lost_concept

The world is falling apart.

I have been doing some research and reading the world new lately because I have been extremely bored at work lately. I have come across a lot of interesting facts that we probably do think off, but take them lightly.
My first piece of research has been on global warming, which is going to be a serious threat sooner or later. The polar ice caps are melting, and water levels are rising. Lots of costal cities are in danger, and will be flooded soon. Global warming has also caused a erratic change in the weather as insurance companies and world banks gathered to discuss the threat of going bankrupt in the future due to the dramatic weather changes. 1 Trillion dollars will be spent in the next 15 years, “Which is a estimate”. In damages caused. 11,000 Plants and animals are on the verge of becoming extinct dude to hunters, and changes to wildlife from natural and human causes.
Crime and corruption also plays a factor in this…
Every year it’s getting worse, and doesn’t seem to be getting any better. Our kids are getting dumber, “Or most of them”. Shooting one another, their minds are getting corrupted at younger ages. Old folks sit back and say this never would of happened in my day.
Governments are also corrupt, and do not care about the common wealth of its people.
We are considered pawns or puppets, following the stereotypes that have been set out for us. But there is nothing anyone or I can do about that, except live your life to the fullest and truly enjoy everything while it last.

Well I don’t feel like going on and on about this nonsense, thought I would say something serious for a change. I could go one forever with this but I wont.

Blah Blah Blah
Dont take everything for granted.

fraay

Well I don't know if its a crock one way or the other.. but I can tell you.. if it does exist.. they incorrectly named it.. "global warming".. psshaaaw..come up to canada.. winter lasted over a month longer than normal.. and it snowed 3 weeks earlier than normal.. nothing warm about that..

And don't tell me it's because of el nino! El nino is weather man for "we, as usual, have no clue whats going on.. but now we have an official sounding excuse"

lost_concept

LOL !

I am down with that !

fossil boy

Yes, we live on a dynamic planet - the atmospheric chemistry has evolved over time. There is no equilibrium, only responses that strive to approach it.
To say humans have had no influence upon earth is ridiculous. Even lowly bacteria have had major contributions to earth history/chemistry. Around 3.8 bya, the advent of cyano-bacteria (stromatilites) changed the compsition of the atmosphere from reducing conditions to oxidized...
This is well-supported with evidence from both the fossil record and rock record, which shows a distinct chemical change concurrent with the beginning of photosynthesis.
If we skip a few billion years of history and delve into the Paleozoic, with the origin and proliferation of landplants, we find, again, a major drawdown of CO2 levels and an increase in diatomic oxygen. Incidentially, the Carboniferous Period (300 mya), which included mass burial of many "coal swamps" thus removed from the earth system, millions of tons of carbon. Similarly, the biomass which constitutes hydrocarbons also repsresents vast amounts of "stored" carbon.
This is our concern: we are releasing back all this carbon from these "reserves", and doing so at very fast rate.
Recent evidence is plentiful and includes ice cores from both poles, which contain trapped atmospheric gases. Is it mere coincidence that global temperature AND CO2 levels increase stepwise since the industrial revolution? Or better yet, that from the 1950's onward, the two curves are not only highly correlated but assume exponential growth?

Yes, the earth has long endured change. But, biota has ALWAYS played a role in this change. To ignore the human contribution is most unwise, since I can think of no other animal which has had such an impact in terms of wholesale landscape modification, resource use or effects upon other organisms.

Unfortunately, the results aren't clearly understood (not predictable). "Global Warming" may indeed be a misnomer - however, what is expected is certainly climatic change, often termed "enhanced seasonality". And indeed, most of the world's alpine glaciers and ice sheets are retreating, tropical diseases are spreading into higher latittudes and major droughts/fires have been pronounced occurrences which have affected most of us.

This is our future! The experiment has started and it is not reversible. The only recourse, then, is decreasing our atmospheric contributions to minimize the effect.