Re: Greta Thunberg - Time Person of the Year
Originally Posted by
OldGreyFox
->
Isn't it strange that the hole in the ozone layer, supposedly resulting from freon, occurred in the Southern hemisphere when the majority of the human population resides in the northern hemisphere?
Isn't it strange that CO2 blamed for being a greenhouse gas is actually heavier than air?
Isn't it strange that mankind occupy less than 2% of the earths surface and yet we can affect the climate?
The sun is, and always has been, responsible for determining the Earth's climate, if anyone tells you anything different it's because their job or research grant depend on it and the media (especially the BBC) are frightening people to death. Literally.
Not strange in the least. None of it. Antarctica is colder than the Arctic because the ice and snow reflect sunlight back into space and it was that cold that dragged Freon and other fluorocarbon gasses that formed the hole.
As for the sun, it's the greenhouse gasses that are causing the the energy from the sun to be trapped. The clue is in the word greenhouse.
BUT -- it's not only burning fossil fuels that is screwing things up. In addition to exotic gasses we are still producing there's also other captured carbon being released especially methane which had been stable as methane hydrate that is being gasified as a result of climbing sea temperature and methane is a bugger when it comes to greenhouse gasses.
Another confusing (for some) factor is the elevating sea temperature. Because of new convection currents resulting in zones of sea water temperature change that cause very cold deep water to rise and so affect surface temperature changes this is slowing but not changing the elevating global temperature.
Then factor in the melting ice that is taking place. When a liquid or gas or solid material changes from solid - liquid - gas phase which most things do what is called the latent heat of change of state comes into play.
In the case of water ice that means that a change from ice to water absorbs 80 calories of heat for every gramme of material. That means that while the global ice burden is melting there will be a hiccup in the curve showing climate change.
The bottom line is that anthropogenic global warming is an absolute certainty and it's gonna get worse but there are things that can be done, the first being to get people to realise that it is real, it is man made, and it's en route to being catastrophic.