Rate of warming compared to when? I could be wrong but I thought the earth was covered by ice at one point. It's a good thing whatever organisms were alive then did not battle the "global warming" then or we would not exist.
Yes, yes, we all know about the ice ages and tropical climates of the past and how the Earth's climate goes in cycles. But it is also known that these cycles lasted millions of years. I'm not a huge global warming proponent, especially not man made, I don't think we affect the Earth's climate as much as we like to think. We can do dangerous things regionally, but globally, I believe that the Earth's mechanisms can withstand more than we give it credit. However, our oceans are warming and at quicker rate than we have ever seen recorded. That is just a fact. Now you can just pass that off as a cycle too and that we have only been measuring the ocean's temperature for 100 years, or you can ask why? A basic law of science is that it takes far less energy for water to hear air, the for air to heat water, so I think it has something to do with the Earth's core. Maybe hot spots? I don't know. I hate that just a mere mention of global warming or climate change or whatever becomes so politicized. I wish we could stop and actually get down to the actual science and rather than claiming that it is all just a political myth or whatever, ask question and try to understand what is actually happening better.
This is the biggest thing. Nobody, including me, trust anything that is written or studied because everyone claims their side is "Science". Rather it is just is a bunch of crap thrown out as facts with a personal agenda behind it.
A lot of it is facts, but I do agree that many have an agenda and can make those facts fit whatever argument they desire. This is the case for both sides. But I do not think we should just write off because of this, but keep studying and asking questions to better understand what is happening. Close mindedness frustrates me, so when people hear "climate change" and immediately respond with "that's just liberal propaganda BS", well...it just makes me sad.
Honeslty, I don't have the time to sift through papers and papers of info to figure out what is right and what is wrong. So I base my opinions on what my brain tells me is the likely truth instead of all the crap studies. Then there is the whole, "what are we going to do about it anyway" factor. Okay, say its proven to everyone. Do you think China is all of a sudden going to change their ways? How about India?
I tend to yes. Would I have an open mind about it if I could actually get some real data with no agenda that I could trust? Yes! Like you said, I think we give ourselves more credit than we deserve. Since it is politicalized so much and I believe we likely do not contribute to the "Warming" I do ignore it for the most part.
but if you did get data that you could trust...would you accept it if it was against your already preconceived ideas?
There is a middle ground to be found. A huge problem is that we don't even completely understand all the driving factors of everything that drives weather patterns, solar activity, oceans, tectonic movement, human activity, etc...how could we possibly hope to fix a problem like that? Odds are we'd make it worse rather than better.
The Al Gore's of the world have caused this. Beating the drum that we must reduce carbon emissions but then living in a 10,000 sq ft home that causes high amounts of emissions themselves while making millions of $$$ off the so called “Cause”.
Hey, for the sake of the planet I hope climate change is a hoax. But since I am not a scientist who studies it...kinda of hard for me to know for sure? So, I don't have a strong opinion either way. I'm not sure how anyone could?
I mirror Hooker's opinion. But to add, it would be nice to have studies to trust and see what the rate of change is and how long it may last. Not because we'd actually be able to do something to stop it, but we might be better prepared for adapting to the inevitable. Keeping ahead of the curve if you will.
