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Thread: Climate change: Anthropogenic (human activity) or natural course of events?

  1. #11
    Join Date
    27th Dec 2007
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    Both natural and man-made climate change are real things. They are not mutually exclusive. Natural green house gases do exist through things like evaporation and organisms releasing carbon dioxide and methane. However, human activity have significantly added to this to the point that is far above natural levels.

    Just because natural climate change also exists doesn't mean that man-made climate change doesn't exist! As a kid in the 80s I remember feeling hot wind being a real rarity. I remember the first time I ever felt a hot breeze. I was out on the back porch playing with Robotech toys and a hot breeze hit me. I freaked out! I never knew that wind could be warm! Visiting countries like Malaysia and Singapore freaked me out too because I never knew that you could have entire days that could be so impossibly hot and humid. Nowadays it's not uncommon to experience these forms of tropical climates in Sydney in summer or even in late Spring or early Autumn! What was an uncommon thing in my childhood has become commonplace now in only a span of about 3 decades.

    I lived in Japan in 1997 and I remember the monsoonal rainy season hitting in June. It was crazy. I was in Japan in late September in 2016 and experienced monsoonal rain! I turned to my tour guide and asked him why this weather was happening so late in the year and he replied 温暖化 (climate change). Japanese weather is usually pretty punctual but in less than 20 years I witnessed a major shift in their rainy season.

    If people want to disprove climate change or the roundness of the Earth or gravity etc., then burden of proof applies. When you want to prove a widely accepted fact as being untrue then it's up to you to provide sufficient evidence to support your views. It is not the responsibility of others to prove you wrong - when your views are contrary to commonly accepted truths then they are essentially wrong by default.

    The Ancient Greeks knew that the Earth was round. They also proved it. It was a given in Greek and Roman societies that the Earth was round. To suggest otherwise would make you look like what we describe in Latin as an "idiota."

  2. #12
    Join Date
    13th Nov 2008
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    I think the best answer to how we should respond to climate change was given by my first year geology lecturers.

    As a geoscientist, he looks at the planet in its long time scales. There are natural heating and cooling events that have happened in the history of the planet that occurred long before humanity and will continue long after. In the epoch timescale, humanity lives in a warming ice age. HOWEVER - if humanity's actions are accelerating that warmth such that we accelerate our own demise, then we have a responsibility to do something about it. However as any measure will undoubtedly have a long lead-in and grandfathering allowances, we won't know truly the impact for decades. In that case it is better take action now, and be found to have not needed it all then take no action and be in further trouble. In many cases, the climate change solutions have many other benefits like clean energy and a reduction in pollution.
    Last edited by Seraphim Prime; 10th April 2018 at 11:56 AM.

  3. #13
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    28th Feb 2009
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    Quote Originally Posted by Galvatran View Post
    And digressing, we've been told the Earth is round. Having seen footage today of Conor McGregor, I'm convinced the Earth is not round but actually an octagon.
    I knew it, we're living in a simulation of a AD&D campaign!

  4. #14
    Join Date
    20th Apr 2017
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    Wollongong
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    Quote Originally Posted by Galvatran View Post
    Having seen footage today of Conor McGregor, I'm convinced the Earth is not round but actually an octagon.
    I believe it is more like a soccer ball, with a mesh of pentagons and hexagons and decepticons and the horns of unicron aRE EMERGING FROM THE GROUND OMG YOU GUYS

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