The earth was warmer at the time of Christ and even warmer at the time of the Babylonians. The earth suffered a micro ice age event around 1200 and we have been warming again since then.

If we were truly worried about about CO2 emissions, we should be more worried about the decimation of our rainforests and pollution of our oceans. These are our great CO2 sinks that convert CO2 to oxygen. Yet, I have yet to hear a whisper off the effect of denuding our rainforests and killing off of algae and plankton has effected the CO2 levels and global weather patterns. Nor have they been factored into the computer models Rather we have identified the enemy as fossil fuels and industrialized nations utilization of them and the great Satan is the United States.

Ever notice no one talks about the ozone hole anymore since it was finally debunked but we are still prohibited from using freon. In the 70's the cause was over population. We have reached those population levels where they predicted total breakdown of human society and yet we continue to plod on.

Unfortunately, all this hoopla is a smoke screen. It will change nothing. Greed will still rule human society and emotion will over rule fact. The real problems will not be addressed.

Average Totals 25 yr Period
1884-1900 37.08
1900-1925 30.22
1925-1950 33.17
1950-1975 43.29
1975-2000 41.20
2000-2008 35.79

In 1920, the Chicagoland area saw 9.8 inches of snow. The preceeding year, 11.5 inches. In 1936, a whopping 12 inches. Now those are significant drops in accumulations.

I ran these numbers. I looked them all up myself. I didn't get these off some Government research project. Since then we have not seen any single or teen digits reported.

Here's some data proving that global warming has been caused in at least some part by human activity (the Industrial Revolution), at least in my mind.

Godmaster – keep in mind some of these records only go back to 1900. There was the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl during the beginning of this record keeping. Massive amounts of water were lost to the atmosphere. This shows there was a 4.8 inch rise in water levels since the records started being kept in 1900. Who's to say the Earth is not recovering from that substantial loss during the early 1900's? Maybe sea level is supposed to be 6 inches over where it was 100 years ago. I can't believe it tho. Most of the lakes around me are 2 feet below where they were when I was growing up.

The other reports are products of taking samples of gases and carbons in the ice during those periods by drilling deep into the ice. Only since record keepin has begun has there been a rise in the levels. Think of the harsh winters down there. The samples are not precise because most of the top layers have been blown away or diluted to the levels being reported. I'd bet my ridiculous salary that if coring samples were taken near areas of drifting or obstructions that would trap minerals, the conclusions from these reports would be much higher.

I'm not against the reporting of Global Warming. But I do believe that humans are but a flea on the back of the dog. Unfortunately, once there are too many fleas, he's gonna need a bath!

"French president Jacques Chirac has threatened that Europe may impose a carbon tax on imports from countries – like the United States – that have not ratified the Kyoto Accord and its 2012 replacement.
"A carbon tax is inevitable," Mr. Chirac said. "If it is European, and I believe it will be European, then it will all the same have a certain influence because it means that all the countries that do not accept the minimum obligations will be obliged to pay."

Of course…the French. And where were they when the U.S. needed their support? I'm not going into a prelude on the War in Iraq. Those boys need our support, not shunned like the soldiers from Vietnam.

But as I was saying….Europe is pushing a tax involving the realm of Mother Nature. What's next? A "Rainy Day Tax"? Are we gonna get taxed for every drop that hits the ground? Oh yeah…they already do this when they put a sales tax on Natural Spring bottled water. Or should I say….re-processed water from a river made to look like Natural Spring water.

Ever see the beginning of "Tuxedo"?? Yuck.

In my area, we have seen a 10" inch snowfall increase over the last 125 years. Although we're only in an 8 yr cycle from 2000-'08, we're still well above the averages we were at 100-125 years ago. But no one ever sees that. They see what they want to see.

But you really have to take in basic physics here. Take a tin can…fill it with water and put it in your freezer for a few weeks. What happens to the ice? It expands. Finding a way out, it moves upward. Now expand on that to scale. The ice shelves are constantly moving. Over time, they move upward and finally gravity takes its course and the ice breaks off. How many bazillions tons of ice is this? No one can even come up with an exact amount. But the ice has to go somewhere. Of course it's going to fall into the ocean near the shores. Adding that much ice to the water is going to cool it and freeze over. Those parts that broke off will freeze and expand and the process starts all over again. That cool water flows into the Oceanic currents and affects the weather. Its going to take time for it to travel that far tho. It's not like the currents from Antarctica will reach the norther hemisphere in a day. It would take years before it ever returned back to Antarctica.

On another note, there was a huge ice shelf that broke off in the late '70's. So far, it's moved about 8 feet in 30 years. Ooohh I'm scared. I would suspect that the cracks will fill in long before gravity decides to move it any further. I doubt my grandchildren's grandchildren will even see that one float away.

Also, reports state that the Antarctic is at it's lowest ice levels on record. But those records only date back to 1972.

In Russia, the peat moss swamps in the Siberian tundra have been frozen over for centuries and are now exposed. But studies show, the earth is constantly in a rotating flux. While the snows have receeded in Russia, the winters have become colder on the opposite side of the hemisphere suggesting a constant tilt. As the weight of that ice and snow builds, it shifts the earth back in the opposite direction and you start seeing a decline in snowfall and an increase in the areas on the opposite side of the planet. Take a boiled egg and spin it. Then tape a dime towards one side of the top and it throws it off balance when you spin it.

Also, take into account the size of the Polar ice caps in relation to the rest of the oceans. With the amount of icemelt and evaporation, we would never see any type of rise in the ocean's levels. No more than if you threw the ice in your drink into a swimming pool.

On a last note, I saw the reports of other countries taxing carbon output, but didn't get to investigate it yet. So since our bodies are made up of carbon and omit cabon dioxide, they are basically taxing you for living and breathing. WTF is that?? They're basically telling you that you are polluting the world just for being alive. What kind of society would be duped into allowing a tax for this??

Plants need carbon dioxide (from you) to live and convert that into oxygen. You need oxygen to breathe. And you got taxed for it.

Take that into consideration.

Here's some data proving that global warming has been caused in at least some part by human activity (the Industrial Revolution), at least in my mind.

http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/science/recentac_majorghg.html#fig1

http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/science/recenttc_triad.html

Also, Actions to reduce CO2 emissions are not without cost, on an increasing scale: potentially causing mild inconvenience, distraction from issues we can actually do something about, financial burden, political manipulation, enforced competition for resources, conflict, war, distraction from real and important issues.

Please stay alive and help the World. If you do not care about the World and it's biodiversity then my friend you need even more help than the one anyone of us can lend.

P.s. Lets also hope that your nikname ( Aqualung ) won't have to be a neccessity in the near future.

Peace

Mike

That's very productive.

I'm worried about the dirty air we breath, the dirty (and chemical-laced) water we drink, and the mass development (deforestation) that is going on. Those things have immediate, observable effects, such as smog, and a dramatic increase in reparatory illnesses.

Climate change is natural, but it is absolutely irrefutable that humans are altering the environment, especially at the local scale.

This cannot be disputed. Humans are dumping toxins into the environment at unimaginable rates. Somehow, are we supposed to think that all of this magically has no effect on the world's ecology?

Global warming may not be the whole picture. Global climate destabalization is the reality, and it is already having an effect on our food supply.

DON'T PANIC! Grab your towel.

Now watch all those people fixated by man made global warming running round like lemmings. Hopefully they will find a convenient cliff.

And where were WE HUMANS THEN?; Were we living as today? Were we thriving as a species ?! Yes it has happened before, many times over in fact just NOT IN OUR TIME.

Face the facts, you say a small piece of ice has broken off and that is only that and nothing to be concerned about, yet in all reallity, this "small" piece of ice is just like a cork in a bottle, take it out and just watch all the ice slide on to sea in no time.

What then? Umbrellas to keep Earth away from harmfull radiation? Huge refrigerators with an open door at the poles so it freezes back once you finally realize that YOU DO NEED THAT ICE, IT IS CAUSED BY HUMANS AND IT WILL HINDER OUR ABILITY TO SUSTAIN OUR SPECIES FOR ANOTHER 100years.

Open your eyes please…

P.s. At least in my country WE ARE BEING TAXED FOR CARBON, most of Europe is.

We pay for our messes, metric ton by metric ton. Do you pay in the US ?

Peace

Mike

You have to wonder how much melting would make some people sit up and take notice.

And, just how much are we willing to bet on the idea that reducing our carbon footprint can have no effect on this trend. Can any of you find any problem with us doing things like reducing that carbon footprint and cleaning up our other depredations on our global ecosphere. Do any of you think that the things that we are doing to that ecosphere are currently positive.

Even if the majority of this change is due to natural factors, our contribution may be creating a tipping point that otherwise might not come for centuries, if at all.

If you blame humans for global warming, then you can apply penalties, and charge people a carbon tax!

If you really dig into the planets geological history, you will find numerous warming and cooling cycles, as admitted by the experts themselves.

but i AM talking about global dimming, read my post once again and you will find reference not only to enhanced cloud cover but also to the way Earth may be heading to an ice age because of it.

Sorry to be blunt but you ay have missed my post entirely mate.

P.s. To all those who STILL think Humans have nothing to do with it…I trully hope you are right and live to laugh in my face but i also think that you won't. Also, how about realizing that ( bring in Cap. Kirk accent ) "someone" or "something" IS causing it and bringing forward at least an attempt to debate a solution we could all live with as well as our children.

Peace

Mike

Now if only this were the case. Granted making changes en-masse is nearly impossible, I agree with Emission Nebula "Live your life. Dont worry about it so much." Remind the generations to come that nothing is certain, predictions are just that. Plus, the media distortion of facts, and the inability of scientific bodies to take a gander at the big picture clouds the true observational data that demonstrates our current trends. There are key points that are made in the previous posts, but many of them are marred by opinion, which is what occurs within our scientific community when pressed by the media for answers. He who knows the future may cast the first stone when confilicting theories arise. Remind yourselves that I do not mean to decry anyones' ideas, but instead to reiterate focus on taking all facts into account, including data not previously observed far beyond our last ice age (just as the last few posts indicate real data from our "instrumenta period"). If the scientific community cannot agree with each other, how are we to know the exact changes to make, however minute, to stop what seems to be an alarming trend. Even as the IPCC shows we need not make our space capsules, I agree the media will say otherwise. Good news does not sell. We can applaud the media though, for helping bring emissions into the forefront, as changes are inact to reducing global emissions, some quite revolutionary.

Hindsight is 20/20 though. And I applaud this group of open intellect for politely bringing additional data to this articles' posts, truely enhancing the depth of information available. If only world leaders read this.