GLOBAL WARMING DEBATE

Hi from England. I am now 48 years old, and I have seen the British climate change drastically since I grew up in the '70s. When I was a teenager, me and my mates had two main hobbies, both outdoor. One was fishing, and the other was "bottling" (collecting antique bottles from old dumps, rivers etc). It used to rain ALL THE TIME!! It rained so often, it was a curse. Nowadays, we wait and wait for rain, and it does not come. Here we are in April, halfway through a traditionally wet month for Britain, and we have had no rain whatsoever for nearly a month. The temperature today is 25C, which for mid-April is exceptional. I am a strong environmentalist, but I am very pessimistic about the future. The population of Britain is 60 million, but the membership of Greenpeace in Britain is approx. 180,000. That's only 1 in every 333 people! Well where are the other 332, that's what I'd like to know. We only have one planet, but most people don't give a monkey's about the environment. (British expression). Personally I am a member of Greenpeace, but if most people do not care, why should I bother? My membership is going to lapse in August, and I will not be rejoining until the Brit membership is at least 500,000. GREENPEACE HAS FAILED US! Membership of other Green organizations is even lower. Friends of the Earth membership was around 140,000, last I heard. The Green Party is a political party here in Britain, but achieved only 1.3% of the vote at the last general election. And yes, I did vote for them. I THINK WE ARE ALL DOOMED!! THERE'S NOTHING YOU CAN DO!! I had a friend called Graham, and he used to say, even if it was true, there was no point in doing anything, because there's nothing you can do about it anyway. I used to argue with him, but I now wonder if in fact he is right. I am now off to water my trees, since we have had no rain for a month. Not that doing that will make one jot of difference....

The fact is,there has been a warming trend.This is not surprising,nor alarming.Earth has shifted and evolved many times in its history.To believe,hope,or expect that the present global topography is static,is asinine.There was the Ice Age.There have been numerous catastrophic,volcanos,earthquakes,and other natural phenomwna,that eclipse anything man can do.The UK was once joined to Europe.Siberiaa and Alaska were once contiguous.Don't forget,that the scientific consensus,as recently as the 70's,was that a new ice age was approaching.Remember that Al Gore,yhe inventer of the internet,has the same scientific credentials and bona fides as does your local mail carrier.If Al Gump is a geologist,I'm a burmese blacksmith.

two things -- first the anecdotal evidence (ie It was warm in Britian today) is not worth a whole lot. At the same time that Britian was running well above average parts of the US have been suffering through the second coldest April in history. Snow in Nashville in Mid-April. Record lows being broken in some places by almost 10 F.

Secondly, I agree that we are going through a natural climate change. Many scientists still think that we are pulling out of a miniature ice age that struck between 1500 and 1900. And there is evidence that shows that the climate of 1000 years ago may have been much warmer than it is today. The vikings set up farming colonies in southern Greenland, something that would be impossible today. I do believe that the earth is warming right now, and I think that humans are definately not helping matters, but I don't believe that some kind of appocalypse is coming.

BTW, Appocoluptic Predictions like this are nothing new. in the 1700's it was widely held that if the earth's population topped 900 million, the planet could not sustain it. Now the earth is sustaining nearly 7 billion people with very little problem. It was predicted that we would run out of oil in the 1930's. Nearly a century later we still have plenty of oil, and are developing new technologies that will help us tap new reserves. I do believe that it is time that humans began trying to clean up our act, but I think these appocalyptic predictions have been taken way too far.

are you the biggest dumb a s s i have ever met or maybe so ignorant you are blind. Global warming isn't based on a couple HOT days during the summer it is annual average temperatures and atmospheric temperature globally this is no guessing game. if look at on paer you will see it is biggest temperature spike in the history of this planet. Secondly that little cold snap an record low temperatures is also caused by global warming it is canadian air. It is simple the ice melts so rapidly in the summer that when it freezes in the winter it make a gust of col air hence you have candain air

Boneheadboy,You have really cleared tis issue for us.Your explanation,reduced to its lowest common denominater,is that cold weather proves global warming.Of course,hot weather also proves it.Heads,I win.Tails,you lose.