UN official warns of ignoring warming - Yahoo! News

The U.N.'s top climate official warned policymakers and scientists trying to hammer out a landmark report on climate change that ignoring the urgency of global warming would be "criminally irresponsible."

One of the questions when it comes to global warming is whether or not we humans have done anything to cause it and can therefore do something about it OR if changes in the sun or other factors completely outside of human control are causing the rise.

Personally, from the things I've read, I believe that the most obvious answer is that changes in the sun are impacting our planets temperature.

Mars Melt Hints at Solar, Not Human, Cause for Warming, Scientist Says

Something is changing on Mars too... Now we did send some landers there so maybe we caused that planet's climate to change....

This is really a vital question, because if, as I believe humans are not the cause then humans can't do anything to change things and the economic impact of some of the more severe steps to combat climate change will cause unnecessary hardship.

What do you all think? Is this an important issue for you in the coming election?

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After all these years, I see that I was mistaken about Eve in the beginning; it is better to live outside the Garden with her than inside it without her.

Mark Twain

I do not believe we are necessarily causing the warming. I am a "young earth" believer, but no matter how old you believe the earth is, there is no way to really know the climate trends that have taken place on our planet. The warming may simply be something that happens. What we see as 'normal" has only been in the last several hundred years or so. I think it's just silly to think that we understand the weather our earth has been through since it's creation.

I think folks shouldn't put their heads in the sand. The changes in the climate and weather patterns are not just happening by chance. We all need to try to live just a bit greener. I'm not a fanatic, but I do believe that global warming is a very real thing.

Toonces, I agree with you that changes in climate aren't just happening by chance and living a bit greener is great for reasons beyond climate change -- it is nice to be able to breathe air not filled with crap. But, some of the radical changes being proposed would have dire and direct economic impacts and these go way beyond being a bit greener.

And Momrajun, you are right, we don't understand the changes in climate. Back in the 70s it was the coming ice age! My how things have changed.

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After all these years, I see that I was mistaken about Eve in the beginning; it is better to live outside the Garden with her than inside it without her.

Mark Twain

I don't know about global warming, but, I too, think we should conserve our natural resources, and live as green as we can. But, the funny thing is, I see more HUGE vehicles now than ever before. Many people want the biggest of everything, from vehicles to houses.

I heard about a house in/outside of Atlanta that is using like 300,000 gallons of water a MONTH, and they are in DIRE STRAITS as far as water goes. But, the resident has the means to pay for the water, and is apparently not breaking any laws......so, in his/her eyes, there is nothing wrong with it.

I try to conserve as much as I can. Could I do more??? I'm sure I could, and try to do better every day.

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Doing the right thing isn't always the same as doing the easy thing.

I think its all hype!!! We have been hearing this for years and the oceans are all still here, and so is antartica......Sherri

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"It isn't that liberals are ignorant, it's just that they know so much that isn't so."
- Ronald Reagan

None of the poll options completely say what I feel -- I don't have my head under a rock... I try to do my part in my small corner of the world. I do feel sure that it is not all *hype*... something is going on and the earth is going through changes but not so sure that they are all bad changes.

I chose not to watch Al Gore's movie, just as I choose not to watch the news, because I know my personality; it would probably keep me up at night worrying for my children.

It may sound selfish to some but paranoia runs rampant in my family and I feel that I must protect my emotions and not be a worried wreck about things that I honestly feel I have little or no control over.

As I said, I try to do my part in saving the environment... part of that is to teach my children and those that I come in contact with to do the same.

Also adding because I forgot to answer one of Greg's questions... YES, it will impact who I vote for in the upcoming election.

Interesting about Mars! So scientists are now blaming the sun on all of the changes... I can't keep up. That is another reason that I avoid the news! LOL.

There is an abundance of information from scientists that indicates that the ice sheet mass of Antartica has decreased significantly in the past 5 years (using satelite technology). I have read that parts of Antartica are losing roughly 36 cubic miles of ice per year. That's staggering. There's your hype.

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I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it!

this is about where I am. There is definitely something going on and it's not good.

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Proud to say I haven't shopped at a Wal-Mart since Sept 2003

Polution is bad and we should continue to try and clean it up!

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Square dancing is friendship set to music!

It's not hype. There is consensus among the world's climatoligists that humans are indeed responsible for global warming and, yes they can and do study past climate cycles and changes.

I am aware that the oil companies have funded "institutes" whose sole purpose is to debunk global warming. I believe that their head scientist is a mathematician. The man who founded the Weather Channel also denies global warming, but he never studied climatology.

I value the conclusions of experts over amatuers.

Al Bore is behind this lib scam to scare us. Don't fall for their trickery.

I rest my case. We have now heard from the ultimate voice of logic and reason.

I think it is interesting that fewer than half (22/47 right now) are convinced it is the cause. The media would have us believe everyone is on the bandwagon and it's only a select few politicians who are mucking up change.

You can't really draw any conclusions about the population in general based on such a small sample.

The choice with the most votes doesn't offer a cause.

I agree. It is hard to draw conclusions. However, it took me several days to bother to vote, despite the fact that I saw the thread. Personally, I'm not convinced humans are the cause. I really don't think we have the power to destroy the earth as we know it. I think it's a self-correcting planet we live on and that we've had ice ages and volcanos that have made islands come and go and... since the beginning of time, the only thing certain has been change. I think if we cut down every last rainforest, within a year or two there would be lush vegitation coming back, and that we simply can't control it on a wide scale. And I believe that even if we could for a short period of time that the next generation would find something different to do with themselves, and they wouldn't be all that interested in whatever it was that drove us to try to do away with the rainforests.

So I do have rather firmly-formed opinions about this topic, and yet, because I saw who started it, and presumed he probably had an opinion similar to mine, I didn't feel the need to jump in and make sure my opinion was heard.

I know everyone reacts differently, but I think that personally, I'd have been more apt to jump in and dispute someone whose position I didn't agree with than I would be to high=five those with whom I did.

If there are lots of people like me, I'd think they'd be here to discount him in droves. But... I may be one of a kind! lol

I still haven't voted... But, I'm still thinking about it! This thread has been thought-provoking and interesting to read the replies.

Fact - Humans and their use / misuse of fossil fuels have caused pollution
Fact - The Earth has Climatic Cycles including Glacial Cycles (Always Has)
Fact - The earth has mini ice ages, the last one as recent at 1700's
Fact - The Hole in the Ozone Shrank 30% in the last year - yeah!

Plant a Tree!
All you that HAVE to have hardwood floors and/or solid wood cabinets, consider a more eco-friendly alternative - Bamboo for instance.

Is Global warming hype - NO, but IMHO there are a lot of people out there that like to try and use scare tactics or bully others to make their point. The earth is getting warmer and until we curb the Carbon Dioxide output (and plant more foliage) it may continue to get warmer.

BUT - the Earth's natural cycle also has to be taken into effect. The Mini Ice age in the 1700s, the Dust Bowl in the 1930s (Little or no rain for 7+ YEARS), both prior to industrial pollution.

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Mary

Cuthie, I just noticed your comment about the choice with the most votes not offering a cause. Sorry - I'd have responded to it!

You're right - and I hadn't even noticed that! It doesn't attribute it to manmade causes - just says it's a problem and that we need to act. I guess my thought would be "Act how?" My vote was the "Humans aren't the cause and probably can't be the solution" one... and I'd go a step further and say we may or may not be seeing a long-term warming trend. I do think things are warmer now than they were when I was a kid 30ish years ago, but I also know that a lot has changed in that time. Used to be you could see a nasty black hazy cloud of smog over Denver when you approached from the west. Now... nothing. I assume other metropolatin areas have cleaned up their acts considerably. We have many more cars on the road when compared to the 70's, I assume, but the emissions standards of those days pale in comparison to the highly regulated world of the automobile in which we now live.

So is our pollution output really higher than in the 70's?

And how much of this supposed global pollution issue is occuring within the US? If it's a *global* issue, this *global* warming thing, nations devoid of regulations in which fossil fuels are burned without any filtering occurring are surely creating as much or more of the world's air pollution than the U.S. Do we in turn consume some of those products? I assume so. Is it within our jurisdiction to go in and make them stop? No, not really. If the U.S. did that, other nations would accuse us of butting in where we aren't wanted, and of trying to harm the economies of emerging nations.

I really, truly don't think *we* can solve it if it exists. And I believe even if it were to be found without question to be a man-made issue. I believe it would end up just being a blip on the radar screen of time. Fossil fuels - even coal - will eventually run out. Maybe in 100 years, maybe in 200 years... maybe in 20 years. And when that happens, something different will take its place. Whether it is more or less healthy for the enviroment, it won't be in our control because we'll probably all be dead and buried. My guess is that it will be nuclear... but I don't expect to live long enough to find out.