Carbon Footprint BS

[naz_nomad]

Could humans really have had that big an effect on the planet in the (relatively) short time we've been here, or is the planet just doing ''what it does'', like an ice-age every so often?

Has there always been a hole in the ozone layer, but we've just found the means to discover it?

Is it just scare-mongering, or is the planet really screwed, and was / is it our fault?

If emissions are really that much of a problem, why not do away with all ''emittors'', or are the Governments & scientists doing their usual trick and blowing stuff out of all proportion ...

I mean, if we've only got a 'few years' left before this planet is useless, why isn't more drastic action being taken?

'scuse my ignorance on this subject ... Naz x

[brachiopod]

naz, mate, not really a Friday night sort of question, really. It deserves quite an involved answer....however. [I had a lemonade or two earlier]

Humans have undoubtedly had an effect (on atmospheric composition) - not since their "appearance" on this Earth, but since their prediliction for burning 'fossil fuels'. Ie - in the last couple of centuries......

....although......

.....yes, the planet 'does what it does' in terms of general fluctuations in temperatures......

.....but our perceptions are influenced by the media which has its own "here and now" agenda - ten years ago it would have satisfied itself witha headline of ;

"PHEW! WHAT A SCORCHER!"

whereas nowadays a slow news day in Media Land promotes headlines like;

"SLIGHTLY WARM DAY IN MARCH - MUST BE GLOBAL WARMING!!"

or, from the same paper a little later in the season;

"SNOWFLAKE FALLS IN MAY - WHAT GLOBAL WARMING???!!!"

These are weather effects, and not immediately indicative of any long-term climate change - like tornados - of which there are about 40 odd in this country every year.

A few merit a a casual "...and finally...."-type mention in the news, in a isn't-it-funny-because-didn't-hit-anywhere-important sort of way - but when it hits (a small part of) 'London' -it is top-story "what is happening to our wild weather?" (compare the coverage with the tornado that hit a part of Birmingham a week earlier)....

[brachiopod]

...which brings me to "scaremongering" and "blowing things out of proportion" - it is not Governments or scientists that do that - it is the media.
Storms are newsworthy - and with the increasing prevalence of "reader/viewer footage" through cam-corders and mobile phones - do you really think it is any wonder that people perceive that they "never saw anything like it 20 years ago...." Of course they bloody didn't!
This crude, sensationalist, mis-reporting undermines the true facts of so-called "global warming" and makes any cohesive strategy more difficult through ignorance, misunderstanding and "climate-change-fatigue"

(Told you it was a bad question for a Friday night !!! ;o))

[Llamatron]

Even if the scientists are all wrong don't you think it's best to err on the side of caution?
It's quite a big thing to gamble with don't you think?

[Its John!]

I've been told that carbon dioxide and other gases from cars and other things trap the sun's heat and warm up the planet. I find this easy to believe, and as we are cuttin down LOADS of trees, amd making TONNES of carbon dioxide, I find it very easy to believe that humans are heating up the planet, and in general, the polar caps seem to be melting, and weather seems to be a bit more unstable (although the weather proably has not changed much yet, although several people believe its getting warmer.)

And if we make more CFC gases, ok, the hole in the ozone layer may have been there before or it may not have, but people can make it worse, and hope that by not using CFC gases, it will not worsen. It doesnt matter if it was ther or not before, it matters if we make it worse when we dont have to.

Not sure what will happen, but if we carry on as we are without trying to save our environment, I find it easy to believe that humans will have some sort of effect on the planet, like heating it up.

A lot of action is being taken, but its hard to get everyone to help and research more eco firendly things, when it doesnt seem to matter yet, and when people just want money. When we run out of coal and oil, then maybe people will be mor serious about other ways to power cars, like hydrogen.

[oglecorp]

i can't believe how many people think we are warming the planet up. the earth weighs 6000000000000000000000000kg. warming that up by even one degree would take millions of years at the rate humans could do it. and you get people buying energy saving light bulbs and driving around in top gear to save fuel? what a joke. the amount of sulphur i burn a year in experimental pyrotechnics easily cancels all that out. global warming doesn't exist, the reason the south pole is melting is because it's summer down there right now! ever notice the north and south pole take turns at melting, 6 months each? use your common sense, guys. surely people can think for themselves instead of getting stories from the tv and repeating them as fact.