Hello My distinguished Nairalanders, There's an issue that was at The frontline of discussions, at the just concluded UN General Meeting in New york, And it's Climate change. Do you Guys really believe That we're killing the Planet? Do you Guys believe That we can Save the planet by our actions, I would like us to discuss this Issue, let's have reasons for and against the argument. I Greet you all My fellow Nairalanders!

I dont understand the science behind climate change.

All I know is that smoke and some other gases are bad for the ozone/environment. We should reduce carbon footprint.


Please, anyone who has some understanding of the science should educate us.......

logicboy01: I dont understand the science behind climate change.

All I know is that smoke and some other gases are bad for the ozone/environment. We should reduce carbon footprint.


Please, anyone who has some understanding of the science should educate us.......

Climate change caused by our excessive mass production and consumption causes a lot damage to nature.

It is impossible for me to describe this dangerous process in one post but there are plenty of INTERESTING documentaries on youtube.

Here is one:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a51mWYhVmek

Enjoy!

carefreewannabe:

Climate change caused by our excessive mass production and consumption causes a lot damage to nature.

It is impossible for me to describe this dangerous process in one post but there are plenty of INTERESTING documentaries on youtube.

Here is one:


Enjoy!

Thanks!

well, there's a reason the American indians made a fuss about Shell and Bp oil explorations years ago in the amazon, saying that "what comes from beneath the earth is the blood of the gods". those same people being understandably ancient in their civilisations, also say "we do not own or inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow her from our grandchildren and they borrow from their children's children"

then talk about the pointers to the tsunamis, el niñoes, the ice melting away in the northpole, the heat roasting man and wild in the tropics, the.... this topic is huge.

logicboy01:

Thanks!

You are welcome.

It's an important and interesting topic.

I am happy people care.

I strongly disagree with the general notion that human is the main cause of climate change, viz a viz global warming. I see it as more of a natural phenomenon than anthropogenic.

The climate has always being changing (which is natural), so have nothing really to worry about. We should start worrying when the climate stop changing. Even before man, the earth has gone through several phases of alternate warming && cooling. Why then are we bothered about the present occurrence of climate variation (not change) since the earth has survived much worse scenario.


Although the intensity/severity of climate variability (not change) may be attributed to man's activity.

padeolu: I strongly disagree with the general notion that human is the main cause of climate change, viz a viz global warming. I see it as more of a natural phenomenon than anthropogenic.

The climate has always being changing (which is natural), so have nothing really to worry about. We should start worrying when the climate stop changing. Even before man, the earth has gone through several phases of alternate warming && cooling. Why then are we bothered about the present occurrence of climate variation (not change) since the earth has survived much worse scenario.


Although the intensity/severity of climate variability (not change) may be attributed to man's activity.

see bruv, u have clearly never been in manufacturing. u have not seen data on hazardous waste disposal nor directly witnessed the actual instant effect of industrial materials in the ecosystem

logicboy01: I dont understand the science behind climate change.

All I know is that smoke and some other gases are bad for the ozone/environment. We should reduce carbon footprint.


Please, anyone who has some understanding of the science should educate us.......

we're on the same train.

spotit: see bruv, u have clearly never been in manufacturing. u have not seen data on hazardous waste disposal nor directly witnessed the actual instant effect of industrial materials in the ecosystem

Here is it bro, Climate change is as complex as the word climate. Its more than global average temperature increase (global warming). When you talk of climate change, then ur talking of a complete change in weather parameters (temperature, rainfall, atmospheric pressure, wind etc).
That said, municipal and industrial air pollutant discharge, ofcourse, its a great issue to be worried about. But I tell you, its effect on the said "climate change" is negligible.

Climate change in my opinion is real but overhyped (not that bad as it's made to seem via media). When the normal yearly weather pattern is inconsistent with the years before or after a particular year then the climate has changed.
I do however, have a problem with the way scientists say 'we have used up the earth's water resources in a year, meant to last 10 years' or 'we have drained in 2 years the vital minerals needed to sustain the earth from collapsing in year 2067' etc! Story! I believe for a fact that the population of the world is too much for a few to control, hence the need for population control via scientific and man made measures as climate change, disease, wars, poverty, famine, hunger etc.
In a nut shell, some selfish individuals and top organizations are ripping and phyphoning 'naturist' and earth lovers huge sums through believing the world is coming to an end via global warming.

padeolu:
Here is it bro, Climate change is as complex as the word climate. Its more than global average temperature increase (global warming). When you talk of climate change, then ur talking of a complete change in weather parameters (temperature, rainfall, atmospheric pressure, wind etc).
That said, municipal and industrial air pollutant discharge, ofcourse, its a great issue to be worried about. But I tell you, its effect on the said "climate change" is negligible.

of course you can choose to believe anything you want, i do also hold my conspiracist opinion in some other areas. what happens to men when they get greedier is what the planet shows us as global warming, food shortage and all. yes every young thing is expected to age, but how delicately u treat it would determine how gracefully it does in the process. it's left to you to choose between the "negligible" effects of your manhandling and the near-zero complications that go with non-catalysed natural process. i guess you're gonna say mankind has tried in taming the mean side of nature, but what's the benefit in taking a drug overdose to stop a personal ailment? what is the relationship between the natural aging of the earth and artificial electronic equipment(functional and derelict) floating increasingly in space plus the hydrocarbon wastes (although cfcs are now banned) pumped everyday here on earth, outrageous devegetation and things? catalytic much? no? negligible, yea?

xcolanto, i also share similar views to yours..but the thing is, it's a thin line between overhyping and under reporting any newsworthy incident. which side the media falls in, determines how much concerted efforts and attention the concerned persons will give it. just the right reportağe might not be enough to awaken complacent multitudes

Climates always change.
However, rapid industrialization over the past 200yrs has no doubt shifted and affected the natural environmental equilibrium in ways that are negatively affecting our ecosystems and threaten various biological life.
This may accelerate to a point in the future where the free natural things we take for granted may become scarce or unavailable. This is fact, this is common sense.

Since the Earth has been alive for 4 billion+ yrs, we , as conscious beings, have to worry about the sustainability of our ecosystems for the next billion years.

It is just a matter of simple arithmethic to see that given our current rate of consumption, our forests , wild life and freshwatter ecosystems would disappear in a couple of hundred years from now .

So, do we take proactive measures, no matter how little, to address the contemplated eventuality, or do we bury our heads in the sand, play ostrich or continue singing hail Mary ?

spotit: of course you can choose to believe anything you want, i do also hold my conspiracist opinion in some other areas. what happens to men when they get greedier is what the planet shows us as global warming, food shortage and all. yes every young thing is expected to age, but how delicately u treat it would determine how gracefully it does in the process. it's left to you to choose between the "negligible" effects of your manhandling and the near-zero complications that go with non-catalysed natural process. i guess you're gonna say mankind has tried in taming the mean side of nature, but what's the benefit in taking a drug overdose to stop a personal ailment? what is the relationship between the natural aging of the earth and artificial electronic equipment(functional and derelict) floating increasingly in space plus the hydrocarbon wastes (although cfcs are now banned) pumped everyday here on earth, outrageous devegetation and things? catalytic much? no. negligible, yea?

I quite understand the what you are saying. But i will try not to go out of context in communicating my view.
Truly, human isnt treating its environment (earth) well. But I still think it is unfair to attribute climate change to man's existience. As i earlier stated, the climate has always been changing and it will continue to change (with or without man).Even before man, the earth environment has gone through a period of excessive warming, which is quite warmer than what we "believe" to be withnessing, also, ice age, the earth has aswell had a much more rise in her sea level, etc.

The so called theory of climate change is based on cosensus and not some scientific fact. I've being closely following the climate change politics since 2009 and you'll be surprised that the whole climate change thingy is more or less a hoax. What we are actually withnessing is a slight variation or fluctuation from the climatic mean which is pretty normal. It has happened before, and it will happen again. why then are we worried?

Several studies has shown that the mars is getting warmer, will you aswell attribute that to man? bros, truth be told, urbanization and industrialization is indeed affecting the earth but the earth has a way of adjusting to this changes.

About the ban on CFCs. It was just immidiately after the CFC ban that the so called scientists come up with the issue of CO2 being a potent GHG. I still but womder why CO2 is considered a pollutant and O2 isnt. Isnt that also being unfair to the plants if we reduce what they their life depends on?

lol..at some points we all have to agree to make progress, isn't it. hehe

padeolu: I quite understand the what you are saying. But i will try not to go out of context in communicating my view.
Truly, human isnt treating its environment (earth) well. But I still think it is unfair to attribute climate change to man's existience. As i earlier stated, the climate has always been changing and it will continue to change (with or without man).Even before man, the earth environment has gone through a period of excessive warming, which is quite warmer than what we "believe" to be withnessing, also, ice age, the earth has aswell had a much more rise in her sea level, etc.

[/b]The so called theory of climate change is based on cosensus and not some scientific fact. I've being closely following the climate change politics since 2009 and you'll be surprised that the whole climate change thingy is more or less a hoax. What we are actually withnessing is a slight variation or fluctuation from the climatic mean which is pretty normal. It has happened before, and it will happen again. why then are we worried?[b]

Several studies has shown that the mars is getting warmer, will you aswell attribute that to man? bros, truth be told, urbanization and industrialization is indeed affecting the earth but the earth has a way of adjusting to this changes.

About the ban on CFCs. It was just immidiately after the CFC ban that the so called scientists come up with the issue of CO2 being a potent GHG. I still but womder why CO2 is considered a pollutant and O2 isnt. Isnt that also being unfair to the plants if we reduce what they their life depends on?

Nice write up bro! Could relate with the bolded 100%

logicboy01: I dont understand the science behind climate change.

All I know is that smoke and some other gases are bad for the ozone/environment. We should reduce carbon footprint.


Please, anyone who has some understanding of the science should educate us.......

The Ozone later as started growing back to what it ws in the 70s and i read somewhere where UN said bu 203x the atmosphere will be gladly back to what it was

However i dont quite agree with their assertions

plaetton: Climates always change.
However, rapid industrialization over the past 200yrs has no doubt shifted and affected the natural environmental equilibrium in ways that are negatively affecting our ecosystems and threaten various biological life.
This may accelerate to a point in the future where the free natural things we take for granted may become scarce or unavailable. This is fact, this is common sense.

Since the Earth has been alive for 4 billion+ yrs, we , as conscious beings, have to worry about the sustainability of our ecosystems for the next billion years.

It is just a matter of simple arithmethic to see that given our current rate of consumption, our forests , wild life and freshwatter ecosystems would disappear in a couple of hundred years from now .

So, do we take proactive measures, no matter how little, to address the contemplated eventuality, or do we bury our heads in the sand, play ostrich or continue singing hail Mary ?

The bolded i know will speed up the climatic change by some percentage. Climate is always changing and will keep changing, sometimes I believe that climatic change is also a very important ingredients for Evolution of life on earth

padeolu: I quite understand the what you are saying. But i will try not to go out of context in communicating my view.
Truly, human isnt treating its environment (earth) well. But I still think it is unfair to attribute climate change to man's existience. As i earlier stated, the climate has always been changing and it will continue to change (with or without man).Even before man, the earth environment has gone through a period of excessive warming, which is quite warmer than what we "believe" to be withnessing, also, ice age, the earth has aswell had a much more rise in her sea level, etc.

The so called theory of climate change is based on cosensus and not some scientific fact. I've being closely following the climate change politics since 2009 and you'll be surprised that the whole climate change thingy is more or less a hoax. What we are actually withnessing is a slight variation or fluctuation from the climatic mean which is pretty normal. It has happened before, and it will happen again. why then are we worried?

Several studies has shown that the mars is getting warmer, will you aswell attribute that to man? bros, truth be told, urbanization and industrialization is indeed affecting the earth but the earth has a way of adjusting to this changes.

About the ban on CFCs. It was just immidiately after the CFC ban that the so called scientists come up with the issue of CO2 being a potent GHG. I still but womder why CO2 is considered a pollutant and O2 isnt. Isnt that also being unfair to the plants if we reduce what they their life depends on?

onpoint, the truth is that most people dont bother to find out, they go on with whatever they are fed with once the captions says "SCIENTIST SAID SO AND SO"

beejaay:


The bolded i know will speed up the climatic change by some percentage. Climate is always changing and will keep changing, sometimes I believe that climatic change is also a very important ingredients for Evolution of life on earth

Hmmmm... I concur.

Climate change has been around since the earth had an ozone layer...the problem today is that it is being accelerated....most likely by us.....
Since the industrial era many toxic air-borne particulates have been ejected into the atmosphere....from leaded gasoline emission to chlorofluorocarbons to carbon monoxide etc....
Personally i believe we should opt for 'greener power sources' and not attempt geo-engineering....atleast not attempt it till we have an earth 2.0

plaetton: Climates always change.
However, rapid industrialization over the past 200yrs has no doubt shifted and affected the natural environmental equilibrium in ways that are negatively affecting our ecosystems and threaten various biological life.
This may accelerate to a point in the future where the free natural things we take for granted may become scarce or unavailable. This is fact, this is common sense.

Since the Earth has been alive for 4 billion+ yrs, we , as conscious beings, have to worry about the sustainability of our ecosystems for the next billion years.

It is just a matter of simple arithmethic to see that given our current rate of consumption, our forests , wild life and freshwatter ecosystems would disappear in a couple of hundred years from now .

So, do we take proactive measures, no matter how little, to address the contemplated eventuality, or do we bury our heads in the sand, play ostrich or continue singing hail Mary ?

But Given how vast the universe is, Do you believe our mundane efforts could really save the planet? How pro active can we really get, when it comes to " saving" the planet? And Why does this Generation have this need to "save" the planet? I greet all Nairalanders on this thread, your contributions are very insightful.

davien: Climate change has been around since the earth had an ozone layer...the problem today is that it is being accelerated....most likely by us.....
Since the industrial era many toxic air-borne particulates have been ejected into the atmosphere....from leaded gasoline emission to chlorofluorocarbons to carbon monoxide etc....
Personally i believe we should opt for 'greener power sources' and not attempt geo-engineering....atleast not attempt it till we have an earth 2.0

Good point, my Good man, But don't you think that the planet has a way of correcting these abnormalities we've created by aggressive industrialization? Don't you feel, the universe has it's own way of curing or healing it's self, without the intervention of man?

bolaino: Good point, my Good man, But don't you think that the planet has a way of correcting these abnormalities we've created by aggressive industrialization? Don't you feel, the universe has it's own way of curing or healing it's self, without the intervention of man?

The earth can ofcourse do this but the rate it does it is much more slower than the rate we are changing it....
Over 100 billion metric tons of carbon emissions are a scar that naturally could take eons to fix naturally...yet this is the amount that has been pumped into the atmosphere for a while now....
And the glaciers that naturally prevent greenhouse warming are melting rapidly....
Geo-engineering plans to tame this using nano-particles and cloud seeding of which i am not a fan of...

bolaino: But Given how vast the universe is, Do you believe our mundane efforts could really save the planet? How pro active can we really get, when it comes to " saving" the planet? And Why does this Generation have this need to "save" the planet? I greet all Nairalanders on this thread, your contributions are very insightful.

I personally believe , as do a lot of scientists, that the planet Mars was once full of life in the same way that Earth is at this time.
This is probably why Mars is the most studied planet on our solar system.

Consider how many sattellites, probes and robotic landers various countries have sent and are still sending to Mars, this is proof that there is something of great importance that we need to know or confirm about the planet's past.

If Mars had life in as recent as 3million or few hundred thousand years ago, as estimated by scientists, then we need to know what happened to her, what killed her: Was it a prolonged illness, sudden accidental death or MURDER (god's armagedom? )

Whatever must have happened to Mars is of grave importance to us because if life on Mars was snuffed out, the same fate might be inevitable for Earth.
Therefore, it behooves us, it is our responsiblity in this generation, with every technological tool that we have, to see that our planet survives whatever fate might have befallen our sister planet Mars in the distant past.

plaetton:

I personally believe , as do a lot of scientists, that the planet Mars was once full of life in the same way that Earth is at this time.
This is probably why Mars is the most studied planet on our solar system.

Consider how many sattellites, probes and robotic landers various countries have sent and are still sending to Mars, this is proof that there is something of great importance that we need to know or confirm about the planet's past.

If Mars had life in as recent as 3million or few hundred thousand years ago, as estimated by scientists, then we need to know what happened to her, what killed her: Was it a prolonged illness, sudden accidental death or MURDER (god's armagedom? )

Whatever must have happened to Mars is of grave importance to us because if life on Mars was snuffed out, the same fate might be inevitable for Earth.
Therefore, it behooves us, it is our responsiblity in this generation, with every technological tool that we have, to see that our planet survives whatever fate might have befallen our sister planet Mars in the distant past.

Your points have been Noted, and they are valid. Thank you.

bolaino: Good point, my Good man, But don't you think that the planet has a way of correcting these abnormalities we've created by aggressive industrialization? Don't you feel, the universe has it's own way of curing or healing it's self, without the intervention of man?

spe

Yes indeed, the planet has a way of restoring environmental equilibrium.
In fact, it is that response that we are actually afraid of.
You see, when nature moves to restore equilibrium, it is usually very catastrophic for lifeforms,especially humans.
So our main concern about environmental degradation is the fear of nature's response.

davien:
The earth can ofcourse do this but the rate it does it is much more slower than the rate we are changing it....
Over 100 billion metric tons of carbon emissions are a scar that naturally could take eons to fix naturally...yet this is the amount that has been pumped into the atmosphere for a while now....
And the glaciers that naturally prevent greenhouse warming are melting rapidly....
Geo-engineering plans to tame this using nano-particles and cloud seeding of which i am not a fan of...

well said my Good man, In your own opinion, what is the worst case scenario? If we continue to harm the planet?

plaetton: spe

Yes indeed, the planet has a way of restoring environmental equilibrium.
In fact, it is that response that we are actually afraid of.
You see, when nature moves to restore equilibrium, it is usually very catastrophic for lifeforms,especially humans.
So our main concern about environmental degradation is the fear of nature's response.

Hmmmm, you've raised some other issues. Do you think The ice ages the earth has experienced at different times in it's long history had to do with Climate change? Did civilizations like the Atlantean civilization, Go extinct because they were leaving too much carbon footprints? Or were harming the planet? Or Are Ice ages a different phenomenon?

bolaino: well said my Good man, In your own opinion, what is the worst case scenario? If we continue to harm the planet?

Hmmmm.....the worst that could happen could be the;
The ignition of methane deposits underneath the sea....heating up the seas and stopping the ocean currents from circulating..
The growth of harmful microbes that thrive in poisonous conditions and create by-products like hydrogen sulphide...
Extended or prolonged droughts...the type that wiped out the mayans....
Frigid nights and scorching days...
killer tsunamis' and increasing desertification
More mass extinctions....
Re-emergence of ancient viruses that thrived in such harsh conditions...
Acid rain gets included in the seasons
And the absolute worst is the death of plant life....

bolaino: Hmmmm, you've raised some other issues. Do you think The ice ages the earth has experienced at different times in it's long history had to do with Climate change? Did civilizations like the Atlantean civilization, Go extinct because they were leaving too much carbon footprints? Or were harming the planet? Or Are Ice ages a different phenomenon?

In it's 4.7billion yrs history, the earth has no doubts undergone many many changes. There are many many cycles within cycles that the Earth goes through as the our Sun carries us along it's 250million yrs orbit through the center of our Milkyway galaxy system.

But no matter about Earth's natural climatic cycles, the past 200yrs of industrialization and population growth with it's attendant exponential growth in resource consumption has , without a doubt, altered, even if slightly, the dynamics of natural climatic cycles.

As we all know very well, a slight alteration in a climatic cycle can have dire long term consequences for life forms.

So what I am trying to say is that our dynamic natural ecosystem will be trying to maintain itself, it's natural equilibrium, by punishing us dearly in the future to come.