Global warming

[article85]

What are everyone else's thoughts on global warming as I think it is unusually warm for October. Are our seasons going to shift and become more extreme - hurricanes in the British Isles? There seems to be more flooding reported in the news than I seem to remember.  

[Loosehead]

The planet goes through cycles of warming and cooling always has there is plenty of evidence charting the history of the climate. See the national Geographical's excellent series "Earth Story". Essentially mankind has very little to do with the natural cycles of the planet, obviously we'd all like less polution but it's worth pointing out that at any one time 97% of the carbon is tied up in the "Long carbon cycle" and as such is out of the control of mankind. It has become fashionable to blame climate change on mankind's activities but when you look at the facts it becomes very clear that we have very little effect on what the planet does. Natural disasters and phenomenon have a much greater input.

[Gef]

I understand Loosehead"s point but we have to remember that mankind has only made a noticeable difference in the last 150 years or so since the Industrial Revolution. Cavemen, the Greeks, the Romans et al did not burn huge amounts of fossil fuels leading to an increase in carbon dioxide levels. At the moment I think we have to accept that the climate seems to be changing and be better prepared to cope with the effects of these changes.

[stevie21]

Unusually warm? You've not been in Scotland lately then?

[james_m246]

I agree that it has been unusually warm and i think it is down to global warming.

But what concerns me is the fact that if there is this much of a noticable difference between this year and last, how long is it going to be before we are having extremely abnormal temporatures and weather.

[jake-the-peg]

I don't think the quest contained any aspect of whether human activity was causing global warming- I know some people don't need much excuse to get on their hobby horses (I'm one of them) but that wasn't the question.

I don't think you can draw any conclusions from sort term unusual weather conditions even over a year or so.

I think pretty much everybody (Even George W.) has now accepted that the climate is slowy changing. Retreating glaciers are hard to deny.

I think it's hard to predict precisely how this will affect us but "warmer and wetter" seems to be a common prediction but I doubt if it'll get warm enough and wet enough to get Hurricanes in our lifetimes.

Flooding's more complex. The Thames barrier is being raised much much more frequently than was originally expected but there are other factors too. More building means less land area to absorb and slowly release rainfall so when you do get heavy rain you are more likely to get flash floods  

[qapmoc]

Hi,  Well lets assume that global warming is an accepted fact. who/what causes it is another question but the figures show that temperature-Co2 levels etc.. etc.. have been rising since the start of the industrial revolution. Anyway if you live in the UK area you had better take note that warmer+wetter may NOT apply to you!!. scientists are now becoming convinced that melting ice added to more rainfall will dilute the gulf steam when it reaches the artic and might lead to a total shut down of the current at some in the near future, if that happens then the UK average temperature will fall by 6-8 Deg C bringing you on par with Alaska and Siberia on the same latitude but who dont have the gulf stream keeping them warm. 

[article85]

Interesting responses thank you. I think our actions are affectign the weather and governments should do something to encourage alternative fuels even if they are seen as over responding. Better to be safe than sorry.  

[CT]

I think the cycle has just shifted. I remember about 15 years ago we had winter snow in october and november. In the past couple of years, snowy times have tended to be from around Christmas/New Year onwards into February. Not sure if anyone else has noticed this, or maybe its more noticable along the east coast.

[CT]

AS a p.s. flooding is happening more regularly because there are more urban areas as said by jake. Plus, in the push for more houses, some are being built on flood plains and marginal land. More houses in flood risk areas = more chance of places being flooded.

[brachiopod]

The other factor is that more people have video cameras / camera phones etc.

Thus, an event that may have just warranted a passing mention as;

'We have reports of a flash flood in the XYZ area"

is, (as a result of video footage sent in by A.Viewer) promoted within the news to;

"Dramatic footage of raging floods in XYZ. Tonight, 123 News asks "is global warming to blame" '

Since this now makes floods newsworthy, any subsequent flood event is given increased coverage, usually under a "MORE FLOODS !!" or "FLOODS HIT AGAIN !!" type headline.

This increases the perception that these events are suddenly occurring far more frequently than they previously were.

This 'topical /newsworthy' principle can be applied to anything from floods and volcanic or seismic events, to coach or train crashes and child murder.