Are we screwed or what? Global warming to 'Continue for Centuries'

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070202/...climate_change

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

PARIS - Scientists from 113 countries issued a landmark report Friday saying they have little doubt global warming is caused by man, and predicting that hotter temperatures and rises in sea level will "continue for centuries" no matter how much humans control their pollution.

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A top U.S. government scientist, Susan Solomon, said "there can be no question that the increase in greenhouse gases are dominated by human activities."

Environmental campaigners urged the United States and other industrial nations to significantly cut their emissions of greenhouse gases in response to the long-awaited report by Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

"It is critical that we look at this report ... as a moment where the focus of attention will shift from whether climate change is linked to human activity, whether the science is sufficient, to what on earth are we going to do about it," said Achim Steiner, the executive director of the U.N. Environment Program.

"The public should not sit back and say 'There's nothing we can do'," Steiner said. "Anyone who would continue to risk inaction on the basis of the evidence presented here will one day in the history books be considered irresponsible."

The 21-page report represents the most authoritative science on global warming as the panel comprises hundreds of scientists and representatives. It only addresses how and why the planet is warming, not what to do about it. Another report by the panel later this year will address the most effective measures for slowing global warming.

One of the authors, Kevin Trenberth, said scientists are worried that world leaders will take the message in the wrong way and throw up their hands. Instead, world leaders should to reduce emissions and adapt to a warmer world with wilder weather, he said.

"This is just not something you can stop. We're just going to have to live with it," said Trenberth, the director of climate analysis for the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo. "We're creating a different planet. If you were to come up back in 100 years time, we'll have a different climate."

The scientists said global warming was "very likely" caused by human activity, a phrase that translates to a more than 90 percent certainty that it is caused by man's burning of fossil fuels. That was the strongest conclusion to date, making it nearly impossible to say natural forces are to blame.

It also said no matter how much civilization slows or reduces its greenhouse gas emissions, global warming and sea level rise will continue on for centuries.

"Warming of the climate system is unequivocal, as is now evident from observations of increases in global average air and ocean temperatures, widespread melting of snow and ice, and rising global mean sea level," the scientists said.

The report blamed man-made emissions of greenhouse gases for fewer cold days, hotter nights, killer heat waves, floods and heavy rains, devastating droughts, and an increase in hurricane and tropical storm strength — particularly in the Atlantic Ocean.

Sharon Hays, associate director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy at the White House, welcomed the strong language of the report.

"It's a significant report. It will be valuable to policy makers," she told The Associated Press in an interview in Paris.

Hays stopped short of saying whether or how the report could bring about change in President Bush's policy about greenhouse gas emissions.

The panel predicted temperature rises of 2-11.5 degrees Fahrenheit by the year 2100. That was a wider range than in the 2001 report.

However, the panel also said its best estimate was for temperature rises of 3.2-7.1 degrees Fahrenheit. In 2001, all the panel gave was a range of 2.5-10.4 degrees Fahrenheit.

On sea levels, the report projects rises of 7-23 inches by the end of the century. An additional 3.9-7.8 inches are possible if recent, surprising melting of polar ice sheets continues.

The panel, created by the United Nations in 1988, releases its assessments every five or six years — although scientists have been observing aspects of climate change since as far back as the 1960s. The reports are released in phases — this is the first of four this year.

"The point here is to highlight what will happen if we don't do something and what will happen if we do something," said another author, Jonathan Overpeck at the University of Arizona. "I can tell if you will decide not to do something the impacts will be much larger than if we do something."

As the report was being released, environmental activists repelled off a Paris bridge and draped a banner over a statue used often as a popular gauge of whether the Seine River is running high.

"Alarm bells are ringing. The world must wake up to the threat posed by climate change," said Catherine Pearce of Friends of the Earth.

Stephanie Tunmore of Greenpeace said "if the last IPCC report was a wake up call, this one is a screaming siren."

"The good news is our understanding of the climate system and our impact on it has improved immensely. The bad news is that the more we know, the more precarious the future looks," Tunmore said in a statement. "There's a clear message to governments here, and the window for action is narrowing fast."

It must have been caveman farts that ended the last ice age and eskimo piss that caused the world to cool down after that warm up. Its called cycles and the earth's climate does the same thing. Kind of like the hysterical cycles of liberals screaming about the next ice age in the 70's to idiotic poverty pimping buerocrats in socialist inhabited gatherings (the UN).Nothing like a eco-socialist/terrorist wet dream to put all lesser beings in a panic.

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Originally Posted by Devastatin Dave

It must have been caveman farts that ended the last ice age. Nothing like a eco-socialist/terrorist wet dream to put all lesser beings in a panic.

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Aye! Glad to see you back on, Dave.

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Originally Posted by Patriarch of Constantinople

Aye! Glad to see you back on, Dave.

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I've even edited my post, just for you!!! Good to see you BTW, oh and the sky is falling.:laugh4:

Its amazing how can someone can take the crudest words available in the dictionary and make a completely logical sentence out of them.

Anyways, I pretty much agree with Dave. I blame global warming on too much Hippy Smoke from the '60s.

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Originally Posted by Devastatin Dave

It must have been caveman farts that ended the last ice age and eskimo piss that caused the world to cool down after that warm up. Its called cycles and the earth's climate does the same thing. Kind of like the hysterical cycles of liberals screaming about the next ice age in the 70's to idiotic poverty pimping buerocrats in socialist inhabited gatherings (the UN).Nothing like a eco-socialist/terrorist wet dream to put all lesser beings in a panic.

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Makes more sense than a penguin skating in lava ;)

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Originally Posted by Patriarch of Constantinople

Makes more sense than a penguin skating in lava ;)

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Touche':beam:

So if 113 countries say this, then 113 countries are pinko commie/socialist neanderthals?

113 countries with an agenda.

OK. So, if a panel of the worlds leading scientists, having considered all of the evidence, concluding that global warming is real and is man made is not enough to convince you, what would it take?

Because I'm certaintly thinking a few euroweenie posts from me on a games board aint going to do the trick?

Good to see you back DD.

It doesn't say anywhere in the bible that global warming is being caused by man :laugh4:

What ever happened to global cooling? Back in the 70’s we were headed into another ice age. And I still want to know when the government of Mars is going to adopt the Kyoto protocols. I hear they’re having the same problem we are.

Oh well, if we’re screwed we’re screwed, might as well live it up :medievalcheers: . My great great great grandchildren may have to move to Canada or Russia some day, I’m sure they don’t mind the warming.

make sure you get yours, fellas:

http://environment.guardian.co.uk/cl...004397,00.html

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Scientists offered cash to dispute climate study

Scientists and economists have been offered $10,000 each by a lobby group funded by one of the world's largest oil companies to undermine a major climate change report due to be published today.
Letters sent by the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), an ExxonMobil-funded thinktank with close links to the Bush administration, offered the payments for articles that emphasise the shortcomings of a report from the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

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Ben Stewart of Greenpeace said: "The AEI is more than just a thinktank, it functions as the Bush administration's intellectual Cosa Nostra. They are White House surrogates in the last throes of their campaign of climate change denial. They lost on the science; they lost on the moral case for action. All they've got left is a suitcase full of cash."

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:yes:

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They lost on the science; they lost on the moral case for action. All they've got left is a suitcase full of cash."

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Why does he hate freedom? ~:smile:

More interestingly: did AEI have any takers? With $39.5 Billion profit reported, Exxon could certainly have afforded decent bribes.

edit:forgot the smiley

Mr Boortz says it all for me...
"WHY AM I SKEPTICAL ABOUT MAN-MADE GLOBAL WARMING?

A 21-page report from something called the "Intergovernmental Panel On Climate Change" has been released today...in Paris, no less...and as expected, it's predictions are dire. According to the report: "Warming of the climate system is unequivocal, as is now evident from observations of increases in global average air and ocean temperatures, widespread melting of snow and ice, and rising global mean sea level." Yeah right...we've heard all this before.

But the biggest bombshell here is this one: no matter what we do, global warming will not be reversed.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

It will go on for centuries, according to this report. The sea levels will continue to rise as polar ice caps melt. So I guess if Al Gore wins his Nobel Peace Prize, we'll still experience global warming. So much for riding to work everyday in your hybrid car...it's not doing a thing. The situation is futile, according to this report.

But really, it makes sense that the global warming crowd would come to this conclusion. After all, global warming is a religion. The anti-capitalist enviro-nazis don't ever want the problem to be solved. After all, if global warming were to be solved tomorrow, what would they blame the United States for? They'd have to find some other reason.

Sorry .. I'm still a skeptic. In no particular order here are just a few of the reasons why I'm not buying this man-made global warming scare:

The United Nations is anti-American and anti-Capitalist. In short .. I don't trust them. Not a bit. The UN would eagerly engage in any enterprise that would weaken capitalist economies around the world.


Because after the fall of the Soviet Union and worldwide Communism many in the anti-capitalist movement moved to the environmental movement to continue pursuing their anti-free enterprise goals. Many of the loudest proponents of man-made global warming today are confirmed anti-capitalists.


Because the sun is warmer .. and all of these scientists don't seem to be willing to credit a warmer sun with any of the blame for global warming.


The polar ice caps on Mars are melting. How did our CO2 emissions get all the way to Mars?


It was warmer in the 1930s across the globe than it is right now.


It wasn't all that long ago that these very same scientists were warning us about "global cooling" and another approaching ice age?


How much has the earth warmed up in the last 100 years? One degree. Now that's frightening.

Because that famous "hockey stick" graph that purports to show a sudden warming of the earth in the last few decades is a fraud. It ignored previous warming periods ... left them off the graph altogether.


The infamous Kyoto accords exempt some of the world's biggest CO2 polluters, including China and India.


The Kyoto accords can easily be seen as nothing less than an attempt to hamstring the world's dominant capitalist economies.


Because many of these scientists who are sounding the global warming scare depend on grant money for their livelihood, and they know the grant money dries up when they stop preaching the global warming sermon.


Because global warming "activists" and scientists seek to punish those who have different viewpoints. If you are sure of your science you have no need to shout down or seek to punish those who disagree.


What happened to the Medieval Warm Period? In 1996 the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issued a chart showing climatic change over a period of 1000 years. This graph showed a Medieval warming period in which global temperatures were higher than they are today. In 2001 the IPCC issued another 1000 year graph in which the Medieval warming period was missing. Why?


Why has one scientist promoting the cause of man-made global warming been quoted as saying "we have to get rid of the medieval warming period?"


Why is the ice cap on the Antarctic getting thicker if the earth is getting warmer?


In the United State, the one country with the most accurate temperature measuring and reporting records, temperatures have risen by 0.3 degrees centigrade over the past 100 years. The UN estimate is twice that.


There are about 160,000 glaciers around the world. Most have never been visited or measured by man. The great majority of these glaciers are growing, not melting.


Side-looking radar interferometry shows that the ise mass in the West Antarctic is growing at a rate of over 26 gigatons a year. This reverses a melting trend that had persisted for the previous 6,000 years.


Rising sea levels? The sea levels have been rising since the last ice age ended. That was 12,000 years ago. Estimates are that in that time the sea level has risen by over 300 feet. The rise in our sea levels has been going on long before man started creating anything but natural CO2 emissions.


Like Antarctica, the interior of Greenland is gaining ice mass.


Over the past 3,000 years there have been five different extended periods when the earth was measurably warmer than it is today.


During the last 20 years -- a period of the highest carbon dioxide levels -- global temperatures have actually decreased. That's right ... decreased.


Why did a reporter from National Public Radio refuse to interview David Deming, an associate professor at the University of Oklahoma studying global warming, after his testimony to the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee unless Deming would state that global warming was being caused by man?


Why are global warming proponents insisting that the matter is settled and that no further scientific research is needed? Why are they afraid of additional information?


On July 24, 1974 Time Magazine published an article entitled "Another Ice Age?" Here's the first paragraph:
"As they review the bizarre and unpredictable weather pattern of the past several years, a growing number of scientists are beginning to suspect that many seemingly contradictory meteorological fluctuations are actually part of a global climatic upheaval. However widely the weather varies from place to place and time to time, when meteorologists take an average of temperatures around the globe they find that the atmosphere has been growing gradually cooler for the past three decades. The trend shows no indication of reversing. Climatological Cassandras are becoming increasingly apprehensive, for the weather aberrations they are studying may be the harbinger of another ice age."

Hey ... I could go on. There's much more where that came from. But I need to get ready to go on the air. Just know that many of the strongest proponents of this "man-made" global warming stuff are dedicated opponents to capitalism and don't feel all that warm and fuzzy about the United States."

edit: wrapped the long part in spoiler tags, for those who want to read the whole thing. -Kukri

Oh and one more thing, here's another Nobel Peace Prize nominee...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/usnw/2007020...el_peace_prize
HAHAHAHA!!! Stick that in your pipe Al Gore and smoke it...

Global Warming is BS. Plain and simple.

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Originally Posted by Vuk

Global Warming is BS. Plain and simple.

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It would be interesting to know what you're basing that comment on. If you read about the ice cores they're drilling up in Greenland, it's pretty obvious that the Earth's climate changes radically over time. Nothing suspicious about that. The only point of contest is whether our activities are having a measurable impact on that cycle.

No matter which way you slice it, I wouldn't recommend beachfront property in Florida to anyone I like.

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Originally Posted by Vuk

Global Warming is BS. Plain and simple.

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Man-made Global warming is BS. :yes:

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Letters sent by the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), an ExxonMobil-funded thinktank with close links to the Bush administration, offered the payments for articles that emphasise the shortcomings of a report from the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

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That cracks me up. How come we never hear about the pro-global warming groups that Exxon also gives funding to? Why isn't their credibility challenged?

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Originally Posted by Lemur

It would be interesting to know what you're basing that comment on. If you read about the ice cores they're drilling up in Greenland, it's pretty obvious that the Earth's climate changes radically over time. Nothing suspicious about that. The only point of contest is whether our activities are having a measurable impact on that cycle.

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Personally, I'm baffled as to why conservatives in particular tend towards irrational hostility on the issue.

The steps needed to combat global warming should encourage careful and economical use of costly resources, reduce the US and EU dependence on unstable countries that supply fossil fuels and drive innovation and new technology.

The first step reduces costs through efficiency, which should then lead to increased profits for business and less taxation for government. The second step is strategically desirable. The third step keeps US technology leading the world, creates new industries for highly skilled workers and opens new markets that the sweat shop economies will desperately need but are not in a position to exploit.

Even sticking-plaster solutions like Kyoto and carbon trading give the US an edge - their economy is better set up than most to exploit the opportunities of trading ephemerals.

If human-caused global warming proves to be a myth, all of these things are still desirable. If it isn't, you're ahead of the game.

I can understand the knee-jerk reaction to the looney greens that want us to return to the stone age, but why the stubborn nay-saying when there are so many advantages?

I thought that it had been made fairly clear, that man did have an effect on Global warming.
Were pumping alot of crap into the atmosphere, even that has got to make you think more than twice.

Is man-made global warning BS?

I don't think so, however I do think that the evidence points to an accelleration over the last 200 years of a natural phenomanon. Saying that "it will go on for centuries no matter what" means they either believe that no one will listen to them, that they are just trying to pin it on man, or that Bush has already payed them off.

After all, this report means America can produce as much muck as it wants.

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Originally Posted by Vuk

Global Warming is BS. Plain and simple.

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Originally Posted by Xiahou

Man-made Global warming is BS.

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You better hurry to get those 10k then ~;)

Oh well. Everyone must believe in something, and since it's Friday evening....I believe I'll have a beer.

It's always reassuring when people prioritize short-term finances over global "better safe than sorry" issues. :deal2:

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Originally Posted by Watchman

It's always reassuring when people prioritize short-term finances over global "better safe than sorry" issues. :deal2:

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What? Even the report says there's nothing we can do about it, doesnt it? :shrug:

Short term finances? I don't call a strangulation of the economy for the foreseeable furture short term, nor do I call it better safe than sorry to radically alter our way of life due to unproven, highly politized science, especially when the authors of this paper say even going back to medieval technology won't stop warming.

Ever heard of sun cycles?

CR

Well said Watchman.:sweatdrop:

:inquisitive: 'Scuse me for asking a stupid question, but what particular 'paper' have you irresponsibility apologists been reading ? The big heap o'crap Dave kindly provided for fertilizing the lawn ?

Here is an entertaining transcript from Larry King that has a debate (mainly) between Bill Nye and Richard Lindzen on man-made global warming. Heidi Cullen was there too, but her comments were generally vacuous and consisted of repeating over and over again "the evidence is overwhelming" without saying what evidence.

There are some other segments involving politicians in the transcript as well- feel free to skip those.