Gobal Warming?

[spence]

Ethanol in the midwest has simply been a political earmark. It takes more energy to produce than it delivers...without subsidies there wouldn't be much production.

Hopefully that will all change with some new technology, but it may be a while...

-spence

[Slipknot]

The best is yet to come as far as car engines.
Compressed air powered vehicles are being developed now. They have 2 large tanks made of carbon fiber. The air powers the pistons and there is no emissions 2 bucks in electricity to charge the tanks back up with the onboard compressor or 4 minutes at a gas station. Science is working on all kinds of stuff.

[baldwin]

Ethanol provides more benefit in your orange juice.

[Nebe]

ethanol is great for the economy- look at how many outboards its ruined which has resulted in new outboards being bought.. look at how much startron seabrite is selling... its great!

[doc]

good to see this discussion on this site...it is something i think about often...the key for our success as a nation will be to come up with alternative energy...that will eliminate our dependence on the middle east...saving lives...and letting those currupt govenrments sink into the sands...it will also benefit our planet whether we are beyond the tipping point or not...it will also be our only chance to rival the incredible emergence of china in the years to come...our best chance to remain a so called superpower lies in energy...our best resource is our pooled intelligence in coming up with new technology that fuels us into the future...if a politician, whether from the donkey club or the elephant gang, presents this as the most pressing issue facing us as a nation now and into the future then that person wins...and so do we...it amazes me that no one i hear in the public arena presents this as vital...it makes sense whether one is a environmentalist or a hawk...hopefully iraq makes this issue more tangible to the friggin' politicians that keep their heads in the sand...

[Raven]

the politicians are being paid to keep their heads in the sand.

[Backbeach Jake]

Seems that the Martian ice caps are melting, too.
http://www.climateark.org/articles/2...h/stsumars.htm
We humans tend to think that everything happens because of us. Sometimes it just happens. We are still coming out of the last ice-age. Before that event, where did dinosaurs walk?

[baldwin]

I think they tracked mud across my living room.

[baldwin]

But seriously, recent climate change is taking place much more rapidly than those past events. The dinosaurs ruled the earth for more than 100 million years, ice ages take thousands to recede. I'd rather take the word of multitudes of scientists who study this thing for a living. But, neither I nor anyone else will be able to convince those who choose not to believe. Perhaps much of it is from "natural" causes, and all those scientists are wrong. Perhaps a few politicians who make their money from the oil industry are right.
Perhaps you have a chance of being saved in a car crash by not wearing your seat belt. I'd rather err on the side of safety.

[MakoMike]

Originally Posted by Backbeach Jake

Seems that the Martian ice caps are melting, too.
http://www.climateark.org/articles/2...h/stsumars.htm
We humans tend to think that everything happens because of us. Sometimes it just happens. We are still coming out of the last ice-age. Before that event, where did dinosaurs walk?

It's called Hubris.

[RIROCKHOUND]

Originally Posted by Backbeach Jake

Before that event, where did dinosaurs walk?

Connecticut
But that was 65Million years ago..

[ridler72]

If this is global warming....I am going to help speed up the process by purchasing 12 aerosol cans and firing off at once! lol

Dream of California...weather!

[baldwin]

Those aerosols were a concern with the ozone layer, not global warming. Turn up your furnace instead.

[parishht]

Got a question,
if we are pumping oil out of the ground,
and water seeps through the ground,
will it not eventually fill the void left by the oil pumped away?

also, are all of the dams, swimming pools, reservoirs and any other
water stopping structure taken into account when sea level rise is calculated?

If I am out of line just do this -

[wheresmy50]

97% of the water on earth is in the ocean (http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/waterdistribution.html), so that's all that matters. Surface fresh water is inconsequential.

You're not out of line.

The volume of the ocean is 1,338,000,000 cubic kilometers. Some people think the relationship between water and CO2 play a large role in the temperature of the earth. As the temperature of the oceans rise, the water can hold less dissolved CO2, so excess is released into the atmosphere. The vapor pressure of the water also increases with temperature, so more moisture is released into the atmosphere. Both of these are 'greenhouse gasses' and may cause the temperature of the earth to increase, which leads to more CO2 and water being released from the ocean, which leads to higher temeratures, and on, and on. Some think this may help explain the highly cyclical nature of the earth's temperature over the millenia.

If you watch the news, what's written above is all a bunch of crap. People cause climate change and the last ice age couldn't have possibly happened since no one was around to drive SUVs and ruin the environment.

Ozone layer? That was sooo 1990's hysteria. Get with the times.

[Raven]

http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/science....ap/index.html

[MakoMike]

Link doesn't work

[Sweetwater]

Clearly humans "contribute" to global warming; however, this does not mean that human activity is 100% the cause of global warming. The question is what, if anything, can we do about it?

I think of it this way, if you are ill and the doctor says that 90% of your illness is genetic and you can't do anything about it (example: heart disease) but 10% of your illness is due to factors you can control (diet, losing weight, exersize, stop smoking), you would STILL change the things you can control!

I think the argument over what the causes are, and what proportion of global warming these causes are responsible for is less important than doing what we can to reduce human contribution. I've made a commitment to reduce my fuel burning by at least 20% this year. More is needed of course. But let's not debate what the major cause is, and just do what we can to reduce greenhouse gases. The rest is up to nature.

[baldwin]

Yeah, those are the ones.