The point about global warming is that all the available evidence shows that:
1. It is happening
2. It is man-made.

Why is that a problem? well, because we dont know what the consequences could be, we dont know how to stop the rising temperature or if theres a limit or if or when we can reverse the trend.

All of the above could happen, or it might not, some of it may not be due to GW and some of it may be. The fact is that we are messing with earths ecosystem, which is the very reason we are here in the first place. We grew up and evolved as a species on this planet, under these conditions, how will a rapid(geologically rapid 100-200 years) change in climate affect us as a species? how will it affect millions of other species? How will it affect weather? viruses? diseases? deserts? forests?

We don't know

Thats the point. some of the above are possible consequences of global warming*.

*or some denialist pulled it out of their ass and put it on the web so that other denialists could impress us all with their extensive lists.

>> ^quantumushroom:

Enviro-statist alarmists claim that all of the following have been (or will be) caused by global warming.

Agricultural land increase, Africa devastated, African aid threatened, air pressure changes, Alaska reshaped, allergies increase, Alps melting, Amazon a desert, American dream end, amphibians breeding earlier (or not), ancient forests dramatically changed, Antarctic grass flourishes, anxiety, algal blooms, Arctic bogs melt, Asthma, atmospheric defiance, atmospheric circulation modified, avalanches reduced, avalanches increased, bananas destroyed, bananas grow, better beer, big melt faster, billion dollar research projects, billions of deaths, bird distributions change, birds return early, blackbirds stop singing, blizzards, blue mussels return, boredom, Britain Siberian, British gardens change, bubonic plague, budget increases, building season extension, bushfires, business opportunities, business risks, butterflies move north.
Cardiac arrest, caterpillar biomass shift, challenges and opportunities, Cholera, civil unrest, cloud increase, cloud stripping, cod go south, cold climate creatures survive, cold spells (Australia), computer models, conferences, coral bleaching, coral reefs dying, coral reefs grow, coral reefs shrink , cold spells, cost of trillions, crumbling roads, buildings and sewage systems, cyclones (Australia), damages equivalent to $200 billion, Dengue hemorrhagic fever, dermatitis, desert advance, desert life threatened, desert retreat, destruction of the environment, diarrhoea, disappearance of coastal cities, diseases move north, Dolomites collapse, drought, drowning people, ducks and geese decline, dust bowl in the corn belt.
Early spring, earlier pollen season, Earth biodiversity crisis, Earth dying, Earth even hotter, Earth light dimming, Earth lopsided, Earth melting, Earth morbid fever, Earth on fast track, Earth past point of no return, Earth slowing down, Earth spinning out of control, Earth to explode, earth upside down, Earth wobbling, earthquakes, El NiZo intensification, erosion, emerging infections, encephalitis, Europe simultaneously baking and freezing, evolution accelerating, expansion of university climate groups, extinctions (human, civilisation, logic, Inuit, smallest butterfly, cod, ladybirds, bats, pandas, pikas, polar bears, pigmy possums, gorillas, koalas, walrus, whales, frogs, toads, turtles, orang-utan, elephants, tigers, plants, salmon, trout, wild flowers, woodlice, penguins, a million species, half of all animal and plant species, less, not polar bears), experts muzzled, extreme changes to California.
Famine, farmers go under, figurehead sacked, fish catches drop, fish catches rise, fish stocks decline, five million illnesses, floods, Florida economic decline, food poisoning, food prices rise, food security threat (SA), footpath erosion, forest decline, forest expansion, frosts, fungi invasion, Garden of Eden wilts, genetic diversity decline, gene pools slashed, glacial retreat, glacial growth, glacier wrapped, global cooling, global dimming, glowing clouds, Gore omnipresence, grandstanding, grasslands wetter, Great Barrier Reef 95% dead, Great Lakes drop, greening of the North, Gulf Stream failure, habitat loss, Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, harvest increase, harvest shrinkage, hay fever epidemic, hazardous waste sites breached, heat waves, hibernation ends too soon, hibernation ends too late, high court debates, human fertility reduced, human health improvement, human health risk, hurricanes, hydropower problems, hyperthermia deaths.
Ice sheet growth, ice sheet shrinkage, inclement weather, infrastructure failure (Canada), Inuit displacement, Inuit poisoned, Inuit suing, industry threatened, infectious diseases, insurance premium rises, invasion of midges, island disappears, islands sinking, itchier poison ivy, jellyfish explosion, Kew Gardens taxed, krill decline, lake and stream productivity decline, landslides, landslides of ice at 140 mph, lawsuits increase, lawsuit successful, lawyers’ income increased (surprise, surprise!), lightning related insurance claims, little response in the atmosphere, Lyme disease.
Malaria, malnutrition, Maple syrup shortage, marine diseases, marine food chain decimated, marine dead zone, Meaching (end of the world), megacryometeors, Melanoma, methane emissions from plants, methane burps, melting permafrost, Middle Kingdom convulses, migration, migration difficult (birds), microbes to decompose soil carbon more rapidly, more bad air days, more research needed, mountain (Everest) shrinking, mountains break up, mountains taller, mudslides, next ice age, Nile delta damaged, no effect in India, nuclear plants bloom, oaks move north, ocean acidification, outdoor hockey threatened, oyster diseases, ozone loss, ozone repair slowed, ozone rise.
Pacific dead zone, personal carbon rationing, pest outbreaks, pests increase, phenology shifts, plankton blooms, plankton destabilised, plankton loss, plant viruses, plants march north, polar bears aggressive, polar bears cannibalistic, polar bears drowning, polar bears starve, polar tours scrapped, psychosocial disturbances, railroad tracks deformed, rainfall increase, rainfall reduction, refugees, reindeer larger, release of ancient frozen viruses, resorts disappear, rice yields crash, rift on Capitol Hill, rioting and nuclear war, rivers raised, rivers dry up, rockfalls, rocky peaks crack apart, roof of the world a desert, Ross river disease.
Salinity reduction, salinity increase, Salmonella, salmon stronger, sea level rise, sea level rise faster, sex change, sharks booming, shrinking ponds, ski resorts threatened, slow death, smog, snowfall increase, snowfall reduction, societal collapse, songbirds change eating habits, sour grapes, spiders invade Scotland, squid population explosion, squirrels reproduce earlier, spectacular orchids, stormwater drains stressed.
Taxes, tectonic plate movement, terrorism, ticks move northward (Sweden), tides rise, tourism increase, trade winds weakened, tree beetle attacks, tree foliage increase (UK), tree growth slowed, trees could return to Antarctic, trees less colourful, trees more colourful, tropics expansion, tropopause raised, tsunamis, turtles lay earlier, UK Katrina, Venice flooded, volcanic eruptions.
Walrus pups orphaned, war, wars over water, water bills double, water supply unreliability, water scarcity (20% of increase), water stress, weather out of its mind, weather patterns awry, weeds, Western aid cancelled out, West Nile fever, whales move north, wheat yields crushed in Australia, white Christmas dream ends, wildfires, wind shift, wind reduced, wine - harm to Australian industry, wine industry damage (California), wine industry disaster (US), wine - more English, wine -German boon, wine - no more French , winters in Britain colder, wolves eat more moose, wolves eat less, workers laid off, World bankruptcy, World in crisis, Yellow fever.

Enviro-statist alarmists claim that all of the following have been (or will be) caused by global warming.


Agricultural land increase, Africa devastated, African aid threatened, air pressure changes, Alaska reshaped, allergies increase, Alps melting, Amazon a desert, American dream end, amphibians breeding earlier (or not), ancient forests dramatically changed, Antarctic grass flourishes, anxiety, algal blooms, Arctic bogs melt, Asthma, atmospheric defiance, atmospheric circulation modified, avalanches reduced, avalanches increased, bananas destroyed, bananas grow, better beer, big melt faster, billion dollar research projects, billions of deaths, bird distributions change, birds return early, blackbirds stop singing, blizzards, blue mussels return, boredom, Britain Siberian, British gardens change, bubonic plague, budget increases, building season extension, bushfires, business opportunities, business risks, butterflies move north.

Cardiac arrest, caterpillar biomass shift, challenges and opportunities, Cholera, civil unrest, cloud increase, cloud stripping, cod go south, cold climate creatures survive, cold spells (Australia), computer models, conferences, coral bleaching, coral reefs dying, coral reefs grow, coral reefs shrink , cold spells, cost of trillions, crumbling roads, buildings and sewage systems, cyclones (Australia), damages equivalent to $200 billion, Dengue hemorrhagic fever, dermatitis, desert advance, desert life threatened, desert retreat, destruction of the environment, diarrhoea, disappearance of coastal cities, diseases move north, Dolomites collapse, drought, drowning people, ducks and geese decline, dust bowl in the corn belt.

Early spring, earlier pollen season, Earth biodiversity crisis, Earth dying, Earth even hotter, Earth light dimming, Earth lopsided, Earth melting, Earth morbid fever, Earth on fast track, Earth past point of no return, Earth slowing down, Earth spinning out of control, Earth to explode, earth upside down, Earth wobbling, earthquakes, El NiZo intensification, erosion, emerging infections, encephalitis, Europe simultaneously baking and freezing, evolution accelerating, expansion of university climate groups, extinctions (human, civilisation, logic, Inuit, smallest butterfly, cod, ladybirds, bats, pandas, pikas, polar bears, pigmy possums, gorillas, koalas, walrus, whales, frogs, toads, turtles, orang-utan, elephants, tigers, plants, salmon, trout, wild flowers, woodlice, penguins, a million species, half of all animal and plant species, less, not polar bears), experts muzzled, extreme changes to California.

Famine, farmers go under, figurehead sacked, fish catches drop, fish catches rise, fish stocks decline, five million illnesses, floods, Florida economic decline, food poisoning, food prices rise, food security threat (SA), footpath erosion, forest decline, forest expansion, frosts, fungi invasion, Garden of Eden wilts, genetic diversity decline, gene pools slashed, glacial retreat, glacial growth, glacier wrapped, global cooling, global dimming, glowing clouds, Gore omnipresence, grandstanding, grasslands wetter, Great Barrier Reef 95% dead, Great Lakes drop, greening of the North, Gulf Stream failure, habitat loss, Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, harvest increase, harvest shrinkage, hay fever epidemic, hazardous waste sites breached, heat waves, hibernation ends too soon, hibernation ends too late, high court debates, human fertility reduced, human health improvement, human health risk, hurricanes, hydropower problems, hyperthermia deaths.

Ice sheet growth, ice sheet shrinkage, inclement weather, infrastructure failure (Canada), Inuit displacement, Inuit poisoned, Inuit suing, industry threatened, infectious diseases, insurance premium rises, invasion of midges, island disappears, islands sinking, itchier poison ivy, jellyfish explosion, Kew Gardens taxed, krill decline, lake and stream productivity decline, landslides, landslides of ice at 140 mph, lawsuits increase, lawsuit successful, lawyers’ income increased (surprise, surprise!), lightning related insurance claims, little response in the atmosphere, Lyme disease.

Malaria, malnutrition, Maple syrup shortage, marine diseases, marine food chain decimated, marine dead zone, Meaching (end of the world), megacryometeors, Melanoma, methane emissions from plants, methane burps, melting permafrost, Middle Kingdom convulses, migration, migration difficult (birds), microbes to decompose soil carbon more rapidly, more bad air days, more research needed, mountain (Everest) shrinking, mountains break up, mountains taller, mudslides, next ice age, Nile delta damaged, no effect in India, nuclear plants bloom, oaks move north, ocean acidification, outdoor hockey threatened, oyster diseases, ozone loss, ozone repair slowed, ozone rise.

Pacific dead zone, personal carbon rationing, pest outbreaks, pests increase, phenology shifts, plankton blooms, plankton destabilised, plankton loss, plant viruses, plants march north, polar bears aggressive, polar bears cannibalistic, polar bears drowning, polar bears starve, polar tours scrapped, psychosocial disturbances, railroad tracks deformed, rainfall increase, rainfall reduction, refugees, reindeer larger, release of ancient frozen viruses, resorts disappear, rice yields crash, rift on Capitol Hill, rioting and nuclear war, rivers raised, rivers dry up, rockfalls, rocky peaks crack apart, roof of the world a desert, Ross river disease.

Salinity reduction, salinity increase, Salmonella, salmon stronger, sea level rise, sea level rise faster, sex change, sharks booming, shrinking ponds, ski resorts threatened, slow death, smog, snowfall increase, snowfall reduction, societal collapse, songbirds change eating habits, sour grapes, spiders invade Scotland, squid population explosion, squirrels reproduce earlier, spectacular orchids, stormwater drains stressed.

Taxes, tectonic plate movement, terrorism, ticks move northward (Sweden), tides rise, tourism increase, trade winds weakened, tree beetle attacks, tree foliage increase (UK), tree growth slowed, trees could return to Antarctic, trees less colourful, trees more colourful, tropics expansion, tropopause raised, tsunamis, turtles lay earlier, UK Katrina, Venice flooded, volcanic eruptions.

Walrus pups orphaned, war, wars over water, water bills double, water supply unreliability, water scarcity (20% of increase), water stress, weather out of its mind, weather patterns awry, weeds, Western aid cancelled out, West Nile fever, whales move north, wheat yields crushed in Australia, white Christmas dream ends, wildfires, wind shift, wind reduced, wine - harm to Australian industry, wine industry damage (California), wine industry disaster (US), wine - more English, wine -German boon, wine - no more French , winters in Britain colder, wolves eat more moose, wolves eat less, workers laid off, World bankruptcy, World in crisis, Yellow fever.

The ocean (biggest 'carbon sink') is becoming more acidic. Most coral reefs are a goddamn disaster now compared to just 50 years ago. Its scary stuff.

>> ^criticalthud:

>> ^maestro156:
Very cleverly written propaganda.
What he leaves out, of course, is that the bill doesn't overturn "pollution". It overturns the definition of carbon dioxide and water vapor as pollution.

At higher amounts, carbon dioxide becomes a contaminant which upsets the balance of the ecosystem.

Comment hidden because you are ignoring dag. (show it anyway)

I don't think you can make the assumption that nurturing parents are a prereq for civilization. You're being mammalist. >> ^direpickle:

>> ^dag:
It's because we're mammals. All the love and affection we feel is a product of our need to pair-up, spawn and nurture our offspring. When we do meet ET - we may find that they laugh at our idea of love - if we haven't by then figured out its true nature.
For aliens, I can imagine love would be getting close to mathematical perfection - a near perfect sphere, a beautifully balanced equation, a well-thought-out proof.

>> ^quantumushroom:
All true. Humans are irrational. If aliens could invade disguised as baby seals, kittens and teddy bears they'd take over in a week without firing a single death ray.


>> ^Drachen_Jager:
This thread just shows how terrible most people's thought processes are.
Seals are abundant, in absolutely no danger from a species point of view. The hunting of seals is not having a significant impact on the environment. They are cute. People defend them to the death.
Many types of sharks are endangered, play a vital role in the ecosystem. Many marine biologists feel that the overfishing of sharks is a large part of the reason why coral reefs are dying out. Nobody cares that they're being destroyed at a prodigious rate.



Civilization and what we think of as intelligence themselves are products of the ability and need to care for our tribe/family/offspring/whatever. Any ET will have gone through that stage in their own evolution, even if they've outgrown it by the time we run into them. You're not going to develop language, much less interstellar travel, with an animal that abandons its young and lives solitarily.

>> ^Drachen_Jager:

This thread just shows how terrible most people's thought processes are.
Seals are abundant, in absolutely no danger from a species point of view. The hunting of seals is not having a significant impact on the environment. They are cute. People defend them to the death.
Many types of sharks are endangered, play a vital role in the ecosystem. Many marine biologists feel that the overfishing of sharks is a large part of the reason why coral reefs are dying out. Nobody cares that they're being destroyed at a prodigious rate.


Well some animals are just better at the interview than other. I mean really I see it like this.

Interviewer, "What are you?"
Interviewee, "I'm an Otter."
Interviewer, "And what do you do?"
Interviewee, "I swim around all day and do cute little human things with my hands."
Interviewer, "Your free to go. Next!"

Interviewer, "And you are?"
Interviewee, "I'm a cow."
Interviewer, "Get on the bus."
Interviewee, "But I'm brown and have big eyes and"
Interviewer, "Your a baseball glove with a side of Tbone steak! Get on the bus!"



Yes I'm bored....

>> ^dag:

It's because we're mammals. All the love and affection we feel is a product of our need to pair-up, spawn and nurture our offspring. When we do meet ET - we may find that they laugh at our idea of love - if we haven't by then figured out its true nature.
For aliens, I can imagine love would be getting close to mathematical perfection - a near perfect sphere, a beautifully balanced equation, a well-thought-out proof.

>> ^quantumushroom:
All true. Humans are irrational. If aliens could invade disguised as baby seals, kittens and teddy bears they'd take over in a week without firing a single death ray.


>> ^Drachen_Jager:
This thread just shows how terrible most people's thought processes are.
Seals are abundant, in absolutely no danger from a species point of view. The hunting of seals is not having a significant impact on the environment. They are cute. People defend them to the death.
Many types of sharks are endangered, play a vital role in the ecosystem. Many marine biologists feel that the overfishing of sharks is a large part of the reason why coral reefs are dying out. Nobody cares that they're being destroyed at a prodigious rate.




Civilization and what we think of as intelligence themselves are products of the ability and need to care for our tribe/family/offspring/whatever. Any ET will have gone through that stage in their own evolution, even if they've outgrown it by the time we run into them. You're not going to develop language, much less interstellar travel, with an animal that abandons its young and lives solitarily.

Comment hidden because you are ignoring dag. (show it anyway)

It's because we're mammals. All the love and affection we feel is a product of our need to pair-up, spawn and nurture our offspring. When we do meet ET - we may find that they laugh at our idea of love - if we haven't by then figured out its true nature.

For aliens, I can imagine love would be getting close to mathematical perfection - a near perfect sphere, a beautifully balanced equation, a well-thought-out proof.


>> ^quantumushroom:

All true. Humans are irrational. If aliens could invade disguised as baby seals, kittens and teddy bears they'd take over in a week without firing a single death ray.


>> ^Drachen_Jager:
This thread just shows how terrible most people's thought processes are.
Seals are abundant, in absolutely no danger from a species point of view. The hunting of seals is not having a significant impact on the environment. They are cute. People defend them to the death.
Many types of sharks are endangered, play a vital role in the ecosystem. Many marine biologists feel that the overfishing of sharks is a large part of the reason why coral reefs are dying out. Nobody cares that they're being destroyed at a prodigious rate.

All true. Humans are irrational. If aliens could invade disguised as baby seals, kittens and teddy bears they'd take over in a week without firing a single death ray.




>> ^Drachen_Jager:

This thread just shows how terrible most people's thought processes are.
Seals are abundant, in absolutely no danger from a species point of view. The hunting of seals is not having a significant impact on the environment. They are cute. People defend them to the death.
Many types of sharks are endangered, play a vital role in the ecosystem. Many marine biologists feel that the overfishing of sharks is a large part of the reason why coral reefs are dying out. Nobody cares that they're being destroyed at a prodigious rate.

This thread just shows how terrible most people's thought processes are.

Seals are abundant, in absolutely no danger from a species point of view. The hunting of seals is not having a significant impact on the environment. They are cute. People defend them to the death.

Many types of sharks are endangered, play a vital role in the ecosystem. Many marine biologists feel that the overfishing of sharks is a large part of the reason why coral reefs are dying out. Nobody cares that they're being destroyed at a prodigious rate.

Coral reef on legs... win. This was some hilarious trashing.

>> ^Ryjkyj:
Well, we can't eat coral or use it as fuel, so I fail to see the problem.


You don't look at things very closely, do you?

Absolutely. We have conservation on land that replants trees as we cut down others and helps endangered populations regain a foothold and sets swaths of wilderness aside as protected land that cannot be developed on.

Besides trying to protect sea life like dolphins and wales, we do little of this in the oceans and it is about time. While corporations dredge the sea bed and strip whole areas clean for their resources and hundred mile wide piles of plastic bags and other garbage float around the ocean. Helping to replant a coral reef is an excellent start.

On a personal level I don't eat ocean fish accept on a very rare occasion. Even if that means missing out on some of my favorite foods and only saving them for a rare treat. I still have my salmon (fresh caught is the only way to go,) catfish and tilapia.

I'm surprised someone hasn't yet photoshopped the surrounding coral reef to the shape of fingers- creating the largest, deepest, goatse parody...

The hell is Matt Lauer doing there divorcing up blue holes from other bodies of water with coral reefs?

>> ^Structure:
The Medieval Warming Period, or NAMBLA, was limited to a small region and didn't reach the temperatures we've had in the last 20-30 years.

I don't often laugh-out-loud, literally, but this nambla reference got me
Now, if you could say that comment while impersonating Norm McDonald, it would be comedy gold.

My biggest problem with the meteorologist, is that the comment "the oceans are so big" makes him seem ignorant on what a dramatic change even 1 degree can do - just look at what's happening to all the coral reefs.

Yes, I think humans can survive global warming, just not at the current numbers, and our diets will be much more bland.

Of course we'll all probably blow each other to bits whilst playing a game of global-thermo-nuclear-war - long before the earth becomes inhospitable. I just thought of something, if we launched a nuke into the atmosphere and detonated it there, what would it do to the carbon monoxide? (any physicists on the sift?). No I'm not suggesting that, because of the side effects of a nice big radiation cloud...