Support global warming

primroselane · #1 01/29/05, 02:30 AM

Share your mild and warm winter stories with others here.

You might want to share how cold it used to be before the elite brought us global warming and how toasty things are now and what changes global warming has made in your family's winter life.

wy_white_wolf · #2 01/29/05, 09:01 AM

Well watched the weater this morning and the record high was over 40 years ago and the record low was 3 years ago.

kesoaps · #3 01/29/05, 09:27 AM

ROFL! Two weeks ago we were in a deep freeze, but we got smart here! Burned our trash in a barrel, including plastics. Littered on the side of the road. Chopped down a tree where a spotted owl used to live, then ate it (tasted like chicken!), threw away all our aluminum cans instead of reclycling, and sent our dogs out to play in the creek (trout spawing, inside the watershed, can't breath on it for fear something evil will happen, you know.)

It worked. The snow melted. :haha:

Bruce in NE · #4 01/29/05, 10:59 AM

"before the elite brought us global warming"

Could you explain who the "elite" are you''re referring to?

I think it's an established scientific fact that the earth is warming up, despite what some deniers want to believe. If you care to do some research on the subject, you might google "global warming" -- you'll currently get over 4.4 million hits on the subject.

kathy H · #5 01/29/05, 11:06 AM

lets see the house we own in Tacoma Washington which has been in the family fifty five years shows my mom fifty five years ago with three foot high drifts in front of the house. Now it barely gets a dusting. Here Out side of Yosimite the old timers talk about all the snow and being snowed in for weeks, not any more!

kathy H · #6 01/29/05, 11:12 AM

lets see the house we own in Tacoma Washington which has been in the family fifty five years shows my mom fifty five years ago with three foot high drifts in front of the house. Now it barely gets a dusting. Here Out side of Yosimite the old timers talk about all the snow and being snowed in for weeks, not any more!

seedspreader · #7 01/29/05, 12:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by primroselane

Share your mild and warm winter stories with others here.

You might want to share how cold it used to be before the elite brought us global warming and how toasty things are now and what changes global warming has made in your family's winter life.

Hmmm, sounds like a general chat opening...

Bob in WI · #8 01/29/05, 01:15 PM

Quote:

you'll currently get over 4.4 million hits on the subject.

You will also get 10.3 million hits on UFO's.

Obviously the number of hits on search engine has little to do with the truth of a topic.

Global warming is probably occuring, as it has done numerous times in the past.

The point of contention with many however is are humans are to blame?

primroselane · #9 01/30/05, 08:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bruce in NE

"before the elite brought us global warming"

Could you explain who the "elite" are you''re referring to?

I think it's an established scientific fact that the earth is warming up, despite what some deniers want to believe. If you care to do some research on the subject, you might google "global warming" -- you'll currently get over 4.4 million hits on the subject.

The seasonal hole in the Arctic ozone layer could be the worst ever this year if the current cold conditions persist, scientists are warning.

Temperatures in the Arctic ozone layer are now the coldest for 50 years and have been consistently low for two months. The ozone layer blankets the Earth at an altitude between 15 to 30 kilometres. It is part of a zone called the stratosphere, and absorbs ultraviolet light.

European Union scientists said on Friday that if the exceptionally cold temperatures continue, and the persistent polar clouds - which alter the chemistry of the ozone layer - remain, then large ozone losses will be likely when spring sunlight returns in the coming weeks.
New Scientist

*****************

Christopher C. Burt, the author of the excellent and addictive ''Extreme Weather: A Guide & Record Book,'' strives to put all this in context. He reminds us that, eons ago, the earth experienced some mind-boggling temperatures: there were glaciers in Wisconsin, and palm trees littered northern Canada. That's climate, of course, not weather. Weather happens in the short term, and we humans haven't been keeping reliable records all that long. ''In the United States,'' Burt writes, ''weather records have been maintained by the official weather services since about 1870. In the 50 preceding years, records were kept intermittently by individuals and by some institutions, including the Smithsonian Institution.'' The figures we have ''represent only a fraction of human experience with weather,'' but may be used as a ''yardstick'' to determine climatic trends. By this yardstick, the weather is not becoming more extreme.

Burt spends but a single page on global warming. ''There is little debate over the fact that over the past 25 years or so global temperatures have risen significantly, and the trend has escalated since 1990.'' Why? Well, he points out that many weather stations have been moved from cities to nearby airports, where acres of asphalt radiate more heat. Some weather stations, previously in the countryside, have been absorbed into urban areas, which are warmer in the winter.

Cosmic · #10 01/30/05, 09:38 PM

You can do all the local weather stories but it can't prove much.

More factual and structured was a recent NOVA program that documented the changes in the Arctic. No doubt there are measurable changes, including to the vegetation growth and types. They can check photograhic records taken after WWII and match the same areas today and do a valid comparison of changes that are occuring over time frames measured in decades.

Plus ground temperatures are showing increases over time and the surface is changing, permafrost boundaries are changing. The big fear is the arctic is a huge reservior of frozen methane, thawing the tundra can release massive amount to the atmosphere. Ice pack boundaries are changing.

No doubt the local weather patterns are screwy. Last year and this one are far colder than before. More recent years were very warm with sometimes almost no snowfall. This year, we got the all time record and the winter is not over.

One theory is the weather goes in cycles. Short term like maybe 40 years, 400 years, 10,000 years, etc, etc. The one clear fact the Pilgrims story's about it being cold are possible. We are getting a repeat of what they describe.

The tough part is the changes seem so World Wide and vast in scope to the time frame most humans can relate too. We can't seem to answer is this wildly unique in terms of Earth's history or something that has happened many times before and give it cause / effect relationships.

indypartridge · #11 01/31/05, 05:16 AM

I just read an article on some research done at the Univ. of Virginia which says that humans 'may have saved the world from another ice age'. It said that human generation of greenhouse gases has altered natural long-term earth weather cycles, and that Canada would already be largely covered with ice if we weren't busily burning fossil fuels.

tyusclan · #12 01/31/05, 05:47 AM

Boston just set a record for the most snowfall ever in a January. Every year when you hear about some temperatures being higher, somewhere else has record cold. I think it's just a normal cycle.

I'm not saying we shouldn't try to live more simply and conserve as much as we can; that's what this whole forum is about. I just don't think we alter it as much as some scientists try to make us believe.

mikell · #13 01/31/05, 06:08 AM

The earth is alive and just going thru a cycle not much different than it's inhabitants do on a regular basis.In the 70s it was global cooling and now warming. I wouldn't mind palm trees at Christmas on Lake Michigan.

mikell

wy0mn · #14 01/31/05, 07:06 AM

The south has had fewer & milder ice-storms during its shorter winters in recent years.
We have had much more rain. Becoming another temperate rain forest, enjoying the greenhouse effect. lol
Guess I'm 'elite' too. Driving to work instead of getting the health benefit of a 5mi walk. Alsov enjoyed all the nice things our disposable society has come up with, but trying to do better.
Lex/Tn

jgbndaudio · #15 01/31/05, 03:30 PM

Oh yeah for us humans, aren't we so smart burning fossil fuels to ward of an ice age. You believe anything you hear out of Virgina?

Two questions I have for the people who believe it's "just a natural warming cycle".

What if it's not? Also, how can you say for certain that the billions of tons of fossil fuels we burn each year aren't having any effect?
Scotty

wy_white_wolf · #16 01/31/05, 04:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jgbndaudio

Oh yeah for us humans, aren't we so smart burning fossil fuels to ward of an ice age. You believe anything you hear out of Virgina?

Two questions I have for the people who believe it's "just a natural warming cycle".

What if it's not? Also, how can you say for certain that the billions of tons of fossil fuels we burn each year aren't having any effect?
Scotty

What if it's not? --- We'll adapt. Just like we always have.

how can you say for certain that the billions of tons of fossil fuels we burn each year aren't having any effect? --- I can't, but since we'll adapt why does it matter?

chas · #17 01/31/05, 08:29 PM

Sorry, but look at twenty year old National Graphic mags and you would read about the coming ice age !!! Anyone remember? Besides one good volcano will put more garbage into the air than we do!Not to say we should polute.
The sky is falling said the little red hen!!!!!

kesoaps · #18 02/01/05, 12:10 AM

Quote:

lets see the house we own in Tacoma Washington which has been in the family fifty five years shows my mom fifty five years ago with three foot high drifts in front of the house.

My grandmother has pics of my mom standing in snow over her head 55 years ago...I have pictures of my daughter standing in snow over her head 5 years ago...All just a wee bit north of Tacoma. And drifts are caused by wind, not tons of snowfall. Lynden gets drifts that need to be tunneled through because of the wind, while the rest of the land lays bare. It happens nearly every winter.

And yes, I do recall the ice age scare (seems they were right, we're having a lot of ice this winter!)

Quint · #19 02/01/05, 02:55 AM

I have some journals that go back from when my ancestor first came here to this place. Some decades it was warm and little snow, some were hot, some were wet, some were dry. it just went in cycles. One stretch had ice storm after ice storm. Another had a dry winter with little precip at all. Another had blizzards after blizzard and snow that took forever to melt.

Global warming is just the new crisis du jor which certain people just wrap their old agendas in. 20 years ago it was the ice age. The talking box sez it is so therefore it must be.

As they say, there is nothing new under the sun.

Weez all gonna die! *yawn*

Cyngbaeld · #20 02/01/05, 09:06 AM

I remember in 1957 that we had snow in Mississippi that winter. Only one time, about 3 inches. It was SO unusual that Mom made us put our clothes on over our pj's so we could stay warm while we ran out to play in it. (I was 5.) Most of the homes (that I knew) back then were heated with a fireplace and were uninsulated. And I remember some winters in Alaska with no snow, and some that were 50below with a ton of snow. And I remember all the 'scientists' saying we were going into an ice age.

The thing is, we do NOT have enough records to PROVE the global temp is going UP or DOWN. Yes, we need to be concerned about pollution. If we don't all clean up our act we won't have a world that we can live in. But I resent being manipulated by the simple minded tactics of fear mongers.