Gore: Cigarette Smoking 'significant' Contributor To Global Warming

If it's true, then Gore is one of he most responsible for causing Global Warming (if it even exists). Mr. Tobacco farmer.

 

There is absolutely no question that global warming exists. Even George Bush (a big denier of global warming) now acknowledges that global warming is a problem. Right now the Earth is the warmest it has been in at least one million years and temperatures are rising faster than at any point in time recorded in the geological records.

 

Who the hell wants to shovel snow and buy snow tires every year anyway?

 

Then move to a different climate.

Unless we bring global warming under control, we will seriously upset ecosystems around the world. We will see continuing and worsening droughts across central latitudes of the earth and a melting of ice caps at the Polar Regions. This will cause mass famines (like we continue to see in Africa), the raising of sea levels (which will flood low laying costal areas where so much of the world's population live) AND the extinction of temperature sensitive plants and animals (e.g. polar bears, picas, etc.). The weather will become increasingly unstable and violent with an increase in severity of hurricanes, tornados and (ironically enough) winter storms.

 

Never heard of the little ice age huh? You know the one that lasted what, about 250 to 300 years. You know that one that contradicted science which used to tell us an ice age would take thousands of years to actually occur?

Could this be a naturally occuring converse circumstance?

Oh yeah, I did move to a different climate. It's friggin' hot here too!

 

I don't think most people question that the earth is getting warming, they just wonder if the underlining cause, 'is or isn't all human based' ie are we huge part of it or is our behaviour negligible.

And if we are, is there any reasonable action that can be taken...and will it be effective?

I don't really have a decesive views on this. I'm not really sure it is all our fault.

*shrug*

 

No not on the scale and speed at which the earth is warming. Based on ice cores and studies of the geologic record, the earth is warming faster now than at any time in earth's history AND it is the warmest it has been in one million years. Also the warming trend matches up very well with man's industrialization. You will not find any reputable scientist who doubts global warming and that we are the primary cause of it. The science is just too overwhelming. We are releasing millions upon billions of tons of fossil carbon into the atmosphere that had been sequestered in the earth for millions of years.

Here is something to think about, in the artic regions (like Alaska where I used to live) there are zones of permafrost and discontinuous permafrost. This is land that has been frozen solid since the beginning of the last major ice age. When this permafrost melts it turns into marshes and peat bogs full of dead and decaying plant and animal matter that died at the beginning of the last major ice age. We are talking about billions, maybe trillions of tons of organic matter that has been in a deep freeze for hundreds of thousands of years. It only takes a 1/2 degree increase in average annual temperatures to begin to melt this permafrost and to allow the organic material to begin to decay. As this organic material decays it begins to release carbon dioxide and methane on an almost unimaginable scale that compounds the green house causes we are releasing.

Think of global warming and greenhouse gasses being a giant bull whip with industrialization being the hand that holds the whip, the green house gasses man releases being the rope of the whip and the permafrost in the artic regions being the knot at the end of the whip. If we do not immediately begin to slow down the release of green house gasses, the resulting increase in temperatures will melt the tundra resulting in a runaway chain reaction of greenhouse gasses being released from the melting tundra, which will in turn speed up the rate of global warming, which will in turn speed up the release of greenhouse gasses.

If we can decrease the amount of greenhouse gasses we are producing we could slow down the rate of global warming enough to give us the opportunity to both adapt to a warming climate (e.g. move away from costal areas) and maybe develop technologies that help us remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and sequester it back into the earth so that we can halt global warming all together. To do this we basically need to find alternative sources of energy other than fossil fuels and in the short run make our machines that run on fossil fuels as efficient as we can.

BP (yes that company that didn't think it was necessary to run pigs through their pipes) has a great amount of information on their website about global warming including a carbon calculator that can help you determine how big your carbon foot print is at: http://www.bp.com/extendedsectiongenericarticle.do?categoryId=9008204&contentId=7015209

 

I had to pick on a friggin' scientist. Great.

I got nothing now.

I'm gonna dig out my Thomas Dolby Album.

 

Thats disappointing Rick you seemed like a pretty intelligent rational person, I mean no one is 100% sure of anything but really most the science points toward man being a major contributer

I don't think we are all going to drown or anything but I think it could be kind of bad, the epa is predicting sea level rises from like from something like 4-12 feet in the next 100 years

 

I was reading about that little ice age and that medival warm period might have been caused by changes in ocean currents.

 

You could kiss most of Florida goodbye, as well as New Orleans and large sections of the gulf coast. Manhattan would be in a world of hurt as would LA (not that that would be a big loss). India, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Vietnam, and many other low laying high population areas of the world would be devastated.

 

I kind of like living next to the only barrier reef in the US, hopefully I will dead by the time it gets bad

Huge amounts of coral has been dying around here, from like higher temps and/or disease, kind of sucks

 

One big fear is that a massive dumping of fresh water into the North Atlantic Ocean from the melting ice sheets could change the density of the North Atlantic such that it interrupts the Gulf Stream. If this happens while rest of the globe bakes, Northern Europe could be sent into a deep freeze as the Gulf Stream helps moderate temperatures in Finland, Norway, Iceland, etc.

 

ferret, you mentioned you smoked a while back, didn't you?

 

I know we're to rely on some external knowlege (ie we can't verify everything as individuals), but I'm a bit worried if this is taken too far, and it really hurts our economy. I could understand viable changes that won't hurt us, but I think those options aren't as present as I would like them to be.

In our paradigm of politics it feels there's such restriction of chose and options.

I guess my fears comes from hearing all too much from enviromental extremists. It would be a lot nicer to hear from those whom could come-up with a plan that doesn't involve me riding a bike everywhere (and living in a mud hutt). California did something quite simple that saved a lot of energy...we mandated energy saving light bulbs in refrigerators. Sounds small, but if America (as whole) could do things like that, then I would definitely support that.

I just don't want anything to go too far. I'm looking for a division of practiality and idealism in this situation. I'm sure to some level you understand what I mean.

 

only once in awhile

 

Do you smoke after sex?

 

Thats funny I don't think I have ever heard any one seriously suggest that.

arn't like the biggest emitters cola burning power plants?

 

used to, if I buy a pack I try to only smoke one a day after dinner, think the last cig I smoked was in august

 

Oh man, I baited to to say... "I don't know, I never looked".

I kill me!