The earth warmed from about 1900 to 1998 by 0.6 degrees Celsius. That's almost enough to notice! It's also almost large enough to be outside the margin of error on a typical thermometer!

However will we survive?

Posted: 03/12/2009 19:47:05

Cats will survive. We're smarter than humans.

Meow.

Posted: 03/12/2009 19:48:20

The warming isn't the problem. When it gets warm enough, it will melt enough of the glaciers, diluting the saltwater of the oceans and shutting down the ocean currents. Then, instead of a one degree increase in temperature that people are sweating over, we will have a 30 degree drop in temperature.

Posted: 03/12/2009 20:39:19

The warming isn't the problem. When it gets warm enough, it will melt enough of the glaciers, diluting the saltwater of the oceans and shutting down the ocean currents. Then, instead of a one degree increase in temperature that people are sweating over, we will have a 30 degree drop in temperature.

The planet has ways of compensating and surviving. We may not.

Posted: 03/12/2009 20:49:08

Antarctic ice cores reveal that for about 1m years, atmospheric carbon fluctuated between ice-age levels of 180 parts per million (ppm) and warm levels of 280ppm. We don’t know why this narrow fluctuation was so stable. It just was. Carbon levels are now at 387ppm and rising rapidly. The best we can hope for, if radical low-emission targets are accepted by world governments NOW, is to stabilise the figure at 450ppm.

The planet has ways of compensating and surviving. We may not.

Man made CO2 makes up 3.2% of the total amount. Of the four main greenhouse gases (ie gases that have an insulating effect on our planet), CO2 makes up 3.6%. 95% is made up by water vapour.

Posted: 03/12/2009 21:03:09

And if we do...we'll have no oil or gas left and it will be cold.

When you think about it, it oil and gas are stored (potential) energy, as soon as we burn them we have a carbon dioxide filled, volcanic atmosphere again. Of course. We've dug up the stored energy and burned it.

Hope somebody thinks of something. Cos me walking to work ain't gonna change a thing.

Yeah, no worries they have - they are knocking down the 72,000 hectre established forest behind my house and putting up wind turbines. Sorted.