Global Warming Special Last Night

[Virgo10]

Did anyone else watch? It was on the Discovery Channel. Very worrisome. All I kept thinking was even if all the countries on earth got together on this RIGHT NOW, it still might be too late.

I did learn a few interesting things though. Unplugging your TV and computer saves energy because they are always on. Glacier National park had over 150 glaciers at one point. Today there are 40.

The problem of global warming makes the difficulties with No. Korea and Iran pale by comparison.

It repeats on 7/22 at 8 p.m. EDT.

 

[4cruisin]

Dh and I watched most of it. I was very depressed seeing what is happening to our earth.

 

[NewJersey]

I missed it! I did see "An Incovenient Truth" and that was alarming enough. I decided to get a hybrid as my next car when I purchase in a few months.

Is it going to be re-aired?

 

[Virgo10]

I missed it! I did see "An Incovenient Truth" and that was alarming enough. I decided to get a hybrid as my next car when I purchase in a few months.

Is it going to be re-aired?

Yes, Saturday, 7/22 at 8 p.m. EDT on the Discovery Channel.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I missed it. So 40 glaciers left in Glacier National Park?

I have seen some of the Discovery Channels shows about the Glaciers in remote parts of the world that rely on them for survival. Did they touch those?

 

[NewJersey]

Yes, Saturday, 7/22 at 8 p.m. EDT on the Discovery Channel.

Thanks!! Jotted that down.

 

[escape]

I missed it. So 40 glaciers left in Glacier National Park?

DH and I took an Alaskan cruise a few years ago and if I remember correctly, I think the environmentalist aboard the ship said that the glaciers in the park had receded about 20 miles in the last 50 years.

 

[Minnie824]

I watched the 2nd half of it. It was very interesting and very scary. It makes me wonder what life will be like for our great-grandchildren. I want to take some pictures of snow for them, so they know what its like! I hate warm weather too...its been noticably worse w/the heat the last 10 years. But where can you move? Theres no place on the planet thats safe from this.

 

[Gary M]

If I remember correctly the word was we are going into an ice age. This was back in the 1960's or '70's.

I do agree that we shouldn't put all the crap into the air that we do. I was in Beijing, China last year and you should see the polluted air in that city. The traffic was unbelivable. It's going to take more than the USA to solve this. India, China and other delveloping countries are going to have to chip in.

 

[Kim&Chris]

I'm going to watch it. Those shows always leave me with a knot in my stomach, but it's so important that we all know what's going on.

Our poor kids....what a mess they'll have to deal with

 

[crcormier]

If I remember correctly the word was we are going into an ice age. This was back in the 1960's or '70's.

I do agree that we shouldn't put all the crap into the air that we do. I was in Beijing, China last year and you should see the polluted air in that city. The traffic was unbelivable. It's going to take more than the USA to solve this. India, China and other delveloping countries are going to have to chip in.

You are correct. The research did say that in the 70's. Now it has gone further and realized it's in the other direction.

I've also been to China. We have a factory in Southern China, near HK, and the pollution there is so bad that there's a permanent haze on the city. Your boogers turn black. (Gross, but true.)

Now I'm just waiting for Joe to show up and say all global warming research is junk science. Regardless of if you think global warming is occuring or not, pollution is a major issue that needs to be dealt with.

 

[ChrisFL]

Agreed, there's too much evidence by too many scientists etc. to claim this is all just made up...unfortunately it's only in the past few years that they've found how quickly everything is changing.

We need to change our ways RIGHT NOW in order to help. Im working on a solution and this show has only reinforced my efforts.

 

[DawnCt1]

If I remember correctly the word was we are going into an ice age. This was back in the 1960's or '70's.

I do agree that we shouldn't put all the crap into the air that we do. I was in Beijing, China last year and you should see the polluted air in that city. The traffic was unbelivable. It's going to take more than the USA to solve this. India, China and other delveloping countries are going to have to chip in.

Exactly, India, China, Eastern Europe are far more polluting than the USA and with their emerging economies, they have little incentive to solve it. Kyoto was merely an attempt to lower the standards in the United States and would not have addressed those countries at all. Also, lets remember that the glaciers have been receding for thousands of years. The entire United States was once covered by glaciers. Yosemite didn't get its landscaping without the aid of glaciers.

 

[jsmith]

The arrogance of human beings-especially americans appalls me sometimes-We seem to think we are some type of Gods who can control forces that despite science are still beyond our understanding. Yes the planet is warming-and yes its having impacts-is it the warmest its ever been? not by any realistic stretch of the imagination-its not even the warmest it has been in the last thousand years. Do we influence the climate of the planet? very likely-but to that extent-very unlikely. in the last 20,000 years alone it has been warm enough that large fauna-lived inside the artic circle and cold enough that the polar ice cap extended to the middle of the contentinal US-all with out the supposed intervention of human beings. And all with out driving humans-who used to be signifgantly more able to adapt to changing enviroments when we relied on fire and the spear than we are now when we think we cant deal with life without cars and air conditioning. nothing stays the same and our years of climate record keeping are a mere blip in the geologic life span of this planet-as is the existence of the human species-yes i think we need to do things to improve our stewardship of our enivorment-the planet is a living thing that deserves respect-but can we seriously influence or stop the warming-i dont think so. And the most frightening thing about warming-it has always-for millions of years-been followed by an ice age-which in the end will be far more difficult to deal with than warming.

 

[crcormier]

Also, lets remember that the glaciers have been receding for thousands of years. The entire United States was once covered by glaciers. Yosemite didn't get its landscaping without the aid of glaciers.

This is true, but we need to know if they are receding at the proper rate or if we have caused them to recede faster than they should be and what impact that has on the balance of nature.

 

[paigevz]

The arrogance of human beings-especially americans appalls me sometimes-We seem to think we are some type of Gods who can control forces that despite science are still beyond our understanding. Yes the planet is warming-and yes its having impacts-is it the warmest its ever been? not by any realistic stretch of the imagination-its not even the warmest it has been in the last thousand years. Do we influence the climate of the planet? very likely-but to that extent-very unlikely. in the last 20,000 years alone it has been warm enough that large fauna-lived inside the artic circle and cold enough that the polar ice cap extended to the middle of the contentinal US-all with out the supposed intervention of human beings. And all with out driving humans-who used to be signifgantly more able to adapt to changing enviroments when we relied on fire and the spear than we are now when we think we cant deal with life without cars and air conditioning. nothing stays the same and our years of climate record keeping are a mere blip in the geologic life span of this planet-as is the existence of the human species-yes i think we need to do things to improve our stewardship of our enivorment-the planet is a living thing that deserves respect-but can we seriously influence or stop the warming-i dont think so. And the most frightening thing about warming-it has always-for millions of years-been followed by an ice age-which in the end will be far more difficult to deal with than warming.

Yes. I agree that we need to do something about pollution, but I do not think we "caused" global warming, or even sped it up. This has happened over and over again. We don't live on a static environment. Earth is constantly changing, and the animals, plants and insects on it are constantly adapting. Just like when people start screaming about things going extinct.........well, that WILL happen. It always has. I don't excuse when we are the main cause by doing something we didn't need to do, but Man is not ALWAYS the cause of EVERYTHING that happens. And Man can't ALWAYS fix it either.

 

[ChrisFL]

Yes. I agree that we need to do something about pollution, but I do not think we "caused" global warming, or even sped it up. This has happened over and over again. We don't live on a static environment. Earth is constantly changing, and the animals, plants and insects on it are constantly adapting. Just like when people start screaming about things going extinct.........well, that WILL happen. It always has. I don't excuse when we are the main cause by doing something we didn't need to do, but Man is not ALWAYS the cause of EVERYTHING that happens. And Man can't ALWAYS fix it either.

But it's not the fact that its constantly changing thats the problem, it's the fact that it's changing MUCH MUCH more quickly in the past 50 years than in the past few thousand years according to a lot of experts.

The question is how much evidence do we need? Why not change now, in case we ARE causing all of these problems?

 

[DawnCt1]

But it's not the fact that its constantly changing thats the problem, it's the fact that it's changing MUCH MUCH more quickly in the past 50 years than in the past few thousand years according to a lot of experts.

The question is how much evidence do we need? Why not change now, in case we ARE causing all of these problems?

But, it makes sense that warming is accelerated because as the ice recedes and there are more areas to absorb heat from the sun, there is more heat radiated to the rest of the planet to melt more ice and so it goes. It doesn't mean that man kind has caused it. I would think it has to do with the nature of heating a cooling.....physics.

 

[NewJersey]

Whether you believe global warming is real and whether we are causing it or not, shouldn't matter. I think we can all agree that all of these pollutants going into the air isn't good for the planet.

 

[paigevz]

Yes, and I do think we agree, but the OP was about global warming..........................