The Global Warming Megathread

[rubydazzler]

snippy. he wants a lift (in my evil car) to the Airport. I was tempted to ask him why he can't cycle there ? And what about the aeroplane? not the most eco friendly form of transport I think

 

People like that are mostly all the same, cycling about, eco friendly, recycling, composting etc, etc - until it inconveniences them, eg as above, and then suddenly, none of it counts!!

 

It's a though they think their previous good behaviour ought to somehow outweigh their bad

[bladesufc1]

I'm so sorry for actually commenting. It's something I studied and actually care about, therefore I do not see it as a laughing matter.

 

As for using the comment "get a life" - you really shouldn't say that to people you don't know. I'm very happy with my life thanks.

 

what can you do about global warming!! what effects will you reduce?

[nick2]

So should I scrap my plans to have a swimming pool in the back garden or not ?

[Greybeard]

So should I scrap my plans to have a swimming pool in the back garden or not ?

 

A wind turbine might be a better investment

[Dick]

Global warming, if it exists, is undoubtably good for Sheffield.

The damage to the infrastructure, roads, buildings, water pipes etc by snow and ice is enormous. Anything that reduces it a bit is worth a lot.

If the growing season is extended by a few weeks it enormously helps the harvest and yields.

The amount saved on heating is increasingly important with rising gas & electric costs.

For Sheffield it's hard to think of a downside.

On a wider note, don't forget that it's far from proven that any climate change at present is outside normal cycles.

It's even less likely that any change is due to human activity. the whole emphasis on CO2 (sorry, can't do a small 2 on this site) is a government con to try and convince people that energy taxes are somehow a good thing.

The CO2 content of the atmosphere is 0.03%. If it goes up to 0.04% they call that a 33% increase. A frightening amount.

I call it a 0.01% increase, a negligible amount.

The chief thing that affects our climate is the sun, and that's a variable star whose energy output varies by several percent over a cycle of years. There's an 11 year sunspot cycle and several others as well.

Also our distance from the sun varies by 3 million miles per year, that's over 4% and as the energy falling on a given area varies with the square of the distance that makes a 16% variation.

The earth's orbit also precesses over a 25000 year cycle so the point in the orbit at which we are nearest is constantly changing.

No 2 days are exactly alike.

Anybody who thinks burning a bit less coal or oil is going to make any difference is sadly mistaken.

Any money spent would be much more useful helping people in less fortunate places than Sheffield to live with any change that might be happening than just increasing our cost of living.

[downtroad]

Global warming, if it exists, is undoubtably good for Sheffield.

The damage to the infrastructure, roads, buildings, water pipes etc by snow and ice is enormous. Anything that reduces it a bit is worth a lot.

If the growing season is extended by a few weeks it enormously helps the harvest and yields.

The amount saved on heating is increasingly important with rising gas & electric costs.

For Sheffield it's hard to think of a downside.

On a wider note, don't forget that it's far from proven that any climate change at present is outside normal cycles.

It's even less likely that any change is due to human activity. the whole emphasis on CO2 (sorry, can't do a small 2 on this site) is a government con to try and convince people that energy taxes are somehow a good thing.

The CO2 content of the atmosphere is 0.03%. If it goes up to 0.04% they call that a 33% increase. A frightening amount.

I call it a 0.01% increase, a negligible amount.

The chief thing that affects our climate is the sun, and that's a variable star whose energy output varies by several percent over a cycle of years. There's an 11 year sunspot cycle and several others as well.

Also our distance from the sun varies by 3 million miles per year, that's over 4% and as the energy falling on a given area varies with the square of the distance that makes a 16% variation.

The earth's orbit also precesses over a 25000 year cycle so the point in the orbit at which we are nearest is constantly changing.

No 2 days are exactly alike.

Anybody who thinks burning a bit less coal or oil is going to make any difference is sadly mistaken.

Any money spent would be much more useful helping people in less fortunate places than Sheffield to live with any change that might be happening than just increasing our cost of living.

 

 

 

 

There is only one correct thing in that entire post. Good effort!

 

The sun plays only a small part in the role of climate change. Also we have the data on the suns effect on the earth temperatures and of course they have been taken in to account. Remember we have CO2 levels and temps for the last 850,000 years. The eccentricity orbit is every 21,000 years, but the orbit is almots circular. We also have the perihelion orbit which has a cyle of 100,000 so we have data for 8-40 cycles. If it were the sun, we would know and there would be plenty of debate over that.

 

Co2 is the big factor. And while there are only small amounts in the atmosphere now, the real issue with climate change is the release of large amounts of Co2 from storage in trees and the sea. This release has been seen before, when huge meteorites have hit the earth. The release caused 4 or 5 times the amount of C02 in the atmosphere and it actually ended up killing the dinosaurs.

 

There are 50 times the amount of carbon in the sea than the atmosphere. Warming of the oceans causes this to be released. Trees only store so much and then suddenly release their stored CO2. And while we are also cutting down trees at the same time, we add to this effect.

 

With this much C02 in the environment we would find it very hard to grow crops. Far from there being a longer and warmer growing season in Sheffield it's far more likely that Sheffield would see major floods and storms, with water flowing down from the moors to wash away any locally produced crops. Far fro being a milder climate it would be far, far more unpredicatable. More extreams of temprature. It is thought that the gulf stream would slow, which would mean a colder Europe, not a warmer one.

 

On top of all this, we have hundreds of thousands of people working on this issue, and there is no debate in the scientific community about humans effects on climate change. There is disagreement on tipping points, but not that it is happening and humans are causing it. Even if a few form members think their still is.

 

A June 2004 report by the Association of British Insurers declared "Climate change is not a remote issue for future generations to deal with. It is, in various forms, here already, impacting on insurers' businesses now". It noted that weather risks for households and property were already increasing by 2-4 % per year due to changing weather, and that claims for storm and flood damages in the UK had doubled to over £6 billion over the period 1998–2003, compared to the previous five years. The results are rising insurance premiums, and the risk that in some areas flood risk insurance will become unaffordable for some.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effects_of_global_warming#More_extreme_weather

[Lester_Bigot]

I think the Sun is to blame for warming, for example on a cloudy day it tends to be cooler, when the suns out, it get warmer

 

OK a question for the eco warriors

 

Solutions, what are the solutions? try to avoid an answer that involves increasing taxes.

[downtroad]

I think the Sun is to blame for warming, for example on a cloudy day it tends to be cooler, when the suns out, it get warmer

 

OK a question for the eco warriors

 

Solutions, what are the solutions? try to avoid an answer that involves increasing taxes.

 

Ahh yes it always helps to simplify complex issues

 

Solutions are easy and even if they do involve higher taxes (which they don't) would still be great value compared to the cost down the road. The earlier we tackle the problem the less costly it will be.

 

Here are some examples;

 

Tax rebates on solar power. This would reduce you electricity bill and if you generated enough would feed back in to the grid.

 

Obviously a return to nuclear power plants and also getting fusion power going.

 

Bore holes for all new build houses. They can substantially reduce heating bills with free energy! This would be great for the UK, it's cheap to drill the hole and it would pre-warm water.

 

If everybody in the World changed their light bulbs to more efficient and longer lasting ones would save a huge amount of energy. They should be giving away free to everybody in counsel houses for a start. Pay for it with the money saved disposing of the old kind and money saved in energy to the government.

 

Distributed energy generation. 10% of all energy is lost getting it to your home. So use hydrogen fuel cells to generate energy closer to the requirement. Hydrogen cars are way off, but using this technique to create small local, clean and quiet power stations is a better use.

 

Wind and wave energy.

 

More emphasis on fuel economic cars. Forget Hydrogen. I like a fast car as well and there is no need for lumbering crap cars. We need plug in electric cars, that charge over night and give you 300+ miles on one charge. And we actually have them now, and they are getting affordable. And they are fast.

 

Just a few things that will make a huge difference.

 

But of course the problem is not England. Even if the entire country wanted change, it matters little. We need America, China and India on board. China it seems is actually getting on board. People don’t like the 3 gorge dam, but it’s a whole lot of clean electricity. The developing nations are less of an issue than people think. Africa is heavily investing in solar power as it’s perfect for them.

[Lester_Bigot]

Alot of the things you say are very positive, things such as bore holes for new houses

 

Makes a change, from simply taxing people.

 

Like you say we need the other countrys on side, in order for this thing to work.

[peterw]

I think the Sun is to blame for warming, for example on a cloudy day it tends to be cooler, when the suns out, it get warmer

 

OK a question for the eco warriors

 

Solutions, what are the solutions? try to avoid an answer that involves increasing taxes.

 

The Sun to blame? Ridiculous! Most forumers put the blame for everything on the Daily Mail.