Global Warming Is A Hoax.

Unless the ozone layer discriminates between human greenhouse gases and volcanic ones, I don't see how we could possibly ever guilt trip ourselves into thinking that we are responsible for the earth's period of warming.

The planet goes through warming and cooling phases. There's actually scientific evidence on that.

Is the planet getting warmer? Sure, why not. Is it as bad as the media says it is? Probably not.

People gain power from fear, thus comes this scary ***called "Global Warming". The last documentary I watched on GW, actually said northern regions (about the latitude of New York and up to the poles) would experience an ice age effect, where as southern regions would be superheated. /shrug.

Just more of the government instilling fear to gain money and control, in my opinion.

Whether or not global warming is true, let's start with what we DO know:

Depleting the Ozone Layer:
The ozone layer is composed of O3 molecules that are formed due to the photodissociation and recombination of O + O2 -> 03 molecules. This entire process takes a lot of energy, but this chemical reaction is exactly what saves us from being burned up by the sun's rays--about 90% of the energy from the sun goes into this reaction.

Bring in CFCs (Chlorofluorocarbons, CFCl3) into the atmosphere, and the energy from the light easily dissociates a Cl from the atom:
CFCl3 + hv (light) --> CFCl2 + Cl
This Cl ion is extremely dangerous in the atmosphere, as it can pretty much react with the unstable O3 of the ozone layers to create a more stable molecule of ClO, which reacts with another O3 molecule to form 2 stable O2 molecules, and pretty much disrupt the ozone dissociation-recombination cycle.

The whole idea behind chemical reactions is that molecules will take the easiest reaction, given the right "ingredients" or reactants, to give the most stable product, hence why unstable O3 molecules are so reactive, and Cl molecules find it very easy to react and disrupt this cycle--it doesn't take as much energy to create ClO molecules as it does to create O3 molecules.

The "Greenhouse Effect":
Here's the basic equation: Any alkane found in carbon-based fossil fuels combusts (reacts with oxygen) in the presence of heat in order to form CO2 and water. Nothing is generally harmful about carbon dioxide, it's just that, given BILLIONS of people doing this every day, we create a HELL of a lot of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Why is this bad? It turns the planet Earth into a more effective "black body"--essentially, any sort of electromagnetic radiation (i.e., rays of light from the sun) is absorbed and kept more readily instead of radiating or reflecting a fraction the radiation.

THAT much we know, and can confirm. Now as to the degree by which humans have CAUSED all this--we drive cars, used hairspray/Freon/styrofoam cups with CFCs, and the Industrial Revolution in the 18th and 19th centuries sure didn't help much, either--well, I'd say we helped it quite a lot, and should probably do something about it. The government, I'd say, just got a little bit smarter.

Either the dinosaurs were rolling in H2 Hummers or periods of heating and cooling are completely natural.

Is it as bad as the media says it is? Probably not. People gain power from fear, thus comes this scary ***called "Global Warming". The last documentary I watched on GW, actually said northern regions (about the latitude of New York and up to the poles) would experience an ice age effect, where as southern regions would be superheated. /shrug. Just more of the government instilling fear to gain money and control, in my opinion.

To save on fossil fuels. Like you said, we have burned an UNGODLY amount of fossil fuels, but since it isn't a renewable resource (as much as we want that is) we will run out soon. Hence, the Global Warming idea.

... oh, and if you are one of those "hands-on" kinda people, and really need hard proof. Here's what you do:
Go into your garage.
Turn on your car.
Find a nice place on the floor to sit.
Get comfy! :)
Breathe.
Wait a while.
Now, imagine doing this for 250+ years of heavy industrialization.
Hey, it's all a conspiracy... right? :)

Go into your garage.

Turn on your car.

Find a nice place on the floor to sit.

Get comfy! :)

Breathe.

Wait a while.

Now, imagine doing this for 250+ years of heavy industrialization.

Hey, it's all a conspiracy... right? :)

Um.... well nice try, but that induces carbon monoxide poisoning as you're in an enclosed space, and the CO doesn't oxidize and turn into CO2 as easily as it does outside. Carbon monoxide poisoning via your car's motor exhaust is NOT the same as the adverse effects of carbon dioxide in the environment.

While you do make a good point, Thal, saying that "the ozone layer doesn't discriminate between human greenhouse gases and volcanic ones" still doesn't prove that the current trends are typical. I can't exactly say "typical" is even the right word--massive meteors falling to the earth causing dramatic climate changes by knocking it off it's original axis of rotation are definitely possible and have occurred, but by no means are they typical. You don't see volcanoes exploding ALL over the world, or even periodically, unlike the continuous daily use of carbon-based fuels by billions of people around the world.

Large-scale volcanic eruptions may have the potential of emitting more greenhouse gases than humans have, but I'd say we've contributed to it alongside the volcanoes, or... whatever.

Over very long time scales (thousands to millions of years), concentrations are influenced by emissions from volcanoes and other geothermal processes such as hot springs and geysers and by the dissolution of carbonates in crustal rocks.

So you're suggesting to me that after all the years, and years of driving around, flying around, and all the other ***we've put into the atmosphere, that we haven't altered it... in a negative way? lol

Whether or not global warming is true, let's start with what we DO know:

Depleting the Ozone Layer:
The ozone layer is composed of O3 molecules that are formed due to the photodissociation and recombination of O + O2 -> 03 molecules. This entire process takes a lot of energy, but this chemical reaction is exactly what saves us from being burned up by the sun's rays--about 90% of the energy from the sun goes into this reaction.

Bring in CFCs (Chlorofluorocarbons, CFCl3) into the atmosphere, and the energy from the light easily dissociates a Cl from the atom:
CFCl3 + hv (light) --> CFCl2 + Cl
This Cl ion is extremely dangerous in the atmosphere, as it can pretty much react with the unstable O3 of the ozone layers to create a more stable molecule of ClO, which reacts with another O3 molecule to form 2 stable O2 molecules, and pretty much disrupt the ozone dissociation-recombination cycle.

The whole idea behind chemical reactions is that molecules will take the easiest reaction, given the right "ingredients" or reactants, to give the most stable product, hence why unstable O3 molecules are so reactive, and Cl molecules find it very easy to react and disrupt this cycle--it doesn't take as much energy to create ClO molecules as it does to create O3 molecules.

The "Greenhouse Effect":
Here's the basic equation: Any alkane found in carbon-based fossil fuels combusts (reacts with oxygen) in the presence of heat in order to form CO2 and water. Nothing is generally harmful about carbon dioxide, it's just that, given BILLIONS of people doing this every day, we create a HELL of a lot of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Why is this bad? It turns the planet Earth into a more effective "black body"--essentially, any sort of electromagnetic radiation (i.e., rays of light from the sun) is absorbed and kept more readily instead of radiating or reflecting a fraction the radiation.

THAT much we know, and can confirm. Now as to the degree by which humans have CAUSED all this--we drive cars, used hairspray/Freon/styrofoam cups with CFCs, and the Industrial Revolution in the 18th and 19th centuries sure didn't help much, either--well, I'd say we helped it quite a lot, and should probably do something about it. The government, I'd say, just got a little bit smarter.

The point I was trying to make, which you clearly missed, was the argument that we do, in fact, have an effect on our environment.

Good a time as ever to make my first post here >.>

Volcanic eruptions actually have a cooling effect rather than a warming effect, FYI

They release CO2 but it's countered by the release of Sulfur based emissions, and an eruption actually causes global mean temperature to decrease. Mount Pinatubo I believe was one of the more recent eruptions that gets cited, as there is actual data pertaining to it.

Also, I don't know if anyone is actually ignorant enough to not accept global warming like the scientific community and most governments, but if you want direct data (and not that useless Inconvenient Truth BS) there are plenty of charts that show the trend in global mean temperature, both in recent years and over the course of many thousands of years.

What I think most people are saying, though, is that global warming is not due to human activity, which is really the only plausibly argument to be had. I'm not sure exactly what the alternate theory is but if I remember correctly it has to do with atmospheric cloud cover changing from one type to another, causing radiation from the sun to decrease slightly, but allowing radiation from other parts of the universe to pass through the atmosphere more easily. The best evidence in support of the commonly accepted theory for global warming (being caused by humans, more specifically the industrial revolution) is atmospheric carbon readings in the lower atmosphere at the Mauna Loa observatory; a simple graph of the data shows an increase in the concentration of carbon since 1950.

Ohhh Wikipedia... way to challenge yourself.... please... I'm going to bed.

I almost thought you had something to bring to the table, and you feed me *** wikipedia.... goodnight. :)

What people (like Radaghast) fail to realize is that global warming and global cooling still takes hundreds of thousands of years to affect the earth. So even if we stop polluting now, it wouldn't matter in the long run. After you, me, and everyone else is dead, and turned into oil for our greatx421 grandchildren to consume us, the earth itself will be a very different place. Might be warm, might be cool, but it will still be there. By that time, global warming will have an impact on humanity, and we "should" have figured out a solution by then.

Its not our problem. Thats my point. Why should we care about this when whatever we do will have no impact in our lives at all? Or the lives of our next 100 generations?

Let them figure it out, they will be much smarter then on this topic than we are now.

Actually, I'd much rather take the much noble route in hopes that the rest of the human race doesn't have to suffer as much. And besides, the research we do now is exactly what future scientists will be basing their own discoveries on. So, I'd say in response to "why should we care" is just "because we can."