The Environment

[wasder]

Looking at the debates page, I noticed that (arguably) the worlds most pressing issue has been missed out. The environment. You guys will hate me for bringing it up. So, any George W Bushes among us that argue against the existance of climate change? Or are you an Al Gore man? Please, scientific evidence to back up points.

[andersmoen]

You cant argue that the climate is changing, it is all the time (though more now than normal) but the REASON for it is another thing

[billypnats]

As long as we have the need for consumer goods, environmental destruction will not stop.

[Kresselack]

The environment means a lot to me. I hat to see great trees destroyed and not replaced. If you need lumber, grow a tree farm. If you need food, rotate the soil. If you need stone... well i dont know how to grow it, but it sure as hell can be recycled.

[Werewolf334]

The earth is a nature recycler, It will bring the change needed to create new life again, it has lived for about 4.8 billion years and been through many ages of nature, beast, and man.

 

So long as man exists so will the raw and brute nature of its destruction.

We live, we die.

 

We don't live to die, however, we live for purpose and meaning, thus that is why we are not a peaceful race on the earth.

 

As far as presidential involvement with the environment I hate George Bush because of his laws about hunting wolves, panda bears, and etc - same goes for Sarah Pallin as she actually had videos of her hunting preserved and endangered species.

 

The environment is many peoples means to escape. Ever go trailing through some woods and find it absolutely enchanting? Ever scale high on a mountain and have your breath taken from you? Ever go far into the seas and be enthralled by its size?

 

Nature is a gentle poem that will always majestically exist.

[Vagrant0]

First off, the whole "carbon footprint" concept is just outright silly when you considder how much CO2 is being released constantly from the Earth's oceans. All of the estimated carbon emitions from humans and human activity since the start of the industrial revolution account for less than 10% of the carbon dioxide which has been released in that same amount of time. The source of all this carbon is our very oceans. As ocean water heats up, its ability to store carbon dioxide reduces. As this ability is reduced, more is vented into the atmosphere. As you can maybe figure out, this causes a sort of self-propelling situation, water gets warm, CO2 is released, CO2 causes global temps to increase, as temps increase, water gets warmer, releasing more CO2, and so on. Even if every single land based source of CO2 were removed, the world would continue to get warmer because the process has already started, and has been going for as long as humans have been on the earth, and will continue long after they have left. I don't personally have the sources on this, but believe it can be researched and verified with relative accuracy. In this age of politically motivated science and paranoia, people forget that there were large climate changes in the past, within recorded human history, and we lived through them without the land being torn asunder by storms, and other movie based scenerios.

 

The biggest risk to the environment is not global warming, or anything as complicated as that. The danger is really because of how stupidly we have used, and continue to use chemicals, and how other polution from humans, namely garbage, has ruined the ecosystems of the planet irreversibly, including our own. I'll invite you to research the man-made island of trash floating in the pacific, and the new composition of beach sand in some parts of the world, and leave it at that. It would frigthen most people to know what is in the water they are drinking. Plastic bottles slowly leech chemicals into the water inside, tap, and well water often contains chemicals which are not filtered out through treating. Now while, for the most part, none of these chemicals are in sufficent quantity to pose any immediate harm, their effect over time is something we are only now beginning to realize. And that's just water. You wouldn't want to know what goes into most of the food you eat, and I'm not talking about Jungle-esque horror stores, I'm talking about all the chemicals which are used to make common foods have that consistant taste and color that you are familiar with.

 

But what it really means, and what most people could really understand and live with, are two different things. Although fundimentally wrong on some accounts, the "green" movement does show promise of making humans more aware of their impact on the environment, and have better utilization of energy and materials. So although it might not be able to prevent the next ice age (2013), it may help us get through it a bit better by having those forms of alternative energy more available.

[billypnats]

CO2 is a minor contributor gas to global warming

 

water vapour is the big troublemaker =(

 

that only makes sense cus water have high temperature threshold

[link99912]

CO2 is a minor contributor gas to global warming

 

water vapour is the big troublemaker =(

 

that only makes sense cus water have high temperature threshold

 

Trust me man, if water was the main issue, those clouds in the sky would be setting us on fire.

 

CO2 is 25x less thick then methane, which is something we spew out like a drunk baby. Methane is produced from factories, cows, and when ever you fart loudly, oh, and just about every thing else that moves.

 

They say if all the frozen methane was disloged from the ocean, it would set on fire, go into the uper atmosphere, and we'd be looking at something like "Great big balls of fire."

[UnholyShadow]

First off, the whole "carbon footprint" concept is just outright silly when you considder how much CO2 is being released constantly from the Earth's oceans. All of the estimated carbon emitions from humans and human activity since the start of the industrial revolution account for less than 10% of the carbon dioxide which has been released in that same amount of time. The source of all this carbon is our very oceans. As ocean water heats up, its ability to store carbon dioxide reduces. As this ability is reduced, more is vented into the atmosphere. As you can maybe figure out, this causes a sort of self-propelling situation, water gets warm, CO2 is released, CO2 causes global temps to increase, as temps increase, water gets warmer, releasing more CO2, and so on. Even if every single land based source of CO2 were removed, the world would continue to get warmer because the process has already started, and has been going for as long as humans have been on the earth, and will continue long after they have left. I don't personally have the sources on this, but believe it can be researched and verified with relative accuracy. In this age of politically motivated science and paranoia, people forget that there were large climate changes in the past, within recorded human history, and we lived through them without the land being torn asunder by storms, and other movie based scenerios.

 

The biggest risk to the environment is not global warming, or anything as complicated as that. The danger is really because of how stupidly we have used, and continue to use chemicals, and how other polution from humans, namely garbage, has ruined the ecosystems of the planet irreversibly, including our own. I'll invite you to research the man-made island of trash floating in the pacific, and the new composition of beach sand in some parts of the world, and leave it at that. It would frigthen most people to know what is in the water they are drinking. Plastic bottles slowly leech chemicals into the water inside, tap, and well water often contains chemicals which are not filtered out through treating. Now while, for the most part, none of these chemicals are in sufficent quantity to pose any immediate harm, their effect over time is something we are only now beginning to realize. And that's just water. You wouldn't want to know what goes into most of the food you eat, and I'm not talking about Jungle-esque horror stores, I'm talking about all the chemicals which are used to make common foods have that consistant taste and color that you are familiar with.

 

But what it really means, and what most people could really understand and live with, are two different things. Although fundimentally wrong on some accounts, the "green" movement does show promise of making humans more aware of their impact on the environment, and have better utilization of energy and materials. So although it might not be able to prevent the next ice age (2013), it may help us get through it a bit better by having those forms of alternative energy more available.

Exactly my thoughts on the subject.

[PureSnipe]

Okay. Historical data has shown that the earth goes through cycles of heating and cooling, so I believe that's what we're currently having with the temperatures right now. On the other hand, we are indeed pumping out too many chemicals. When I drive to Houston, I can see the smog above the city as a result of pollution. Now, I'm in no way shape or form saying that we need to remove the internal combustion engine, I'm saying that we need to change the engineering on it. Higher compression engines result in higher temperatures, and also a more thorough burn of the fuels. The main source of that pollution you see? That's from crap that's made its way into the fuel and is burnt. I believe that we need to reduce our pollution, but NOT do what the current administration is proposing and make a sudden and complete halt to our current sources of energy without having an alternate source. We do need to take care of the planet we live on, but at the same time, we can't make drastic changes that "better the earth" at the expense of mankind.