the greenhouse effect? And hasn't that been pretty accepted for more than a decade? Why now?

I honestly don't know which side I am on in regards to global warming, because I haven't taken the time to study anything for myself, and just about everyone that makes graphs has an agenda, which means I have to filter through what they want me to think to find what evidence there really is on either side, and I got tired of that after two papers last semester. What I do know is that if you go from some place up in the mountains, with little to no auto traffic, and then go down to even a city with relatively clean air, you are going to be smelling something really bad for a while. That is why I want lowered amounts of pollution, because I want those places to stay smelling good for as long as they can.

One thing that bugs me, though, is the people that talk about how they want to save the earth. That seems pretty arrogant to me, saving the earth? The earth has been around longer than us, and will be around after us, most likely. As Carlin said, the planet is fine, the people are fucked. If you are going to espouse an environmentalist point of view, don't say that you are saving the world, you are saving your own ass, if not your own, than your children's, or their children's.

edit: I think this topic needs to go to DISCUSS.

Hat:
I agree that we are not fighting to save the Earth, life has proven to be incredibly adaptable, and will probably go on in one form or another for the next five billion years. I learned about the Greenhouse effect and the possibility it might have on raised sea levels when I was in primary school around 1995. It might only have been reaching hysteria levels lately because there have been massive trends towards corporate environmental responsability in the last five years or so, but people have been anticipating a problem for a while now.

Also attitudes towards environmentalism in general have escalated in this decade, could be because the idea of a new millenium inspires ideas of a new order and a new way of doing things, but its just speculation as to why the average man and woman in the street have been having their buttons pressed about this recently

Catfish_Man:
So far dennis is winning this thread by actually analyzing data himself rather than just quoting.

RedLion:

--- Quote ---edit: I think this topic needs to go to DISCUSS.
--- End quote ---

Why? Not every "serious" thread needs to be in that forum.

Anyway, I think the reason that global warming has become a "hot" topic (C WHUT I DID?) is that the evidence has continued to mount in recent years that the changes that were predicted by the greenhouse effect have been proceeding at a pace that was not accounted for. The melting and warming has been occurring at so rapid a rate that no one's really sure if anything we do at this point is going to have an effect in stopping the potentially devastating consequences that are coming.

dennis:

--- Quote from: Nodaisho on 06 Sep 2008, 19:13 ---I have a question. Why has global warming suddenly become such a big topic? Isn't it the same thing as the greenhouse effect? And hasn't that been pretty accepted for more than a decade? Why now?
--- End quote ---
Global warming isn't the same thing as the Greenhouse effect. The GH effect is central to GW theory, but isn't equivalent. All the GH effect states is that certain compounds in the atmosphere cause it to retain heat, which is something that can be directly demonstrated, unlike GW theory.

GW has been a popular controvery for at least a couple of decades, but things like the recent US election campaigns, second Iraq War, high energy prices, significant weather phenomena and the rise of the internet has pulled it to the forefront. Ironically, those things are mostly fluff and speculation. Things like documented sea level rises that inundate small island nations like Tuvalu (where the .tv domain comes from) that are serious have made barely a blip. A lot of the "awareness" that people have now is simply a fad.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page

[*] Previous page