Quote:
Originally Posted by TheDoc
What is man doing that could possibly be proven as the cause?
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Why does it have to be the complete cause? Most of the time when I read articles or hear credible speakers on the subject they are not saying that man is the complete cause... just a huge contributor. It is a proven fact that Carbon Dioxide creates an insulation effect in the atmosphere... this alone is not a problem... the problem lies in the fact that we are producing more Carbon Dioxide than our global "sinks" can absorb. This is causing an increasing warming in the overall global temperature... especially in the oceans.
The biggest risk of global warming is that the ocean currents might change (a logical and "more than likely" scenario) which can cause another ice age... which is inevitable... the earth has had many ice ages... but our continued use of fossil fuels that over-saturate the atmosphere with Carbon Dioxide is accelerating that process. As the ocean currents change it affects how much Carbon Dioxide that the ocean absorbs while simultaneously affecting the circulation mechanism of heat within the oceans... which moderate the temperature of our atmosphere. This is important because in our lifetime we could see that reversal happen if we don't slow our production of these greenhouse gases... as the arctic ice melts it changes how the currents work and changes the overall length of the circulation... eventually it could disrupt the currents enough where it stops circulating as much warm water to the arctic and cause a global drop in temperature. Even 5-10 years of very short summers would cause a worldwide famine.