Question

Global Warming. Is it real, is it a threat, and who's to blame?

There are three issues here.

Is the Earth warming abnormally now, or is this current trend normal?

If the Earth is warming abnormally, is this a problem?

If the Earth is warming abnormally, can we attribute this to an overactive Sun, or to human activities.

This is a politically-charged issue. There is plenty of data, but the data can be interpreted in more than one way. The NASA Global Climate Web site (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. provides factual data and different interpretations of the data. The differing interpretations are the problem. We can react. Should we?

What do you think? Do you see any compelling evidence one way or the other? Please support your position with logical statements, concrete examples, and citations of applicable. Please try to avoid political diatribes.

Answer 1

Answer-One of the biggest issues facing us right now is global warming. Its effects on animals and on agriculture are indeed frightening, and the effects on the human population are even scarier. The facts about global warming are often debated in politics and the media, but, unfortunately, even if we disagree about the causes, global warming effects are real, global, and measurable. The causes are mainly from us, the human race, and the effects on us will be severe.

causes of global warming

Over-increasing addiction to electricity from coal burning power plants releases enormous amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. 40% of U.S. CO2 emissions come from electricity production, and burning coal accounts for 93% of emissions from the electric utility industry.

Methane is another extremely potent greenhouse gas, ranking right behind CO2. When organic matter is broken down by bacteria under oxygen-starved conditions (anaerobic decomposition) as in rice paddies, methane is produced. The process also takes place in the intestines of herbivorous animals, and with the increase in the amount of concentrated livestock production, the levels of methane released into the atmosphere is increasing.

The use of forests for fuel (both wood and for charcoal) is one cause of deforestation, but in the first world, our appetite for wood and paper products, our consumption of livestock grazed on former forest land, and the use of tropical forest lands for commodities like palm oil plantations contributes to the mass deforestation of our world.

Now, personally I don't think it's a moral issue any more than, say, world hunger is a moral issue. There's only so much anyone can do. Tried putting a planet's climates in equilibrium recently? It's not easy even if you could simply generate or remove heat or create species out of thin air. How is a divided world of science going to do anything about it? We can take small steps, but that will never be enough just like we can donate a million dollars a month to stop world hunger without actually solving a long-term problem.