What research is ungoing to manipulate earths albedo, reference global warming?
152909
Check out the discovery web site.
998066
Global warming is the term used to describe how the average temperature of the planet is going up. No one denies that the temperature is, in fact, going up. Therefore, no one denies that global warming is a fact.\n\nHowever, according to studies of Antarctic ice, the average temperature of the planet has been rising for 6,000 years, which is well before the Industrial Revolution of 150 years ago. This proves that global warming is not caused by man. In that time, however, the rate of temperature rise has increased, which means that the actions of humanity probably has worsened the situation.\n\nThe critical facts about global warming are these:\n\nWhat are the effects of global warming going to be, and how can we prepare for them? Currently, no model of global atmospheric projection has shown itself to accurately predict to any degree the general weather patterns of the Earth (such as the number and ferocity of hurricanes). Until we come up with an accurate way of predicting the effects of global warming, preparing for them will be difficult and based upon conjectures, which are a difficult sell to taxpayers.\n\nWhat can be done to limit the effect of humanity on global warming in the future WITHOUT putting a major damper on economic growth and development, especially in developing nations? For example, all nations could agree to stop driving vehicles that use internal combustion engines, but to do so at once would devastate the economies of many nations. However, other options, such as diverting tax funds to subsidize the development of alternative-energy propulsion for vehicles, would accelerate the advent of such earth-friendly technology.\n\nAll in all, because of the massive stakes involved when discussing global warming (and the subsequent misinformation flying around about it), many people are confused as to the facts about it. I was hoping to be as informative and unbiased as possible.\n\nPlease let me know what you think!
262700
Global warming,green house effects,thinning layer of the ozone
282103
Is the book you read "State of Fear"?\n\nYou can debate this all you want, but you wont get anywhere until you define 'global warming.'  I think I wrote a long-winded explanation in another answer, so search for that.\n\nThe long and the short of it is:\n\n1.  The Earth goes through natural warming and cooling, based on a HUGE range of varying natural processes, from changes in orbital paramaters to changes in sea ice thickness in polar regions.  It has done this since there were oceans and an atmosphere, and will always continue.\n\n2.  Humans have influenced certain properties of the atmosphere and hydrosphere that may be contributing to accelerated warming (ozone depletion, increased levels of 'greenhouse' gases, etc).  Since we dont know if the Earth would be warming anyway, we cant definitively say that a current warming trend is related to human influence (but its a good bet).\n\n3.  Global warming trends are difficult to understand.  As a paleoclimatologist, I dont even understand it.  I dont know where the temperature data has been collected, the spatial distribution of the data points, I dont know what the temperatures are being compared to (the Earth has been much warmer at times in the past), I dont know if the scientists who tabulate the data are being influenced by something other than true science, etc.\n\nBottom line is that its a VERY VERY complex problem.  Unfortunately, the more data that are generated, the more complex and vague the answer will become, and the more people will become divided over the interpretation of the data.\n\nIt would be wise to minimize our impact on the climate system (or any Earth system for that matter) as best we can, no matter what the answer is.  The more interesting question is: when will the next 'ice age' begin, if it hasnt already?!?!?
63093
Global warming is an effect in the earth's lower atmosphere that is claimed to exist by many scientists today.  Essentially, the theory claims that carbon monoxide, fluorocarbons and other gases have damaged the ozone layer, the protective layer in the earth's upper atmosphere that protects the planet from the Sun's ultraviolet (UV) radiation.  Some man-made causes of these gases are automobile emissions and bovine flattulance.  The supposed increased levels of UV radition are striking the earth in greater incidence, especially in the equatorial oceans. Hence, according to the theory, the warming oceans are changing weather patterns and melting the polar ice caps.   More severe storms and raising of the ocean levels are possible.  Detractors of the theory contend, however, that evidence for diminishment of the ozone layer, warming of the oceans and melting of the polar ice caps is scant due to the lack of longitudinal (long-term) climatological data for the earth.  In sum, it is unclear whether the changing weather patterns that appear to be happening are caused by man-made activities or part of some cycle governed by normal processes.
1113639
Global Warming is a myth
1080290
He's not, Professor Patterson is the exception to most of the scientific community with regard to global warming. Stop letting your political views cloud your capacity to learn the truth, here's a link  http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/globalwarming.html
304041
Exactly none. There is a finite amount of energy stored on the planet in the form of fossil fuels. Burning it releases this energy. You cannot add more. There has been heat RELEASED by the burning of fossil fuels onthe planet, which many people believe causes global warming. The only heat energy added to the planet is solar energy.
461799
First you have to define what causes global warming.  then you need to decide what of these variable are dependant or independant.  You could then chose one of the independend variables and try to design an experiment that shows how varying that variable causes a change in warming.  an example might be saying that CO2 causes global warming by increasing the insulating value of the atmosphere, you could then set up an experiment where an environment(a large sealed environment(5 gallon glass jug)  is set up to permit differnet concentrations of CO2.  Add a radiating heat source like a heat lamp and heat the closed environment,  measure the inside of the environment and then turn off the light.  graph how long it takes for the environment to return to ambiant tempeture.  increase the CO2 concentration and try it again.   It might be too difficult, but it shows the scientific process.  and you should get some good graph points.
1156242
Yes, Global warming is a reality.  Anyone who says otherwise is ignorant.   Yes, the earth goes throgh natural warming and cooling phases, we are currently trasistioning into a "hothouse" from an "icehouse" which means we are in an inter-glacial period.\n\nHowever, Humans are doing their part to screw up the atmosphere.  CO2 is a gas that traps heat  and is emmitted by cars, factories, and anything else that burns fuel to work.  All anyone needs to do is look at a graph of the average surface temperture for the earth superimposed on the CO2 level and they will find they are identical in shape.  And the CO2 level has increased exponentially since the industrial evolution.  While the earth's natural cycles have varied the CO2 levels from 150 to 280 parts per million in the last 600,000 years, we are currently at 390 parts per million and rising fast.  No that is not natural, it is caused by humans.\n\nWhat can you do?  Buy a Prius.  Recycle.  Use less - ride you bike more.  Run your AC less, Turn off your lights.  All those hippie things that save energy - they actually work.
993790
For a long time, people around the Earth have been spending lots and lots of money to send robotic equipment to study other planets in our Solar System.  Several have sent back such surprising results - oh, the moons of Saturn and Jupiter, and the colors of Neptune and Pluto!\n\nSome of the results also describe to us what the 'greenhouse effect" causes on other planets.  Unfortunately, when we see the results here on Earth, we presume that such a thing cannot happen here.\n\nWell, it can, and it does, and it has.\n\nFor rasons dealing largely with control of existing industrial resources, cost of investment, and just plain political power, people have made quite a campaign out of denying that global warming is taking place.  Their talk largely just adds to the hot air in the atmosphere.\n\nThe last Great Ice Age was more than 20 millenia ago.  Scientists studying that epoch say that carbon dioxide, particulates in the atmosphere, and a periodic change in the angle of the Earth's relationship to the sun all had a role to play - as perhaps did a major cycle of sunspot activity.  (That's just a guess by solar specialists but they like the idea a lot.)\n\nHowever, the physical evidence from the Great Ice Age is pretty conclusive.  Atmospheric components in ice left over from those days tell the tale.  And one of the great triggers of the last major Ice Age was particulate matter in the atmosphere - what some scientists decades ago warned would occur in a "nuclear winter" after The Bomb went off.  Everywhere.\n\nCarbon dioxide was relatively low in the atmospheric content - both during and at the end of the Great Ice Age.\n\nOne of the best arguments in favor of the effects of carbon dioxide on "global warming" is what we can tell happened to the planet when it got COLDER.  Besides various physical and naural events such as tiny alterations in the incidence of the sun's rays on the planet (that is, the angle at which they struck the atmosphere), we can track the history of stuff in the air that changed things.\n\nIn the pre-Industrial era, the only times that would happen were when NATURAL EVENTS took place - such as immense volcanic eruptions.  Those events combined with a periodic "wobble" in the Earth to create the last Little Ice Age, which affected Europe from around the time of Elizabeth I through the American Revolution.  \n\nSo it is appropriate to ask questions about the NATURAL events that might contribute now to global warming and the shrinking of ice caps.  But it is inappropriate to state that the byproducts of industrialized activities of humans, on a scale never before seen on the planet, cannot influence global weather and atmospheric conditions.\n\nYES, this is a big planet.  Yes, the forces at work are so massive they dwarf the puny efforts of humans - just ask any ship's captain, whether of a supertanker or a dinghy.  But NO, there has never before in all of history been anything equal to the cumulative effects of what humans do across the planet daily to spew heat, gases, and pollutants into the air through UNNATURAL means.  And for the cynics, let's remember that if in olden days all the dinosaurs on Earth had all farted at the same time, the methane they produced would not equal one day's worth of carbon dioxide emissions from industry today.  So leave that alone, once and for all.\n\nPart of the problem is that people think the byproducts of their actions are UNNATURAL.  In the sense that they result from human industrial functions, yes, they are not direct products of nature.  But in the sense that thse are an element of our natural world and we must see the emissions affecting that world, they ARE a part of "Nature."\n\nThe ONLY DIFFERENCE is that as a result we humans actually do own some sort of control over nature.  We can change the way that we influence natural processes.  And by the way - the various global attempts to do so wou
24166
Global warming\nFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit\nJump to: navigation, search\n \nGlobal mean surface temperatures 1856 to 2004 \nMean temperature anomalies during the period 1995 to 2004 with respect to the average temperatures from 1940 to 1980Global warming is an increase in the average temperature of the Earth's atmosphere and oceans. The term is also used for the more specific scientific theory of anthropogenic global warming, which states that much of the recent observed (and projected) global warming is human-induced and the result of a strengthened greenhouse effect caused by man-made increases in carbon dioxide (through the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation) and other greenhouse gases. The natural greenhouse effect keeps the Earth 30 °C warmer than it otherwise would be; adding carbon dioxide to an atmosphere, with no other changes, will make a planet's surface warmer. Current research tries to uncover more details, e.g. about positive and negative feedback mechanisms, to allow a more precise quantification of the effects of global warming.\n\nTemperature change is just one aspect of the broader subject of (human-induced) climate change. The scientific opinion on climate change, as expressed by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and explicitly endorsed by the national science academies of the G8 nations, is that the average global temperature has risen 0.6 ± 0.2 °C since the late 19th century, and that "most of the warming observed over the last 50 years is attributable to human activities". A small minority of qualified scientists contest the view that humanity's actions have played a significant role in increasing recent temperatures. Uncertainties do exist regarding how much climate change should be expected in the future, and a hotly contested political and public debate exists over what actions, if any, should be taken in light of global warming.\n\nBased on basic science, observational sensitivity studies, and the climate models referenced by the IPCC, temperatures may increase by 1.4 to 5.8 °C between 1990 and 2100 [1]. This is expected to result in other climate changes including rises in sea level and changes in the amount and pattern of precipitation. Such changes may increase extreme weather events such as floods, droughts, heat waves, and hurricanes, change agricultural yields, or contribute to biological extinctions. Although warming is expected to affect the frequency and magnitude of these events, it is very difficult to connect any particular event to global warming.
1065506
There are a few aspects to be addressed when discussing global warming...\n\nGlobal warming is the term used to describe how the average temperature of the planet is going up. No one denies that the temperature is, in fact, going up. Therefore, no one denies that global warming is a fact.\n\nHowever, according to studies of Antarctic ice, the average temperature of the planet has been rising for 6,000 years, which is well before the Industrial Revolution of 150 years ago. This proves that global warming is not caused by man. In that time, however, the rate of temperature rise has increased, which means that the actions of humanity probably has worsened the situation.  What has been the degree to which we have?\n\nThe critical questions to be answered about global warming are these:\n\nWhat are the effects of global warming going to be, and how can we prepare for them? Currently, no model of global atmospheric projection has shown itself to accurately predict to any degree the general weather patterns of the Earth (such as the number and ferocity of hurricanes). Until we come up with an accurate way of predicting the effects of global warming, preparing for them will be difficult and based upon conjectures, which are a difficult sell to taxpayers.\n\nWhat can be done to limit the effect of humanity on global warming in the future WITHOUT putting a major damper on economic growth and development, especially in developing nations? For example, all nations could agree to stop driving vehicles that use internal combustion engines, but to do so at once would devastate the economies of many nations. However, other options, such as diverting tax funds to subsidize the development of alternative-energy propulsion for vehicles, would accelerate the advent of such earth-friendly technology.\n\nAll in all, because of the massive stakes involved when discussing global warming (and the subsequent misinformation flying around about it), many people are confused as to the facts about it. I was hoping to be as informative and unbiased as possible.\n\nAnd yes, I am Republican.\n\nPlease let me know what you think!
722880
All of the following sites allow that global warming is a reality. What makes them somewhat refreshing is that they do not automatically assume man is the cause of global warming (they do not dismiss it, either) and attempt to objectively pursue all sides of the argument.\n\nhttp://test.weathereye.org/expert/warming/\nhttp://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?p=942400#post942400\nhttp://www.gcrio.org/ipcc/qa/index.htm\nhttp://www.gcrio.org/ocp99/toc.html\nhttp://www.co2science.org/scripts/CO2ScienceB2C/Index.jsp\nhttp://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/globalwarming/paleostory.html\nhttp://www.marshall.org/subcategory.php?id=9\n\nHope this helps!
790594
Unfortunately, the solution is nontrivial. Scientists believe that climate change is largely due to the burning of fossil fuels for energy needs. These needs include transportation, heating and electricity production to name the big ones. Thus by reducing your reliance on a fossil-fuel solution to any one of these needs reduces CO2 emissions, thus slowing global warming. Simple solutions that any one of us can do as an individual might include:\n\n(1)  Living close to where you work -> to eliminate travel\n(2)  Making your house energy efficient, by adding insulation, southern facing windows in the northern latitudes to capture the winter sun. Making architecture encompass energy initiatives.\n(3)  Reducing your electricity consumption by installing fluorescent or LED lighting, pre-heating your hot water by flushing through a radiator on the roof to capture solar energy.\n(4)  Supporting (voting) for green initiatives, renewable energy, nuclear fusion research, hydroelectric.\n(5)  Living in smaller houses, driving smaller cars, buying less stuff.\n(6)  All in addition to the other items mentioned, IE recycling etc…\n\nThe only limit is human creativity.
97874
Hasty and uninformed.  Usually global warming is used as a political tool for lobbyists.  There is no evidence that global warming exists.  It is just a theory based on data.  Another alternative theory is that the Earth heats and cools in cycles. \n\nPersonally, regardless of which theory you believe, I still think that pollution ought to be diminished.  It seems largely responsible as a carcinogen - causing cancer.  But then again, thats just my theory based on the apparent data.
646459
mainly CO2, which is why scientists are researching the planets to find out effects/ways to prevent global warming. it is often called "earths evil twin"