Global Warming...

[Stewart]

My arse.

When is this rain gonna end then, so we can have our global warming caused hot summer? Its July, and I can't remember the last sunny day we had... just 41 rainy ones.

Looks like we need a few more Chelsea tractors. This job isn't finished. I want it like Venus, people! (Or at least a few weeks of sun in July and August)

[arbitor]

Agreed, People say its bad to have a hotter counrty? rofl get a clue..

This rain is something else though

[Kezzer]

The World Is Going To End!

[Dorza]

Global warming is just an umbrella term that encompasses many states that our climate can be in. It doesn't necessarily mean that we're guaranteed scorching sun it just means that the average air temp is rising and other weird happenings will occur, such as snow today somewhere in England.

[arbitor]

Not a vast amount we can do about it, just embrace the times

[Oobie-]

^^ aye, a bit too late to save ourselves now. We can slow it down, but we cant reverse it now. Most of us will be dead by the time it really effects the inhabitants. (all those poor animals )

Sun exploding and killing human life? hahaha

[Stewart]

But didn't the Earth lurch wildly into ice ages, then lurch back to tropical weather, millions of years before we even set foot on this planet? So why now is a few degrees increase, because of a few billion extra tons of greenhouse gasses, going to finish us off?

The Little Ice age didn't finish off the snails, or the flying foxes, so I don't think we can claim the end is nigh, quite yet.

EDIT - Nor the Slow Loris - it also survived all the temp changing stuff.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slow_loris

[arbitor]

Ha i seem to remember i said that before oobie and got flamed by all the do gooders, that think we CAN change the world

Tbh as you say il be dead and buried when anything happens, so all is well, im here to enjoy it

[Dorza]

The earth has always gone through hot and cold periods, we're still coming out of the last cold period; we're on the tail end as it were. Thats all we're doing is speeding it up and its the speed of change that affects different things on the planet. At one point it got so hot that over 90% of life died out, or so they seem to think.

What is interesting is that the poles are changing too and theres evidence that this is normal as well. It could account for many sea dwelling lifeforms getting lost and beaching them selves.

[pumpman]

it has been suggested one of the effects of global warming on the uk would be more rain , but either way no one can say for sure what is happening, be it natural or caused by pollution, but it would be good to have less pollutants in the air.

[Rave]

Global warming worries me a bit, but what really worries me is Peak Oil. If global warming really takes off it really wouldn't be a problem for us to just put mirrors over much of the equator and beam all the heat from the sun back out to space.

As long as we've got oil, and coal, that is. Fact is, all of the world's revolution from essentially subsistence farming prior to the 19th century, to a world of 6bn people with ~1.2bn living in the 'first world' today, has been based on the availability of cheap energy extracted from the ground. It's already running out, according to well informed sources. Never mind about our climate becoming increasingly dangerous, the real problem is that we're all living an unsustainable life. Sooner or later the oil will run out, and when it does, the effects will be disastrous- as in none of us will even be able to eat properly.

I'm at the age where I'd really love for my wife and I to have a baby- but I genuinely think that the human race is f*cked. In all good conscience I can't bring a child into the world thinking that it's going to have a much harder life than I had. So I might just carry on smoking and drinking with abandon, and buy myself a superbike so that I can properly enjoy the last hurrah of the petrochemical era.

[Lee @ SCAN]

Ahh but global warming could be the cause of all this rain.

Think about it, the Earth is over 2/3 water and what happens to the water when it gets warm? Yeap... it evapourates and then forms clouds.

If the temperatures are higher, this causes more water to evapourate and this in turn gives us more rain.

Therefore, we are experiencing global warming. Just because it's not gloriously sunny doesn't mean it's not affecting us

[YorkieBen]

Im still not sold on global warming, there are alot of other factors at work.

But one theory is that as the polar icecaps melt due to global warming this affects the salinity of the water which could force the North Atlantic Drift southwards, resulting in the UK's climate to be more like Canadas - e.g. Icebergs off Scotland (we are on the same latitude).

Im not too worried about the oil as a source of fuel peaking - nuclear power can easily be used to generate electricity, as can coal (we have well over 100 years of coal underneath us in Britain) whilst fuel cell technology is a possible (and likely) solution for cars etc.

However petroleum is used for plastic which is a massive part of our lives now - whats going to replace it?

It is possible to synthesise oil from coal (of which we have alot of) and the extraction of oil from tar sands has increased reserves as well. For example, South Africa synthesises much of it diesel

In addition there are still alot of places that oil has not been exploited - the Falklands, Siberia etc and there is the possibility of exploiting oil shale - for example the US has enough oil shale to supply its petroleum for over 100 years (the problem is getting the stuff - its expensive to do)

Although peak oil is a worry, but there is considerable disagreement about it - some think it happened in the 1990s, some think its happened already, some thinks it wont happen in 30 years times whilst some dont think it will happen at all. As technology improves it will make more oilfields economically viable as well. If we move power production away from fossil fuels to nuclear energy (and eventually to renewable energy sources when they become viable) then the problem of lack of oil will be lessened - just so long as it isnt ignored.

What will be interesting is that certain countries importance in the world oil market will increase - Venezuela for example has vast amounts of oil and tar sand. And as its current leader is a left winger with questionable aims and is a bit of a looney it will be interesting to see what happens - the US may want to secure the supply of oil

[chicken]

Naahhh you've got it all wrong, all this cold wet weather is the result of Global Dimming of course!

Seriously though, the Earth's natural climate changes make anything we're doing pale in comparison. Pollution is not good, but the Doomsayers seem to argue every point regardless how conflicting with the last point they raised. It sells papers and films, so the next big theory is bandied about with reckless abandon. If we're going to be done over by anything I think it's a lot more likely to be the wholly natural next polar flip. (Unless EMF pollution is causing that!)

As for oil, have you seen the fields of Oil Seed Rape around nowadays? Nuclear power as mentioned can provide for electrical and fuel-cell vehicles. Solar power is rarely used due to expense, but as with anything would go down and become more efficient with more custom. EDF are advertising about their new wind farms at the moment. The end of Oil will drive (or is already driving) a change in technology, yes it may cost a bit to begin with but we'll adjust soon enough.

And...

Originally Posted by YorkieBen

However petroleum is used for plastic which is a massive part of our lives now - whats going to replace it?

According to my last sandwich from M&S, they're making the plastic window out of Corn nowadays

[Raz316]

I agree and am burning an oil field in my back garden as we speak! Bet we still have a hose pipe ban though

[Sinizter]

The wet summers are here to stay and thats due to global warming. You aint going to get any beach type weather around here.