global warming

[razman]

would the present global warming scare take place even though there were no humans on the planet.?and if so, what conditions made it happen many thousands of years ago before man arrived?

[mike230348]

I think that we can say that without humans there would be no scare!

[razman]

Mike. not what i would call an answer to "would global warming still happen even if no humans were on the planet"?

[jake-the-peg]

The start of the current warming trend can be accounted for by natural phenomina.

However without human activity it should have stopped.

The sums don't add up unless you add in human activity

[Gromit]

The Earth has warmed and cooled many times before. The difference this time is that the warming is linked to mans use of fossil fuels and the CO2 pollution this causes. The CO2 traps the heat in by the so called Green house effect. Without man burning coal, gas and oil, the present warming would not be taking place.

in the past natural phenomena such as volcanoes have put CO2 and other gases into the atmosphere which have affected our climate.

[Huderon]

er ... Gromit, surely the warming/cooling cycle would happen even if there were no people on the planet messing things up with the use of fossil fuels ? We are in an interglacial period anyway.

But I'd agree that the warming is accelerated by our use of fossil fuels and CO2 pollution, and that it may even be taken beyond what might be considered natural levels by mankind's activities.

[alavahalf]

Prior to humans you have got to blame evolution ...
If there were no humans on the planet...?
Who would worry about it ?
would it be of any interest ...?

I'm off....I've got greater things to worry about ...!

Will I wake up in the morning...will the van start...will the wife cut my toast into soldiers..!

[tigersam258]

I am still very sceptical about this as if global warming has happened in the past without human input, how do they know that we have accelerated it? Volcanoes spew many gasses into the atmosphere all the time more than any power station is capable of so yes we may have contributed to it but I feel in a minor amount and that global warming would have happened anyway.

[jno]

there's a good chance that the next one will take place without any humans on the planet.