Sobering news

[demonsvx]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070310/...climate_report
I see the human race on a path if self destruction. I wish my kids can grow up in world without this problem

[NikFu S.]

I've always thought with all the water evaporation, there will be a ridiculous amount of clouds and rain.

More clouds, less heat (they reflect light). More rain, more fresh water.

--
I'm not really worried because I know it has been worse. I mean at one point in time there were no people. Now there are too many. We are nowhere near mass extinction. The Earth will still be habitable for millions of years. I'd be more worried about the moon drifting off and losing the tides.

--
Considering the weather, I see wind energy becoming very popular in the next few decades.

[demonsvx]

Maybe its a good thing we are running out of oil. Of course our the rest of our natural resources are headed the same way. One or two years of drought would probably start it all to spin out of control. I hate to say this but most governments of the world take this "wait and see" approach to global warming that will screw everyone.

[DarknessofDeath]

the thing that sucks is people wanting money and business - more business, more technology could mean more polution.people dont care as long as they are doing fine. and the odd time that they do care

[Landshark]

Originally Posted by demonsvx

Maybe its a good thing we are running out of oil. Of course our the rest of our natural resources are headed the same way. One or two years of drought would probably start it all to spin out of control. I hate to say this but most governments of the world take this "wait and see" approach to global warming that will screw everyone.

[SVXyGirl]

Originally Posted by Landshark

He has a large hershey kiss on his head

[svxxx26]

Originally Posted by SVXyGirl

He has a large hershey kiss on his head

When you have chocolate, how bad could it be?

[Landshark]

Originally Posted by SVXyGirl

He has a large hershey kiss on his head

that's a specially designed tinfoil hat. it protects you from cosmic rays and other assorted conspiracies.

[SVXyGirl]

Originally Posted by Landshark

that's a specially designed tinfoil hat. it protects you from cosmic rays and other assorted conspiracies.

I bet it does

[Landshark]

Originally Posted by SVXyGirl

I bet it does

at least this kittah is safe. oh n0s, weer running out of oil!

[JaySVX]

Eh, it's not all conspiracy. The main issue is, with the temperature increasing and the ice caps melting, its dumping fresh water into the ocean up north. The great conveyor belt, which brings warm water up from the more tropical regions, relies on a very delicate balance. England, which has a very temperate climate, while being on the same latitude line as Siberia and Alaska, is due to the belt. It provides warm air for most of the northern hemisphere. The warm water comes up by England and then sinks to the bottom of the ocean, then goes back down south, and repeats. It does this because of the water density due to the salt in the water. With the melting of the ice caps, fresh water is mixing with the water in the belt, causing it to be more buoyant, thus slowing the belts movement.



If the belt slows enough, it can collapse on itself. If that happened, summer would become shorter, winter longer, until there was no more summer, thus, ice age, though not as most people think. It would take about 3 years if the belt collapsed for summer to no longer come for those in northern US, as well as much of Europe. It would snow in the winter months, but never melt in the summer, thus the "ice age" type scenario, where it would continue to accumulate over the years. It is estimated that the weather would last at minimum 700, and maximum of 100,000 years in that state before beginning to return to normal.

Currently there is nothing that can be done, but it's not entirely our fault, and part of how the planet works, though our greenhouse gasses did speed up the process a bit. You've all seen the effects of it though, even if you don't know it. There was an 80% stall in the belt in 1994, as well as 2002, which resulted in particularly harsh winters for those years. It could come to a complete stop as early as the next 3-5 years, or as far as 100 years. it would not have a drastic effect on the people in general, just keep the streets and sidewalks shoveled, stuff like that. The main concern will be food production in the central US and other regions which rely on the seasons passing for production. 70-75% of the northern hemisphere gets its warm air from the belt.

This isn't the only concern though. There is a slight problem with the magnetic field around the earth. The earth's liquid iron core is a large magnet, set up kind of like this:

This image shows the core with its respective poles, positive on the north, negative on the south. For this reason, compasses work, however, it's changing. Each 3,000 years the cores "flip" where the negative side is on top, and the positive side is on the bottom.

This has been discovered by looking at past volcanic eruptions, the metals in the cooled lava, which are polarized, and what direction they're facing. Currently though, we're about 12,000 years over due. The fact that we're over due is not a big issue though. The issue is what happens when the "flip" occurs.

We've started on a flip, there's portions in sorth america and africa which compasses do not work, due to a large bubble of positive ore in that region. The metal doesn't just roll over, but rather is like an oil/water mixture if you shake it up, where it will cross through the other like in the illustration above. The effect of the core’s magnetic field is very important to the earth. It shields the planet from radioactive material and other hazardous "trash" that is thrown from the sun. When you see aurora borealis, or the "northern lights" what you’re seeing is the radioactive material burning up in our atmosphere, but this only occurs at each pole, where the field is weakest, and the material is allowed closest to the earth. When the swap goes into full swing, which can last for anywhere between 50 to 500 years, instead of being one large magnet, it will be many small magnets, thus reducing the over-all effectiveness of the field. Once it’s in its flip and the field is reduced, material will be able to get through our atmosphere, not good for those living on earth. The event is thought to wipe out 70% of the earths population each time it occurs, either through direct exposure or lack of suitable food.

As the strength of the magnetism of the field diminishes over time, it will take longer for the core to perform its flip. From what the scientific community has been able to figure out, Mars was once similar to earth, but due to its increased size, its liquid core "burned out" before ours has. It used to have a magnetized core where it would flip every so many years; it had a magnetic field protecting it from the sun's material as well. Over time it diminished, stopped flipping, and eventually dissolved, allowing the suns material to burn away at its surface, making it the barren red planet we see today. In time, Earth will follow the same pattern.

In short it may or may not get interesting in our lifetimes, but diffidently in our kids.

[Landshark]

Originally Posted by JaySVX

Eh, it's not all conspiracy. The main issue is, with the temperature increasing and the ice caps melting, its dumping fresh water into the ocean up north. The great conveyor belt, which brings warm water up from the more tropical regions, relies on a very delicate balance. England, which has a very temperate climate, while being on the same latitude line as Siberia and Alaska, is due to the belt. It provides warm air for most of the northern hemisphere. The warm water comes up by England and then sinks to the bottom of the ocean, then goes back down south, and repeats. It does this because of the water density due to the salt in the water. With the melting of the ice caps, fresh water is mixing with the water in the belt, causing it to be more buoyant, thus slowing the belts movement.



If the belt slows enough, it can collapse on itself. If that happened, summer would become shorter, winter longer, until there was no more summer, thus, ice age, though not as most people think. It would take about 3 years if the belt collapsed for summer to no longer come for those in northern US, as well as much of Europe. It would snow in the winter months, but never melt in the summer, thus the "ice age" type scenario, where it would continue to accumulate over the years. It is estimated that the weather would last at minimum 700, and maximum of 100,000 years in that state before beginning to return to normal.

Currently there is nothing that can be done, but it's not entirely our fault, and part of how the planet works, though our greenhouse gasses did speed up the process a bit. You've all seen the effects of it though, even if you don't know it. There was an 80% stall in the belt in 1994, as well as 2002, which resulted in particularly harsh winters for those years. It could come to a complete stop as early as the next 3-5 years, or as far as 100 years. it would not have a drastic effect on the people in general, just keep the streets and sidewalks shoveled, stuff like that. The main concern will be food production in the central US and other regions which rely on the seasons passing for production. 70-75% of the northern hemisphere gets its warm air from the belt.

This isn't the only concern though. There is a slight problem with the magnetic field around the earth. The earth's liquid iron core is a large magnet, set up kind of like this:

This image shows the core with its respective poles, positive on the north, negative on the south. For this reason, compasses work, however, it's changing. Each 3,000 years the cores "flip" where the negative side is on top, and the positive side is on the bottom.

This has been discovered by looking at past volcanic eruptions, the metals in the cooled lava, which are polarized, and what direction they're facing. Currently though, we're about 12,000 years over due. The fact that we're over due is not a big issue though. The issue is what happens when the "flip" occurs.

We've started on a flip, there's portions in sorth america and africa which compasses do not work, due to a large bubble of positive ore in that region. The metal doesn't just roll over, but rather is like an oil/water mixture if you shake it up, where it will cross through the other like in the illustration above. The effect of the core’s magnetic field is very important to the earth. It shields the planet from radioactive material and other hazardous "trash" that is thrown from the sun. When you see aurora borealis, or the "northern lights" what you’re seeing is the radioactive material burning up in our atmosphere, but this only occurs at each pole, where the field is weakest, and the material is allowed closest to the earth. When the swap goes into full swing, which can last for anywhere between 50 to 500 years, instead of being one large magnet, it will be many small magnets, thus reducing the over-all effectiveness of the field. Once it’s in its flip and the field is reduced, material will be able to get through our atmosphere, not good for those living on earth. The event is thought to wipe out 70% of the earths population each time it occurs, either through direct exposure or lack of suitable food.

As the strength of the magnetism of the field diminishes over time, it will take longer for the core to perform its flip. From what the scientific community has been able to figure out, Mars was once similar to earth, but due to its increased size, its liquid core "burned out" before ours has. It used to have a magnetized core where it would flip every so many years; it had a magnetic field protecting it from the sun's material as well. Over time it diminished, stopped flipping, and eventually dissolved, allowing the suns material to burn away at its surface, making it the barren red planet we see today. In time, Earth will follow the same pattern.

In short it may or may not get interesting in our lifetimes, but diffidently in our kids.

Cliff Notes: the Earth works in cycles. there have been ice ages before, and there will continue to be ice ages.
Al Gore's 20-room, 8-bathroom house can use nearly 221,000kWh per year in electricity, but everyone else needs to mind their consumption.

[JaySVX]

I don't have any idea what al gore says about the subject, i dont' follow him. I just do research on what interests me. It is a cycle, we may have just sped it up a bit. I'm not a tree hugger, and probably do more harm to the environment than most, i don't shop according to what helps hte environment, up until recently i drove a v8 truck getting 10mpg. I do, however, think that the government could be raising awareness a bit better though to the issue at hand, not to get them to help stop, as it's an inevitability, but so that people can be properly educated about the issue so it won't come as a complete surprise if we see it in our lifetime, which is defidently possible.

[lhopp77]

Originally Posted by Landshark

Cliff Notes: the Earth works in cycles. there have been ice ages before, and there will continue to be ice ages.
Al Gore's 20-room, 8-bathroom house can use nearly 221,000kWh per year in electricity, but everyone else needs to mind their consumption.

And the private jet he gads about in uses much more fuel than if he flew commerical at least part of the time. But it is just like the liberal rich---YOU need to conserve and spread your money around---I can do as I damn well please.

Lee

[Landshark]

Originally Posted by JaySVX

I don't have any idea what al gore says about the subject, i dont' follow him. I just do research on what interests me. It is a cycle, we may have just sped it up a bit. I'm not a tree hugger, and probably do more harm to the environment than most, i don't shop according to what helps hte environment, up until recently i drove a v8 truck getting 10mpg. I do, however, think that the government could be raising awareness a bit better though to the issue at hand, not to get them to help stop, as it's an inevitability, but so that people can be properly educated about the issue so it won't come as a complete surprise if we see it in our lifetime, which is defidently possible.

that was mainly for the OP, not you - i wasn't calling you a tree-hugger.