Global Warming: Fact or Fiction?
By kbkbooks
@kbkbooks (7022)
Canada
June 7, 2008 9:48am CST
Some people think that Global Warming is just a government scheme to force people to behave a certain way. I remember the gas shortage in the seventies and it turned out to be a scare tactic as I recall. For sure we need to careful in the way we use our energy and they way we treat our planet, but is this all just a myth?
Personally I believe there is something going on but I haven't figured out if it equals the degree of severity we are led to believe. For sure the summer sun is hotter and we have less snow in the winter. Here in Quebec, though, it's hard to believe in WARMING when the cold weather lasts right through May into June, the growing season gets shorter, and the cold weather begins again just at the start of October. Seems to be cooling rather than warming, at least here.
You have to believe in the shrinking of the polar ice caps because they show us pictures, right? Besides everything on TV is true, right? er... I don't know. One of my biggest personal hobbies is photo and film editing. You can make anything appear to be real.
Like I said, I know there is something going on with the Earth, and I know we need to be responsible with our resources. However, I know that there are also people all over the Earth who are probably capitalizing on this to make a profit from it. Like, what is up with paying to get rid of tires and paint cans and light bulbs? Doesn't charging people for this type of garbage only make them more likely to dump them off somewhere illegally. I know around here there are a lot of folks who dump tires in the road ditches just to get rid of them, and who is going to trace them and how? Then there are the dangerous waste facilities that make you pay so much per kilo or pound for disposal. We are already paying taxes in our town taxes for garbage pickup.
I want you to know I do recycle like crazy and I compost, quite often to a degree that my family thinks I am a little bit overboard with this. But if you are going to do it only half way, why do it at all?
4 people like this
13 responses
@schneiderman (184)
• United States
8 Jun 08
Its a fact!!!! I live in Arizona and it gets hotter and hotter here every single year.
1 person likes this
@schneiderman (184)
• United States
9 Jun 08
Yeah its crazy. They are talking about in ten years the high in the summer creeping towards 130-135
@ricavinacruz (6)
• Philippines
8 Jun 08
It is a fact. studies have shown that the level of CO2 in the atmosphere is getting higher and higher, thus, making it hotter. but of course, there's more explanation to that. hehe... :)
1 person likes this
@JanisRemaxRealtor (432)
• United States
7 Jun 08
Global warming? NO.
Our planet goes through natural changes every 10,000 years (give or take a million)or so. It is a natural there is nothing we can do about it. Sure, do your best to reduce, reuse and recycle, but the fact of the matter is this, remember reading about the ice ages? Where was Al Gore back then to advise the dinosaurs that they need to reduce their carbon footprints? Please!
Again, do your best to become self sufficient, recycle, etc., but do not buy into the carbon footprint nonsense that "they" are trying to push on you. If you do, they will then come and take away your second vehicle, or perhaps tell you just exactly when you can run your air conditioning on those 95 degree days, or perhaps ration your food........beware people.
@kbkbooks (7022)
• Canada
7 Jun 08
See... there are other people who suspect the same as I do. I read 1984 and a bunch of other things over the years about how the government tries to control us. We are certainly smack dab in the middle of the "Big Brother" age, and it's scary how much the government and others know about us. They might be able to find out things we don't want them to know, but we can certainly try not to be fooled by propaganda.
@rsa101 (38135)
• Philippines
8 Jun 08
But the thing is Al Gore is not working for the government now. And the changes that has been happening right now is changing rapidly not the way natural things are supposed to happen. What happened 10,000 years ago is happening right in our very short time. i don't think the government is doing scare tactics as they are the ones that try to evade issues especially the first world countries. they are denying that there is no global warming and they try to stop making moves to stop this phenomenon ever existed because it really does not affect them at all. We in the tropics are the ones that does contribute less carbon footprints are the ones that suffer the most as we are the ones who are suffering more weird weather patterns and many unusual weather changes.
1 person likes this
@JanisRemaxRealtor (432)
• United States
8 Jun 08
You missed my point. Al Gore and others want us all to literally "buy in" to these ideas and they are the people that are cashing in. They are flown around in private jets, driven in stretch limos, live in more than one home around the world. They are leaving more of a carbon footprint than we small folks. Follow the money my friend. Go to any of the save the planet or "green" websites and just follow the money.
I am sure it is very hot where you live in the tropics. As I read, and have learned through life, it always has been. It is natural. I think our tolerances have become weaker as we as people become more impatient and spoiled, weak and lazy. Our entire planet is said to have once been covered with ice. I saw that just yesterday on the National Geographic Channel. Who's fault was it when all of that ice melted?
1 person likes this
@lonewolfnan (4366)
• Canada
7 Jun 08
An excellant topic with some very good points made.Like in Quebec,here in BC we are still having winter-like temps(yesterday it was 10 degrees as our high)and we have had about 3 days of above temp daily normal in 5 months.Global warming has not hit the west coast of BC yet.And oil prices and scare tactics?Yes I remember those line-ups and all the rhetoric that went with it.OPEC decided(after much perssuasion etc from the US)to open the valve more so more oil was available.While ther is still oil left though,it is not a never-ending supply and the oil-rich countries are playing supply-demand to artificially keep prices higher(today it is $1.389 a liter or $6.31 a gallon.The barrel prices continue to go higher which increases EVERYTHING we buy/sell/ship.Now the government has finally found a way to tax our breathing-Carbon Tax!I am going to stop my ranting now and not get into illegal dumping etc.Time to take my valium......
1 person likes this
@kbkbooks (7022)
• Canada
7 Jun 08
"If you take a walk, I'll tax your feet, If you drive your car I'll tax the street..." The Beatles were certainly aware of the scam tactics the government uses.
I think that in Canada and probably in warm places with extreme seasons, we are more aware of the changes that are going on.
1 person likes this
@lonewolfnan (4366)
• Canada
7 Jun 08
Governments have always been looking for new ways to tax its people to increase the coffers.They hace us comingin,staying for awhile,and heading out.
I think you are onto something with the notion that areas of extreme temps are noticing the changes in temperatures more as we wait longer and longer for the warmth and it lasts shorter and shorter.h our luck,we may go into another ice age before global warming takes over.I think I had better buy a parka and a bathing suit,just in case.
@fumi_masaki (107)
• Philippines
8 Jun 08
Personally, i think this is a fact.
But in my opinion, whether this is a fact or not, we should ACT now! If this is only fiction, we should not wait until, this situation becomes reality. It's really scary to think that someday, this earth that we live in will be like one of those phenomenon happen on movies!
Anyway, changes of weather are signs that there is a global warming going on, because of the meltdown on polar regions, it brings an abnormal changes on climate, a place that should be having a summer season sometimes is having the opposite climate.
1 person likes this
@cool_kkin (56)
• India
8 Jun 08
Yes you are right, but we need to start it now, like we have plant some trees every year and/or try to use bicycle or walk instead of using Car or Bike for shotter distance.
1 person likes this
@kbkbooks (7022)
• Canada
9 Jun 08
For sure if it's not totally here yet, the problem will arrive in full force eventually. I do think that one person at a time doing things carefully is going to add up with others eventually. Already we as a society are producing less waste for landfills (used to call them dumps), because of recycling and compost. In my town, the town sells us different containers for each of the three (garbage, compost, and recycling), and the public pickups are all on a handy little calendar we can check to know what barrels to put out that day. I really like the system. I recycled and composted before this, but it's much easier when you have it picked up than having to lug it to a bin somewhere in town at a random location.
@Zergonipal (807)
• Poland
8 Jun 08
Recycling in my town (propably whole country) is a lie. There are seperate bins for cans, paper and glass but when the trashtruck arrive it empties all 3 bins into one place! So there is no sense in sorting things.
If you are wondering if what you see in TV is true then I must say that this time it is. I saw myself the effects of climate changing. You can don't believe in moon landing too, but if you look through the telescope in the right place you will see the US flag, moon rider vehicle and special instalation to measure the distance between moon and earth (special mirror that reflects laser beam).
If you want examples of climate changes you can always visit my topic about that: "environmetal doom?". I wrote there one interesting example about it.
1 person likes this
@slyvixen42 (926)
• United States
7 Jun 08
The earth goes through cycles of warming and cooling. Perhaps humans are doing things to speed up this process or even make it more dangerous but I don't think that people need to get panicky about it. We do need to take care of the environment, it's our home. Protecting it is a matter of personal responsability.
1 person likes this
@rogue13xmen13 (14403)
• United States
7 Jun 08
I would say that it is fact because the planet is far hotter than what it used to be.
@rsa101 (38135)
• Philippines
7 Jun 08
Well I feel right now that we should really be concerned with our environment. Our planet is really warming up and me as a person who lives in the tropical country is the first to experience this since we are the first to experience an unusually hotter days than in your place. You may have felt a little snow and a little hot summer days but in my place its getting hotter every year and were experiencing more strogner typhoons and weather changes has been pretty weird as we are not supposed to experience wet season but we are already experiencing that already. I think global warming is really a fact for us in where I am living.
@paid2write (5201)
•
8 Jun 08
Some people get confused about the term 'global warming'. It really should be called 'climate change'. Climate change is a natural cycle but it is changing much faster than it would do without the impact of humankind. We have speeded up the process by polluting the planet and that is causing more extreme temperatures, both high and low.
I have been aware of environmental issues for more than thirty years. We just use different labels and it has taken governments, not just the U.S., decades to begin to take notice, because most politicians are more concerned with short term issues and power than the are about long term future issues.
So we do nothing and let the climate continue to change, or do we pressurize our governments to do even more to find alternatives to burning fossil fuels and to stop chemicals and poisons polluting the earth and the air we breathe.
To me the answer is obvious. Some people want to believe it is a conspiracy they are delusional and in denial that the planet can only sustain human life for a limited time and we are shortening the amount of time left available to us.
1 person likes this
@kbkbooks (7022)
• Canada
9 Jun 08
I think you are right. It's strange how so many people are criticizing the governments about different things, yet when they now want to talk about something that really affects the general population instead of just the government itself, it takes years for people to really listen. I think, like you say, that environmental issues have been relevant for many more years, but not everyone has listened to the needs of the environment. It's interesting that it takes a government person (Al Gore) to make a statement that people will finally listen to, while elsewhere in other matters there are many turning a deaf ear to political suggestions.
@cool_kkin (56)
• India
8 Jun 08
global warning , now its not is new even you can feel this in your daily work.Tempreture increase every year, you can feel that, hopefully all of you aware about this and make some thing that makes really better our enviroment. Like have just started to use bicycle instead of my bike or car
1 person likes this
@aplaza (630)
• Netherlands
7 Jun 08
Recently it was in the news again. Yes it was the report that there is no such thing as global warming. The very fact that the same news-show also shows reports on something or other a few days later where global warming is blamed for whatever it was that happened is not to be taken seriously. We've been told for so long now that global warming is the cause of so many things that we are actually starting to believe it. Don't get me wrong. I don't think it's a good idea to litter the streets. And yes it's a good idea to recycle when you can. But don't expect that it will change the world. Don't go overboard. Do what you can but enjoy life too. One of these days the sun will explode anyway and there's nothing anybody will be able to do about it. Not even NASA.
@Pocari (9)
• United States
8 Jun 08
It's most definitely a fact. The temperatures have been measured. We can see the effects on the world's ice shelfs. The only thing that is really up for debate is whether or not global warming is somehow caused by humans or is the result of natural processes that are completely out of our control. There's a good chance that it is the combination of a natural cycle being exacerbated by greenhouse gases that have been pumped into the atmosphere over the last 150 years.
1 person likes this
@kbkbooks (7022)
• Canada
9 Jun 08
I definitely agree that it is a combination of natural factors and aggravations by humans. For some reason human beings think their "improvements" and "conveniences" are all good. We are finding out now that is not always true. Spray cans, air conditioners, and other things we thought were wonderful are now banned or changed. I guess this kind of change is a good thing because it shows that at last someone is listening to the environment groan.
