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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To Think Global Warming Can't Be All Bad?

196 replies

afteralongsquawk · 19/11/2011 21:02

My carefully planted main crop tomatoes are long finished; but the runty little seedlings I dumped on the compost heap are doing great and still producing lovely toms in the last third of Nov!

AIBU to rather approve of this global warming thing? Confused

OP posts:
batsintheroof · 20/11/2011 20:32

Can I just add that it's called GLOBAL warming for a reason- we're talking about AVERAGE global temperatures increasing. What we see happening outside in our gardens is irrelevant. A global temperature increase of 2.5oC means at higher latitudes- such as the arctic- an average increase of 8oC or so may occur. How can you NOT say this is a problem?

The oceans are buffering temperature increase, by absorbing much of the CO2 that we emit. The oceans are acidifying and the oceans WILL become functionally extinct if this trend continues, not only because the coral reefs- the nurseries of the sea- will no longer exist, but because of other pressures such as over-fishing. If you want a world where nothing exists in the oceans but jellyfish and human existance is restricted to small pockets of land then fine, we can ignore all the warnings and make silly jokes about tomatoes. It really isn't a topic to joke about though.

NYCorLondon · 20/11/2011 20:33

well, yes and no, wmw. Generally high energy prices will probably be good for encouraging energy conservation and stimulating innovation for alternatives.

But it seems grossly unfair, together with high food prices, for the majority of the world's people when we benefited so much from cheap energy in the past. And I'm not thinking here about India and China who already have a very sure foot on the development rung but about the absolute poorest billion or so for whom any chance of food security or sustainable development is becoming increasingly distant.

MMMarmite · 20/11/2011 20:37

Because it hasn't globally cooled this past decade. Here is the data: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Global_Temperature_Anomaly_1880-2010_%28Fig.A%29.gif

MMMarmite · 20/11/2011 20:38

(that was a reply to whatmeworry)

OldMacEIEIO · 20/11/2011 20:47

Good point marmite.

the warming has stopped for 13 years. and no one knows why.

and no species have gone extinct, despite the hysteria.

:)

batsintheroof · 20/11/2011 20:53

"NO SPECIES HAVE GONE EXTINCT?! "

What planet are you on OldMac? You know absolutely NOTHING

AMPHIBIANS

You are not a scientist. Please go away.

MMMarmite · 20/11/2011 20:53

Huh? That wasn't what i said... looks like the temperature's still going up to me.

lottielou39 · 20/11/2011 20:57
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lottielou39 · 20/11/2011 20:58
lottielou39 · 20/11/2011 21:04

the links above are to The Great Global Warming Swindle. There's lots of scientists on it, some who resigned from the global warming Committee thingamajigee because they had differences of opinion, which they weren't allowed to express.

amicissima · 20/11/2011 21:04

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Whatmeworry · 20/11/2011 21:07

The oceans are buffering temperature increase, by absorbing much of the CO2 that we emit. The oceans are acidifying and the oceans WILL become functionally extinct if this trend continues, not only because the coral reefs- the nurseries of the sea- will no longer exist, but because of other pressures such as over-fishing.

We know the Earth has been far colder and far warmer in its history, there has been more CO2 and less CO2 in the atmosphere while sharks and turtles have survived for aeons, species have come and species have gone, its a long term cycle - even in humanity's time on Earth there have been ice ages and their opposites - even within recorded history the Romans grew grapes and made wine in York and the Vikings had cows in Greenland, and in the 1400 - 1700s there was a mini ice age. We are out of the mini ice age and there are not yet grapes or wine in York, so clearly the temperature trend will predictably continue to be upward for a while.

The problem is not these long cycles, but sadly the whole Global Warming scam has meant that for c15 years we have taken our eyes off the real issue - the problem of the energy and other resource consumption of 7bn (and growing) people.

You don't need Global Warming to predict that breeding millions of people and sticking them on environmentally risky land like wearthquake zones, flood plains and fluctuatingly arid regions invites disasters, nor that cutting down huge swathes of forest for slash and burn agriculture and overgrazing will create starvation and microclimate natural disasters, nor that overfishing is unsustainable. This has got nothing to do with long term Global Warming and everything to do with very predictable short term resource overconsumption.

Populations will collapse (they are collapsing in places, thats sparking many of these small wars going on today) and people will be having more and bigger wars over water, food land and energy long before any ocean turns acidic.

FaverollesWithBoughsOfHolly · 20/11/2011 21:11

Lottie - an awful lot of the global warming swindle was based on works of scientists that had already been disproved.
Shortly after that program was aired, it was generally reckoned to have been made to cause controversy, and little else.

batsintheroof · 20/11/2011 21:16

Whatmeworry. WRONG

"Coral reefs under rapid climate change and ocean acidification" in SCIENCE mag Abstract: Atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration is expected to exceed 500 parts per million and global temperatures to rise by at least 2 degrees C by 2050 to 2100, values that significantly exceed those of at least the past 420,000 years during which most extant marine organisms evolved. Under conditions expected in the 21st century, global warming and ocean acidification will compromise carbonate accretion, with corals becoming increasingly rare on reef systems. The result will be less diverse reef communities and carbonate reef structures that fail to be maintained. Climate change also exacerbates local stresses from declining water quality and overexploitation of key species, driving reefs increasingly toward the tipping point for functional collapse. This review presents future scenarios for coral reefs that predict increasingly serious consequences for reef- associated fisheries, tourism, coastal protection, and people. As the International Year of the Reef 2008 begins, scaled- up management intervention and decisive action on global emissions are required if the loss of coral- dominated ecosystems is to be avoided.

There are many issues to deal with globally. You can't pick and choose the ones oyu like and the ones you don't

lottielou39 · 20/11/2011 21:20

Faverolles; disproved by whom? Link?

batsintheroof · 20/11/2011 21:23

lottielou39

you link to completely un-scientific, non-peer reviewed conspiracy based YOUTUBE video and you expect Faverolles to send you a link to disprove it? Hmm Maybe I should just link to some random blog that i like that happens to back up my argument.

spiderpig8 · 20/11/2011 21:30

This thread has amazed me.I didn't think anyone still believed in all this climate change bunkum.

Whatmeworry · 20/11/2011 21:33

Atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration is expected to exceed 500 parts per million and global temperatures to rise by at least 2 degrees C by 2050 to 2100

These are all based on complex models. complex models that fluctuate all over the place based on small changes in initial assumptions.

There are many issues to deal with globally. You can't pick and choose the ones oyu like and the ones you don't

Au contraire, you can't choose to stick your head up your own analysis cavity and deal with future model issue rather than dealing with the present real issues, which have got fuck all to do with notional (and ever changing) Global Warming models and everything to do with very real population growth/ resource consumption issues.

lottielou39 · 20/11/2011 21:36

batsintheroof, you clearly haven't watched it then. Because if you had, you'd realise it was full of interviews with highly regarded professors, most of whom have no connection with the IPCC (therefore making their arguments far more credible, since they have no financial link with the multi million dollar global warming business). It's hardly surprising that people disagreed with the documentary though, is it? Scientists working for the IPCC have a vested interest in peddling their own conspiracy theories about climate change. It's a hell of a lot more credible than that shoddily written piece of tabloidy crap 'An Inconvenient Truth' anyway, that's for sure.

batsintheroof · 20/11/2011 21:39

I am amazed that people actually read and BELIEVE the shite they read in the Daily Express, Mail etc..... and do not spend a second reading actual science. How is it possible that the public have absolutely NO trust in climate scientists?

They will not receive a penny of so called 'green taxes'. If a REAL scientist disproved, or managed to argue successfully, that the current climate change theory was highly unlikely to be correct, they would be the most famous person in science. It hasn't happened. There is a reason for this.

lottielou39 · 20/11/2011 21:40

hundreds of thousands of jobs in government, media and science have been created and financed as a result of so called Climate Change- they're sure as hell not going to argue against themselves because that would be stupid.

lottielou39 · 20/11/2011 21:44

oh, and I love how scientists arguing for man made global warming are highly regarded geniuses and the scientists arguing against it are all batshit crazy lunatic conspiracy theorists..

batsintheroof · 20/11/2011 21:47

'Au contraire, you can't choose to stick your head up your own analysis cavity and deal with future model issue rather than dealing with the present real issues, which have got fuck all to do with notional (and ever changing) Global Warming models and everything to do with very real population growth/ resource consumption issues.'

I have not stuck my head anywhere. I am aware of all global issues, thanks. The most important pressing global issue is a lack of fresh water I believe. Global warming exacerbates all other issues and renders them a hell of a lot harder to deal with.

lottielou39 I have watched the bloody video. "Highly regarded professors". In any field there is a minority of people who will disagree with everyone else, for a variety of reasons. There is an overriding consensus in the scientific community that AGW is real and happening. If you choose to cherry-pick to back up your arguments then there is no helping you, I'm sorry.

batsintheroof · 20/11/2011 21:47

lottielou39 see above- the cherry-picking bit especially

batsintheroof · 20/11/2011 21:50

"hundreds of thousands of jobs in government, media and science have been created and financed as a result of so called Climate Change- they're sure as hell not going to argue against themselves because that would be stupid."

You have no idea how science works. Scientists don't go into work every day and think 'oohh how am I going to spend today covering up this global scientific conspiracy so I can get my next paycheck'. How ridiculous.

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