The scorched earth policy has been used two times in the defence of Russia, once during the Napoleonic wars and once during WWII. Both times the invasions were thwarted by freakishly (even by Russian standards) cold winters.The data from 1550 to 1850 is comparatively speculative, based on ice core samples, tree rings, geological data, historical data, archaeological data, that kind of thing. This is not simply facts plucked from places where the sun does not shine.
You present that in a fairly authoritative manner. I happen to know that this information is speculative and has not undergone any scientific rigor. Climate patterns on this planet have never successfully been tied to specific causes, and only rarely to specific events (like volcanic eruptions) where the effect is relatively local.
Global warming is a fact. Our role in it is still poorly explained, but it's almost certain that we're having an effect. Sadly, our science simply isn't up to the task of identifying what the effect is, or what the consequences will be. And it might be irrelevent, since the earth is heating up, regardless of what we do. But we're definitely in an era where the human impact warrants scrutiny.
Pump enough of ANYTHING into the air, you change the weather. Look at World War II. The Russians burnt their cities when retreating,which blocked the sunlight, and this produced the coldest winters recorded. Human activities CAN affect the weather, and we have been burning massive amounts of fossil fuels. The reason that there was a "mini ice age" from 1550 and 1850 is because we were burning more and more wood and coal during that time, and 1850 was the tipping point where the excess carbon dioxide that had been building up finally overcame the soot that was being deposited into the atmosphere (soot does not stay in the atmosphere, it comes back to earth, CO2 does not.
Finally, someone brings facts like these forward. I'm really not a believer in global warming. I know, the things we are doing to the earth are bad, but people just assume that we're going through this massive climate shift, and don't see the true facts. i agree that if we keep doing what we're doing now, we're going to damage the earth, but to change the climate, we really have to be doing some serious damage, and I don't think we've acheived that yet. The Industrial Revolution has been going on for a little more than a century, and that's a really short period of time in the planet's life.
I used the words "favorite fact" to thinly veil these facts as an opinion survey, per the common practice on this site. I'm actually more "on the fence" politically than you'd think; I just feel that "maintaining balance" where I think balance is needed on this site requires me to take up some conservative positions.-I'm willing to accept that mankind has contributed to global warming. I'm also willing to agree that global warming is a horrible thing for ecology, the environment, and our civilization (at least economically, and maybe in a life-threatening manner). What the world has in store for us is going to be disasterous in every discernable way. However, I have never heard a credible explanation for why it is happening or a credible plan on how we can stop it. I think a lot of the alarm that's (legitimately) being raised is pointed in the wrong direction.
The scorched earth policy has been used two times in the defence of Russia, once during the Napoleonic wars and once during WWII. Both times the invasions were thwarted by freakishly (even by Russian standards) cold winters.The data from 1550 to 1850 is comparatively speculative, based on ice core samples, tree rings, geological data, historical data, archaeological data, that kind of thing. This is not simply facts plucked from places where the sun does not shine.
So what is the Question? Just stating facts isn't an answer...
You present that in a fairly authoritative manner. I happen to know that this information is speculative and has not undergone any scientific rigor. Climate patterns on this planet have never successfully been tied to specific causes, and only rarely to specific events (like volcanic eruptions) where the effect is relatively local.
Global warming is a fact. Our role in it is still poorly explained, but it's almost certain that we're having an effect. Sadly, our science simply isn't up to the task of identifying what the effect is, or what the consequences will be. And it might be irrelevent, since the earth is heating up, regardless of what we do. But we're definitely in an era where the human impact warrants scrutiny.
Pump enough of ANYTHING into the air, you change the weather. Look at World War II. The Russians burnt their cities when retreating,which blocked the sunlight, and this produced the coldest winters recorded. Human activities CAN affect the weather, and we have been burning massive amounts of fossil fuels. The reason that there was a "mini ice age" from 1550 and 1850 is because we were burning more and more wood and coal during that time, and 1850 was the tipping point where the excess carbon dioxide that had been building up finally overcame the soot that was being deposited into the atmosphere (soot does not stay in the atmosphere, it comes back to earth, CO2 does not.
Fair enough.
Finally, someone brings facts like these forward. I'm really not a believer in global warming. I know, the things we are doing to the earth are bad, but people just assume that we're going through this massive climate shift, and don't see the true facts. i agree that if we keep doing what we're doing now, we're going to damage the earth, but to change the climate, we really have to be doing some serious damage, and I don't think we've acheived that yet. The Industrial Revolution has been going on for a little more than a century, and that's a really short period of time in the planet's life.
I used the words "favorite fact" to thinly veil these facts as an opinion survey, per the common practice on this site. I'm actually more "on the fence" politically than you'd think; I just feel that "maintaining balance" where I think balance is needed on this site requires me to take up some conservative positions.-I'm willing to accept that mankind has contributed to global warming. I'm also willing to agree that global warming is a horrible thing for ecology, the environment, and our civilization (at least economically, and maybe in a life-threatening manner). What the world has in store for us is going to be disasterous in every discernable way. However, I have never heard a credible explanation for why it is happening or a credible plan on how we can stop it. I think a lot of the alarm that's (legitimately) being raised is pointed in the wrong direction.
"Favorite" facts? I'll leave the favoritism of some facts over other facts to those who would work backwards from their inital conclusions.