What is gonna stop global warming? And is there anything we can do to help?



Answers:
Global warming is actually something that happens naturally in the earth's climatic cycle. We are technicially in an interglacial period (between ice ages). These period historically have lasted around 10k years. According to some people, we're due for another any time. (And for the record, humans have survived ice ages before)

The 'Global Warming' concern is that human activity is accelerating this process through the intensificaiton of the greenhouse effect, wherein heavy atmospheric gasses trap heat instead of releasing it to space.

In the shorter term, people are afraid of climate change being accelerated, which could result is ecological disasters such as droughts and hurricanes that kill people, destroy cities, or would result in food shortages. People are also troubled by the prospect of environmental damage.

However, in light of the earth's ice age cycle, most of that stuff is going to happen anyway someday. So the idea at this point is not to aggravate the situation if we can avoid it. Now for your answer.

The only thing that will stop global warming, and in fact reverse it, is another ice age. The prevailing theory is thay they occur as a result of two factors: one, that plant activity over thousands of years reduces greenhouse gases (CO2) by storing it in the earth as peat and the precursers to pertroleum (biomatter). The second is that there is a trigger in the north atlantic that initiates glaciation of the northern hemisphere. In short, the gulf stream travels north to iceland and then turns south. This salty warm water heats coastal europe. The theory then is that if enough arctic ice melts it can drop the salinity of the north atlantic, causing the gulf stream to divert farther south. This would drop temps in the north atlantic from Greenland to England dramatically, triggering glacial accumulation across north america and northern europe. The ice then cools the planet as the surface is more reflective, resulting in yet more glaciation. The idea is then that salinity climbs, pushing warm water back up the atlantic, and the ice slowly melts into the next interglacial over several millenia.

Since we can't stop global warming, the only thing we can do is slow it down. Some people think we can do it through conservation, but the prevailing wisdom is that we should have a zero net increase in CO2 and other greenhouse gases. That is the purpose of the Kyoto Protocol, in which all nations agree to cap CO2 emissions and ultimately reduce them. Even this is not good enough, as we would need to cause a net decrease in co2 every year to really slow it down. Other crazy ideas include creating a huge sun shade in orbit to decrease solar gain, as well as building facilities to trap atmospheric CO2 and pump it into underground aquifers.

All those things are just pie in the sky at this point, since there is still not the consensus and political will to do promote serious change. There is really only one thing you can do to make a difference. Educate yourself about the subject, and spread the word so that someday this country and others will be motivated to do something about it.

conservation starts at home there has to be a comprimise leave a biological buffer filtration strip to cut down on the smog belching its excessive co2 and the colapsing of the environment arround you
Quit making more people, quit driving, quit using spray cans, quit breathing, etc, etc. To late, we will all die one day.
get a fan and start fanning to cool off the earth
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