The Power of Cold & Snow

[Jafo]

With eveyone in the media griping about Global Warming I think some people willingly or just ignorantly forget that it snows and alters daily plans. Yes, it still snows and gets cold on this tiny little blue rock we call "Earth".:eek:

I remember when I was a kid, specifically the winter of 82-83. The snow was so deep that we could jump off the roof of our house and sink half way deep in a snow drift. Now I grew up out side of the Winter Park Ski area at over 8,000 feet elevation, but Snow still has a major impact on how people live and yet, I constantly hear people talking about global warming.:rolleyes:

Now, I am obviously not a scientist. Yet this morning when I turned on the Television what did I see? The top %25 of my screen with the big red and blue banner that showed the School Closings around the DC metro area. I had a 1/4" of snow on the ground at my house and they closed the schools. I remember when I was a kid when several inches would fall on a single day and the schools would remain open. Now when I did finnaly get to school, only half the students were there but classes and life went on. I did not ditch and go sking as much as I should have, although I did do it a few times. It is hard to pass up good powder sking on "Cheshire Cat" on the back side of Winter Park.:D

Last week there was the article about the people who were lost and stranded in the snow for what? 10-12 days? The media had a hayday with that. Just recently on NPR they had an story on how people are freezing to death in China, because it is so cold this year. I also understand Colorado is having record snow falls right now, at least from what I have read and listened to. Yet, we still have global warming.:doh:

I could go on about this, but I can't be the only one that suggests that our scientists probably don't have a clue as to what is going on? I can't be. But hey, the schools are closed because of the snow today, it must be becasuse of Global Warming. :nono:

[Jafo]

Funny, I just found this.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080212/ap_on_re_us/cold_weather

[D-Bone]

Excellent. Lets have a good discussion about this. This is a forum after all right? ;)

I think you are confusing climate and weather. The temperature of one place at one time is just weather, and says nothing about climate, much less climate change, much less again about global climate change.

I don't think anyone can deny that the Earth is warming up. The points of contention are the causes and the impact.

[Cheesus]

Very good point D-Bone. Like you said, there's no denying that global average temperatures are steadily rising over the past 50-100 years but the question is what's the cause? Is this due to pollution and emissions (man-made) or is this just a natural cycle that the earth goes through every now and then.

It's a little surprising to me that a lot of people take a 'there's nothing we can do about it, it's natural, why try' attitude when it comes to the environment. Regardless if pollution is the cause of 'global warming' or not, isn't it human nature to want to strive to be better? If we can drastically reduce emissions or waste or pollution, why not do it even if the only result is a cleaner planet?

[lethalmind]

I think most of us live with the idea of one drop in a bucket. It is unfortunate that we don?t all try to change our views and make the world a little bit better.
We complain and grumble over the price of gas but yet we as a whole do very little towards really changing our habits. It?s too much of an inconvenience.

Until we are forced into a corner nothing will happen. The sad part is that sooner or later it will be too late. That is when we will decide to do something. Remember a pound of cure is worth an ounce of prevention. Do I have that wrong??

[Cheesus]

No, you're right. General apathy and helplessness seems to be an ever growing attitude not just in our country but worldwide; I'm often guilty of thinking this way myself especially when it comes to politics. Very rarely can one person make a significant change in their own community let alone their state or country. Most often real forward progress does need to be a group effort.

[Jafo]

My point which revolved around global warming is the media and how they blab and blab about it. They talk about global warming too much and where the media might say one thing from one expert, it is countered by another expert with a different opinion.

The talk about Global Warming has become a stalled debate of skepticism based on hypothesis's and theories. No one really has a definate answer. Everything is now blamed on Global Warming whether it is true or not.

Climate Change and Weather, although they are different aspects, are dependant on one another in reference to subject. I think Climate Change is natural process of the Earth and weather is obviously a key factor that makes up a climate. Can human action change the climate? I definatly think so. I think it impacts climate in more ways than we really understand or know.

The climate of this planet is changing and the weather patterns are a direct result of it. Some years have more of an impact than others. The winter of 82-83 was the worst I can remember and it sounds like this year is pretty rough up in the mountains.

[Ghost]

All science is a little like a popularity contest. The theory of relativity didn't have very many backers after Einstein first released it (somewhat because not many people understood it). Yet 90 years later, it's pretty hard to find anyone who can seriously disagree with it.

The problem with Global Warming is that it is so mathimatecally complicated so as to make the the Theory of Relativity look like a childs puzzle. The popular theory right now is that the increase in carbon in the atmosphere is directly contributing to the observed 1/2 degree global average temperature increase over the last century. The down side is that in the past changes of more like 5 to 10 degrees have happened without humans being present. We can't rule out that the current warming is a natural process.

The second most popular theory actually predicts that the increased carbon output made by man may actually help to kick off the Earth's next overdue Ice Age. That theory pretty much looses out due to the empiracel evidence of a temperature increase, and after all, everyone knows that the temperature doesn't go up when it's getting colder.

The only thing that truly can't be argued is that mankind is definetly contributing to changes in the environment. We don't know enough to predict what Earth will do with all the changes we are throwing at it. It's possible that it may be able to swallow all the things we throw at it and adjust with only minor changes. It's also possible that we may be on the road to changing this planet into another Venus or Mars. We simply aren't smart enough yet to know the difference.

[spawnman]

Very good point D-Bone. Like you said, there's no denying that global average temperatures are steadily rising over the past 50-100 years but the question is what's the cause? Is this due to pollution and emissions (man-made) or is this just a natural cycle that the earth goes through every now and then.


idiot :rolleyes:

[Cheesus]

Way to contribute