CTF Official Global Warming Debate

[delta Usafa]

So there's this poll in the poll section with the same name. I was posting in there, and it was brought to my attention that I was debating, so here this is!

What do you think about global warming? Why?

I'll repost somethign I said in the poll:

Fact is people, global warming is a real issue. Ice caps are melting, sea levels are rising, polar bears are drowning, heat waves are spreading, and glaciers are receding. And it's barely even snowed in the mid-west this winter.

I've personally seen the effects of global warming first-hand. I went to Alaska last summer, and while in Juneau I visited the Mendenhall Glacier. There, I got to see the glacier as it is today, and compare it to how it was only five years ago. The difference is huge. As of now, it recedes over 100 feet annually, while just a few years ago, it was only receding at 35-45 feet a year, and before, even less. It's exponential.[/b]

[DanTheMan]

Delta, I completely agree. It is arguably one of the planet's biggest concerns now. We are releasing carbon emissions into the planet's atmosphere, which we cannot deny is increasing the planet's temperature. As Delta has already pointed out, there is plenty of physical evidence of this happening, e.g. glaciers melting, the rate of the polar ice caps melting, global sea levels rising, etc. It is estimated that in the next century that the planet's temperature will increase between 1C / 33.8F and 6C / 42.8F, and this is enough to trigger a large melting of both polar ice caps.

[Storm]

It certainly is a problem. I don't see how people can deny it's happening. I see the effects of it everyday. The winters aren't as cold, the summers are getting hotter, animals are coming out of hibernation earlier - it all points to global warming.

I don't think there is any way we can "fix" it without finding a reliable clean energy source which is very unlikely. We're all so used to modern conveniences that it's almost impossible to get the world to cut down on the harmful gasses it's producing enough to cause any real effect. So I really don't see that - in the near future at least - there is any way to stop it.

[back in St.Olaf]

I say we eliminate EVERY SINGLE internal combustion engine from the planet. Get all the cars/trucks/vans/SUVs/planes/boats/etc. and launch them to Pluto or something.

Then we can all drive cars that run off spit.

[DanTheMan]

I say we eliminate EVERY SINGLE internal combustion engine from the planet. Get all the cars/trucks/vans/SUVs/planes/boats/etc. and launch them to Pluto or something.

Then we can all drive cars that run off spit.
[/b]

Have you ever heard of biofuel?

[TooOldToMod]

Actually...if we were smart about it, we could probably phase out combustion engines in like...20 years or something.

[Tylerdurden]

I already own a car that can run E85 Ethonol, which is made from a mix of gas and corn byproducts. The car uses less gas, and it is slightly more inexpensive.

When a huge company pleads with the government (GE) to [bold]enforce[/bold] stricter emissions guidlines, you know something's up.

It isn't just the carbon emissions that are destroying the atmosphere, it is also due to the cutting of forests and destroying wetlands. Katrina's destruction of New Orleans was due to humans. The destruction of the wetlands caused the hurricane to maintain force and reach New Orleans instead of dying out over the marshes.

Obviously the earth has natural weather changes. We're just speeding up the process, and not in a good way.

[Jedi]

Behold! THE SOLUTION:

Sure, cars produce a ton of air pollution. So switching to more environmentally friendly vehicles is certainly a good idea. But a lot of air pollution is made by power plants, especially oil and coal burning plants. Power plants probably produce more air pollution then cars. If all coal and oil plants were replaced with environmentally friendly power plants, like solar power, wind power, or hydroelectric power, then we'd have much less air pollution, and therefore less global warming. But solar, wind, and hydroelectric power plants don't produce anywhere near as much electricity as oil and coal power plants, which is why these environmentally friendly alternatives are rarely used.

The solution is nuclear power. One gram of uranium in a nuclear plant can produce more electricity than thousands of barrels of oil. Nuclear power produces no air pollution, only steam is released into the air. People complain about the radioactive waste that is produced, but all we have to do is store the waste underground for a few decades and it'll naturally decay, without polluting the environment like waste from oil and gas plants (which produce more waste than nuclear plants). In my opinion, people worry way too much about the safety of nuclear power plants. The number of people that have died in nuclear power plant accidents is far less than the number of people that have died in collapsing coal mines or oil rig accidents. Nuclear power is by far the best choice, at least until they finally get fusion power figured out.

[Tylerdurden]

I agree, there have been many huge advancements in reactor design over the past 20 years that haven't been used in the US.

Our reactors are old and need to be replaced by the newer, cleaner burning reactors.

[kkrause]

I agree. Global warming is a problem. And when we reached Christmas time this past year without any snow on the ground I was quick to jump to the conclusion that it was indeed, Global warming.

But then, I asked my dad, and he said, "Yea, Global warming is a problem, but I don't htink that global warming is the cause for no snow this year."

When I asked "why" he said, "because the temperatures aren't drastically far away from normal. it's just a cycle. And that in 5 years we would have so much snow during hte winter again."

I'm not sure what I think. But right now, we have quite a bit of snow, and there's a windchill of -28 (celcius)

Maybe it is just a cycle. Maybe not. All I know is that if we changed what we are doing now drastically, cut down emissions.. get better cars etc. that in 20 years or so... everything would be back to normal..

(that doesn't excuse that there is a problem with global warming tho)