Toasty Alps - no, not a cool, new cereal

shesulsa

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VIENNA, Austria - Europe's Alpine region is going through its warmest period in 1,300 years, the head of an extensive climate study said Tuesday.

"We are currently experiencing the warmest period in the Alpine region in 1,300 years," Reinhard Boehm, a climatologist at Austria's Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics said.
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Ping898

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But global warming isn't happening...it is all just made up...:rolleyes:
 

crushing

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But global warming isn't happening...it is all just made up...:rolleyes:

Global warming is a fact. It has been happening since SUV driving, hair spraying woolly mammoths brought us out of the last major ice age. ;)
 

Ping898

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Global warming is a fact. It has been happening since SUV driving, hair spraying woolly mammoths brought us out of the last major ice age. ;)

I agree completely...for some reason the people "in charge" who set laws and environmental guidelines don't seem to agree
 

CoryKS

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I agree completely...for some reason the people "in charge" who set laws and environmental guidelines don't seem to agree

Well, some people are a bit skeptical after that whole "coming Ice Age" thing back in the '70s. Fool me once...
 

terryl965

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Damm I was hoping for Oatmeal but this is a concern to the world and they say no global warming:erg:
 

Ping898

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Well, some people are a bit skeptical after that whole "coming Ice Age" thing back in the '70s. Fool me once...

I agree, but it seems to me that we have around us at least in the US a very much head-in-the-sand type of attitude by those making policy that might be effected by global warming...
 

Makalakumu

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Well, some people are a bit skeptical after that whole "coming Ice Age" thing back in the '70s. Fool me once...

Two mayflies land on a tree. One turns and looks at the other and says, "Hey man, I think this tree is growing."

The other looks incredulous and says, "Oh please, this tree hasn't changed a bit in my entire life!"

Meanwhile, two humans sit on the Earth bantering at the speed of light...
 

Sukerkin

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LOL

A very apposite quip there kyosa :tup:.

As an aside, it is speculated that the reason why the '70's ice age did not occur after is that the warming trend, altho' at that time 'hidden', was holding it off - well, that and all the atmospheric particulate pollution lowering the planets albedo :D.

Global warming is fairly well established as being an actual event rather than a statistical phantasm now but bear in mind that it has taken several decades of observation and data gathering to be sure of this.

So altho' I think it is true that powerful economic groups in some countries have, out of self-interest, blocked some actions that may have helped the situation, it was not entirely unreasonable for them to have done so.

My personal view is that is best to adopt the 'do the least harm' strategy in such cirmcunstances but I don't have a multi-billion dollar interest in a fossil fuel industry (or similar) so it does't really hurt my self-interest to be as un-polluting as I can.

I guess what I'm saying is that altho' I feel it was reprehensible that organisations such as the oil companies were obstroculous in this issue, I can understand why they were.
 

CoryKS

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Two mayflies land on a tree. One turns and looks at the other and says, "Hey man, I think this tree is growing."

The other looks incredulous and says, "Oh please, this tree hasn't changed a bit in my entire life!"

Meanwhile, two humans sit on the Earth bantering at the speed of light...

Clever. But the problem isn't the mayfly who thinks the tree hasn't changed. It's the mayfly who says, "If we stop acting like mayflies, this thing will stop growing."
 

Makalakumu

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Clever. But the problem isn't the mayfly who thinks the tree hasn't changed. It's the mayfly who says, "If we stop acting like mayflies, this thing will stop growing."

Mayflies are capable of some pretty spectacular things. They can be kinda hard to pigeon-hole.

Regarding the allusion that global warming is NOT caused by humans, all I can say is that, as of this date, no scientist has been able to point to a reasonable alternative source of for CO^2 emissions.

Will cutting our CO^2 emissions reduce global warming? I suspect the answer is a little more complicated then turning down the heat in our houses...
 

5-0 Kenpo

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How much has the earth's temperature actually increased, say, in the last two-hundred year?
 

Makalakumu

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How much has the earth's temperature actually increased, say, in the last two-hundred year?

How much is the average temperature of the Earth really going to tell you? Global Warming, because of various geographic and geologic features, is intimately tied to distinct local areas.

Just ask the Polar Bears.
 

5-0 Kenpo

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I was referring to the overall temperature of the earth. I heard that it was somewhere in the area of 1 degree centigrade in the last one hundred years.


Gee.... it's really burning up in here......
 

Sukerkin

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I don't know if I'm reading your inference right there Kenpo but if you mean that one degree doesn't sound like very much then you are right ... but ... isn't there nearly always a "But" ? :D ... it doesn't actually take a very large change in the average temperature to have a major effect on the global climate, ocean levels etc.

For example, a couple of centuries ago there was what is called the "Little Ice Age" in Europe and that was brought on by a drop in temperature of less than half a degree (if I recall my studies correctly). In Ice Ages (proper ones) the mean temperature is only five degrees lower than now.

If the temperature rises another degree then current temperaures will be the same as the highest maximum in the past million years and sea levels will rise about 25 meters ... :eek:!

This is not simple alarmist chatter amongst the scientific community, it's a very real and very dangerous effect.

But, as I always say when this matter comes up, it's not the temperature rise that you need to worry about but the magnetic pole shift that's underway.
 

Makalakumu

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I was referring to the overall temperature of the earth. I heard that it was somewhere in the area of 1 degree centigrade in the last one hundred years.

I, too, was referring to the overall or average global temperature. This figure isn't going to tell you much. The effects of global warming are more local. Go ask the polar bears...
 

5-0 Kenpo

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It's my understanding that the magnetic pole shift occurs naturally every so often (cosmic time frame, of course).

Some are saying that global warming is simply a result of coming out of the Little Ice Age.

I want it clear that I do believe that we are negatively affecting our world by pollution. I think though, that the damage caused by this pollution is an increased in cancer, asthma, alzheimer's disease, and countless other diseases which have "no known cause."

The human body is not designed to take in these man-made chemicles. And they have a variable effect on each individual.
 

Sukerkin

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Hi Kenpo

It is true that the pole does shift every so often - it's one of the ways that geologic time can be gauged because of the swing in polarity in the different outpourings of sub-aqua volcanic rocks.

The problem is that this is the first time it's happened whilst we've had humans around; or at least humans with a technology largely based on electronics.

Essentially the real threat is that as the polarity shift gathers speed then the strength of the magnetic 'shielding' around the Earth declines - you can imagine what this means for those of us of an organic nature that dwell here. It also means that certain electronic devices will have problems, particularly those involved with eletrical generation and distribution (the area I work in).

As ever, because I access the Net from work, I don't have time to fully go into the ramifications but a Google should bring up some reading matter on the situation.
 

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Personally, I had always thought of the Global Warming phenomenon as a "myth created by environmentalists." But, recently, my fiance had me watch the new movie "An Inconvenient Truth." Though I don't like how most of it is presented, the facts and research is there. The only thing that is lacks is the "opposing point of view." If you haven't seen it, I strongly recommend it, just to add to your understanding of the issue.

On that note, the question remains, just how much of the problem is man made and how much can we influence it at this point. Even if we did cause it, what can we do to fix it. I still place some weight on the cyclic climate theory though. To me, the earth is a big place and I know that we can influence it...but just how much? It has survived far worse challenges than humans and I am sure that it will survive us as well.

With that said, we need to take care of it, because the Earth can survive, but humans require a very specific and strict set of criteria to live....those can change quickly....and how knows just how much change we can survive.
 

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