<p>GLOBAL WARMING. Now notice the word "GLOBAL." I am not concerned about this and I'll tell you why: As I reiterated notice the word "GLOBAL", to stop this potentially devastating phenomenom this will require global effort from high income countries, developing nations and third world societies. Do you honestly believe that a villager in India, Somalia, Slovenia, Tanzania will show great concern for global warming over not having any food to eat or feed his/her family today. India, by far elutes alot of gases, particularly more pollution than the state of California combined, almost a majority of the nation lives in poverty so why on earth would they even care about global warming? If Al Gore was really concerned he would take this initiative and intervention campaign to the countries that are mainly responsible for this climate change. How can America make a difference in the world climate. If we conserve, then say someone in Venezuela might not. Look at the imbalance. For us to truly make a difference we need all countries to participate, after all this is "GLOBAL" warming not "NATIONAL" warming, ....but this is impossible for countries who are tied in with their own predicaments of poverty, corruption etc. No one has the time or means of resources to undertake such a change. Face it people are concerned with today, rather than tommorow.</p>
<p>"If Al Gore was really concerned he would take this initiative and intervention campaign to the countries that are mainly responsible for this climate change."</p>
<p>He is. The US is disproportionately responsible, BY FAR. Just do some research and look at the statistics.</p>
<p>"....but this is impossible for countries who are tied in with their own predicaments of poverty, corruption etc."</p>
<p>Those countries are also not as industrialized and not contributing to the problem as much. </p>
<p>"No one has the time or means of resources to undertake such a change. Face it people are concerned with today, rather than tommorow."</p>
<p>What a pessimistic attitude. Your grandchildren will thank you someday. And that day will arrive sooner than you think. I pity your karma.</p>
<p>kunfuzed101, even barring lealdragon's explanation - which is great refutation itself - what you say doesn't work unless AIR is separated by NATION. Somehow, I don't think that the winds and whatnot particularly care to mind humanity's lines in the sand. Read up on the trade of dust and pollutants between the US and Mexico - trade winds blow the grime both ways, and we can't stop that. African dust rains on the Atlantic, causing havoc among marine animals.</p>
<p>Global warming is global, even for countries with low emissions - which we certainly are not, being the one with the highest.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>No, it won't. I hope you know that the United States is responsible for 25% (that is... ONE FOURTH) of the world's greenhouse gas emissions. In other words, the US is the world's biggest contributor to global warming.<br>
Like the people above me just said.</p>
<p>"the United States is responsible for 25% (that is... ONE FOURTH) of the world's greenhouse gas emissions. In other words, the US is the world's biggest contributor to global warming."</p>
<p>Thanks. That was the statistic I was looking for.</p>
<p>The US obviously does not have 25% of the world's population, so think about that. The US has done the most damage so should lead the way in reversing it.</p>
<p>Get those cows to stop farting.</p>
<p>^Haha.</p>
<p>I don't believe in global warming. The earth has cycles in which the temperature increases or decreases. Do some research before you base your opinion on what a political figure says. I'd rather trust a scientist.</p>
<p>We'll probably die out of something else like overpopulation, disease, natural disasters, etc. before temperatures get too high for areas to be uninhabitable.</p>
<p>neutralnuke,a very funny article…..sure, blame it on the cows lol!</p>
<p>Hey, don't laugh. Cows and livestock ruminants are very potent, generally producing huge amounts of methane. They've known that for years, but... it doesn't exactly make people feel more inclined to do something about global warming.</p>
<p>...We should all become vegetarians.</p>
<p>
[quote]
I don't believe in global warming. The earth has cycles in which the temperature increases or decreases. Do some research before you base your opinion on what a political figure says. I'd rather trust a scientist.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>in fact, the IPCC does acknowledge that although the earth has cycles for which there are warming and cooling periods, the latest warming period is manifold times faster than any other warming/cooling period in recorded history. furthermore, using normal climate cycles, we are supposed to be in a cooling period, and this is definitely not the case, indicating there is a new input variable that wasn't present in past cycles.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Gore's a dilletante. If you want to read a really chilling and more scholarly work on the subject of environmental degredation and its effect on societies, get a copy of "Collapse" by Jared Diamond. Global warming is just one small part of what's going on in the world.</p>
<p>After reading Diamond's book, by the way, I am now convinced that the shortest path to worldwide environmental disaster and economic collapse is to help "underdeveloped" nations reach for the economic success of western industrialized societies. You have to read the book if you care about the subject.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>100% with you there, WashDad. I am currently reading "Collapse" and have found it quite frightening how fragile the economies of even 1st world nations like the United States are. </p>
<p>regardless of what the causes of climate change are, current trends are likely to substantially decrease the amount of agriculture that can be grown in the Great Plains region of the US because of increased temperatures evaporating the moisture content of the majority of the Great Plains.
A substantial amount of agriculture grown in this area is exported to nations that can't grow enough food for themselves, and if this source disappears, it will put enormous stresses on the rest of the agricultural lands to produce enough food.</p>
<p>"..We should all become vegetarians."</p>
<p>Most definitely!</p>
<hr>
<p>Many people are trying to help reduce global warming by driving more fuel-efficient cars and using less electricity, but by far, the most effective thing that you can do to fight global warming is to go vegetarian.</p>
<p>The billions of chickens, turkeys, pigs, and cows who are crammed into factory farms each year in the U.S. produce enormous amounts of methane, both in their digestive processes and from the feces that they excrete. Scientists report that every molecule of methane is more than 20 times as effective as carbon dioxide is at trapping heat in our atmosphere.45 Statistics from the Environmental Protection Agency show that animal agriculture is the single largest cause of methane emissions in the U.S.46 Raising animals for food is causing global warming.</p>
<p>A recent report by EarthSave International, based on the work of leading climate scientists, shows that adopting a vegetarian diet is far more effective at reducing global warming than is reducing emissions from cars or power plants. This finding was confirmed by a groundbreaking study at the University of Chicago, which detailed the enormous environmental advantages (as well as the personal health benefits) of adopting a vegan diet. Read an article about the University of Chicago study, or read the study in its entirety.</p>
<p>Although methane makes a larger impact on global warming than carbon dioxide does, curbing carbon dioxide is also important, and animal agriculture is a major source of this gas as well. A calorie of animal protein requires more than 10 times as much fossil fuel input?releasing more than 10 times as much carbon dioxide?than does a calorie of plant protein.47 Feeding massive amounts of grain and water to farmed animals and then killing them and processing, transporting, and storing their flesh is extremely energy-intensive. In addition, carbon dioxide is released from animal manure. While driving a hybrid Toyota Prius instead of a ?regular? car saves the equivalent of just more than 1 ton of carbon dioxide a year, a vegan diet generates at least 1.5 fewer tons of carbon dioxide than does the average American diet.48 Adopting a vegan diet is more important than switching to a ?greener? car in the fight against global warming.49</p>
<p>The most powerful step that we can take as individuals to avert global warming is to stop eating meat, eggs, and dairy products.</p>
<hr>
<p>Global warming could be controlled if we all became vegetarians and stopped eating meat. That's the view of British physicist Alan Calverd, who thinks that giving up pork chops, lamb cutlets and chicken burgers would do more for the environment than burning less oil and gas.</p>
<p>Writing in this month's Physics World, Calvert calculates that the animals we eat emit 21% of all the carbon dioxide that can be attributed to human activity. We could therefore slash man-made emissions of carbon dioxide simply by abolishing all livestock.</p>
<p>Moreover, there would be no adverse effects to health and it would be an experiment that we could abandon at any stage. "Worldwide reduction of meat production in the pursuit of the targets set in the Kyoto treaty seems to carry fewer political unknowns than cutting our consumption of fossil fuels," he says.</p>
<p>Physics World is the international monthly magazine published by the Institute of Physics.</p>
<p>Source: Institute of Physics</p>
<p>haha, no way I'm going to become a vegetarian
I just started eating beef last year (I was born a Hindu) and it is so GOOD.</p>
<p>
[quote]
I don't believe in global warming. The earth has cycles in which the temperature increases or decreases. Do some research before you base your opinion on what a political figure says. I'd rather trust a scientist.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I'm pretty sure most scientists agree 100% that global warming IS real. It's not a matter of "if" it's real, it's a matter of how long before it starts really affecting us.</p>
<p>I knew it! It was the cows! Fiends!</p>
<p>Global temperatures have been rising for 18,000 years now.....</p>
<p>Global warming is driven more by politics than sound science.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Global temperatures have been rising for 18,000 years now.....</p>
<p>Global warming is driven more by politics than sound science.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>in fact, there was an ice age from 30,000 to 10,000 years ago, and temperatures have remained relatively constant up to 250 years ago. read up on your science before making sweeping generalizations.</p>
<p>Umm, that doesn't look very convincing. Why is there a dip in the 70's/80's? It's inconsistent. And why was the temperature so high in 1180? Surely, there weren't any SUV's around then. My point is, the climate has been inconsistent in that during some years, the temp will drop quickly and then rise, and then drop. Why is it not just a straight, slightly upward curving line?</p>
<p>It looks like overall, the average temp has risen a whopping 0.2-0.3 degrees Celsius. Oh no, let's run for cover. We need to evacuate to the artic now. I mean, that 0.2 degree rise is deadly.</p>
<p>so you refute your statement that the temperature has been rising for 18,000 years, because it's "inconsistent." ok. whatever you say.</p>
<p>It has-on average. The graph in my previous post was over the last 1000 years in case you did not notice.</p>
<p>"It looks like overall, the average temp has risen a whopping 0.2-0.3 degrees Celsius. Oh no, let's run for cover. We need to evacuate to the artic now. I mean, that 0.2 degree rise is deadly."</p>
<p>You are showing ignorance. It doesn't take much of a rise to melt the polar ice caps. And they ARE indeed melting.</p>