Your opinion: Is global warming/climate change a problem, like environmentalists say

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youngsterat16

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I’m doing an argumentative research paper on the topic, and I just wanted to see what people thought of it. I don’t really want to give my stance, I just want to see what people thought.

If you could, would you explain why you do or do not think it is a problem? I won’t try to debate, but others may. If we could keep this as a friendly debate, I’d appreciate it.

God bless
 
The problem I have with it is that the ‘man made climate change’ is being used as a means for some people/groups to accumulate power. And not in a good way. The movement now has nothing to do with environmentalism but everything to do with control, wealth and power.
 
Essentially yes. There are serious environmental problems. I came to this opinion by reading/ discussing with several people I found informed on the topic. I’m no expert though. Essentially the moment temperatures change a bit, or populations of a certain animal change a bit or we get more acidic rain then this causes more and more deaths through that ecosystem until eventually, we get to a point where resources are scarce and other bad stuff happens due to that as well. I think that the church does teach some things about it.

http://www.thepapalvisit.org.uk/The...s-the-Church-s-teaching-about-the-environment

Anyhow the point is that yes the effects are real. They’ll probably be more serious in the long term. Our carbon footprint affects the acidity of rain which affects the ph of the seas and soil which has an effect on our crops. You can also see the effects of pollution in big cities in South-East Asia and it ain’t very nice. Also you get a ton of creatures that adapt in weird ways. There seem to be these bugs that chew cables and are a fire hazard in certain parts of the world and many efforts have been taken to limit their population. Nevermind the effect the change of certain percentages of gases can have on winds, the existence of water (we could get some droughts). You can’t really think too much about this stuff because you will soon realize everything hurts the environment in some way. You can only try to minimize your effect by taking reasonable steps. I don’t know about anybody else but I plan on having kids and hopefully grandkids. As such I want to leave a world for them in which the air is breathable and forests exist. I do agree that some environmentalist groups are politically influenced though and it is hard to say how much is politics and how much is fact+ some of them are way to liberal and hippy in attitude. But all of that is really just my opinion and I’m not super staunch on it.
 
I am generally skeptical of what is put forth by politicians or articles of the internet. I don’t have the time or inclination to put into becoming as well versed in the topic as I think I would need to be in order to have an informed opinion.

That said, being a good steward of natural resources is not a bad thing. It generally requires being conscientious of how our actions impact others, and it also generally requires not being a hedonistic, materialistic consumer of goods. That’s not a bad thing when you’re striving for holiness.

So, no, I don’t necessarily subscribe to the alarms that some are ringing to sound the death knell for humanity. But limiting what we consume is a good thing to do anyway.
 
climate changes, it has since the world was created.

unfortunately the data is politically driven by both sides

can we do anything about it? do we need to?

climate will not change God’s plan; but will he use it to accomplish his plans?

time will tell
 
i don;t buy the man made climate change agenda being out forth by the left. these people oversold the effects of air pollution and water pollution and they are overselling this. We weren’t supposed to be here anymore if you listen to their earlier nonsense. If it gets 1 degree warmer over the next 100 years, that means there will be a handful of days that people will be wearing short sleeves instead of long sleeves- so what.
 
I’d agree with some of the posters. We need to be good stewards of what God has given us. However, the whole subject, like tooooo many things today has become agenda driven on all sides. So much so that it is quite impossible to sift between the wheat and the weeds.

So here’s maybe a bit different take…
My brother, before he passed away was a priest. We used to talk about a lot of things… overpopulation, the secularization of society, the environment. I was much younger then, but the same stuff we talk about today was of concern back then.

Take population. We hear people speaking of gloom that we would run out of room by the 80s and kill things off. Didn’t happen, you might note. Then it was 2000. Didn’t happen. But his point was interesting: allow God to handle it. And He has, and He is, and He will.

Same with climate change. Why do we feel WE are the masters? Yes, we HAVE to be good stewards. God commands us to do that. But, no one made us masters of the universe. That’s both prideful and arrogant.

So to answer your question. Is climate change a problem? Who knows? It’s our job to be responsible. It’s similarly our job to allow God to do His will, not ours. Draconian measures does not seem to be aligned with God’s will. I kinda equate that to the servant who buried the money, and we all know how that worked out.

Maybe just something to think sbout.

Blessings,
Stephie
 
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The climate does, indeed, appear to be changing. I’ve seen photos of the area I now live in that were taken in the 1930’s and 1940’s. The amount of snow in winter was really impressive. Winters have generally become a shadow of what they once were.
 
Seeks

People then and now are more likely to take pictures when there’s a lot of snow on the ground. It makes a good photo.
I don;t know what area you are referring to here but my area (the Philly area) we get very little snow most of last winter . The one large snowfall we got was at the very end of the season. The previous 2 winters we had a good half dozen decent storms each season and that is the point- it’s never consistent.
this past summer was very mild for us with not a lot of 90 plus degree days but you can’t base it all on one season. On average, the temps are very little different than many years ago.
 
I think it is a problem for one small reason. We are very heavily invested in the current climate. Additionally, as long as people don’t get over zealous there are other benefits in the form of resource efficiency.
kcooper said:
i don;t buy the man made climate change agenda being out forth by the left. these people oversold the effects of air pollution and water pollution and they are overselling this.
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Did they really? I live near Los Angeles and back in the 80s and 90s we had many smog alerts where we couldn’t play outside l, those with asthma had a hard time and you could see the smog everywhere. Even today, contractors from out of state say it takes a few days to adjust to our air.

As for water … nearly each time it rains out here they close the beaches due to water quality issues. Smart people literally wait 3 days before going near the ocean.
StephieNorthCo said:
Take population. We hear people speaking of gloom that we would run out of room by the 80s and kill things off. Didn’t happen, you might note. Then it was 2000. Didn’t happen. But his point was interesting: allow God to handle it. And He has, and He is, and He will.
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You know why we didn’t run out of food? We learned to make plants eat oil. But beyond food more people means less space for other creatures. The grassland, forest, or desert that became a new suburb wasn’t empty.
 
Why wouldn’t it be a problem?

Manmade climate change affects first and foremost the poor & vulnerable of the planet. The Church has spoken about this more than once. There is a moral obligation of world governments to manage it.

The “vulnerable” includes:

The unborn
The elderly
The materially poor
Prisoners
Migrants (aliens)
The sick
Marginalized groups

These are all groups of people that are more easily targeted, treated like objects, & abused by mainstream society for the sake of convenience, and have been since the beginning. Poor countries in equatorial regions will probably suffer the most severe hardships in adapting.
 
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TK421 said:
Poor countries in equatorial regions will probably suffer the most severe hardships in adapting.
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How you figure? Along the equator, temps of 115 and 120 are common. So due to global warming, it becomes temps of 116 and 121. It doesn;t really change much. It was HOT before and if it is slightly hotter, what is the difference?
I don’t mean to downplay the plight of the poor but the reasons for their troubles is not global warming. I would think things like corrupt govts, lack of jobs, , lousy economies would top their lists not being 1 degree hotter.
 
@kcooper

If you feel comfortable before the judgement seat of God with that argument, then you can try using it to Him. “Well God, I would think things like corrupt govts, lack of jobs, lousy economies would top their lists…”

I wouldn’t.

I realize macro-scale issues such as global warming aren’t something that involve private citizens in a very direct way. This is true. We are more immediately involved with little sacrifices and little acts of love in our daily life, and rightly so.
Nonetheless, forming our consciences on a variety of issues all contribute towards an informed society, and one that has concern for those among us who are most vulnerable, and in a comprehensive way.

You are, I am sure, a reasonably intelligent person and I imagine you know how to find information. Even seemingly small temperature differences are sufficient to have severe consequences.

I would also recommend reading the Holy Father’s encyclical on the subject, which addresses the issue with a strong concern for the poor and the vulnerable (i.e. the moral dimension to climate change). As pontiff of the Universal Church, it is not unprecedented to address macro-scale subjects for his bishops to read.
 
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Krazier: Los Angeles, the place where people don’t trust air they can’t see 🙂 I have asthma too, and you don’t see me living in LA 🙂

Cooper: I live in a rather rural area. If you go about 30 miles East, you can, depending on wind direction, see the streams of air pollution from power plants on the Canadian side of the border. If you go down along the Missouri River, you can see the same from “clean coal” plants.

Also, on the subject of killing things off… slash and burn in the rain forests kills off species in a very frequent basis. When they take several sections of land for a new development out here, that land isn’t ever going to raise significant quantities of food again. Simply stated, human population expansion does crowd out other things.

TK: I’m not sure that I’d include all prisoners in the “vulnerable” category. Have put away a few murderers that I don’t think are “vulnerable,” the same for sex offenders, etc.
 
yep I’m comfortable with my position.
Rather than wasting money trying to correct what we can’;t correct, I think the money would be much better spent addressing things that are the causes of the extreme poverty that plagues many. There’s nothing “moral” about wasting money on FOOLISHNESS.
I stand by what I said.
 
What is some of your evidence that supports your position? just even reasoning, no necessary citation. (although that would help).

e.g. I’ve heard that carbon emissions today are lower than in the past.

e.g. I’ve also heard that while they have risen towards the beginning of Earth, they’ve lowered as Earth became more… stable I guess you could say. There is a pattern as Earth became more stables on the rise of CO2 concentrations, but they have never extended a point like they have today.

Thanks, God Bless
 
Are you talking about being in another Ice Age? If so, they were looking at patterns and basing that on what the future could be. The heating earth, some part due to the increasing CO2 levels, prevented the earth from going into a global cooling, which for us is a positive outcome.

An increase in one degree may not seem to be a huge issue, and it isn’t if it was more gradual. But the rate it is increasing can be harmful, since it doesn’t allow time for species and ecosystems to evolve. For some countries, like those in desert Asia and Africa, temperatures are already extremely warm, and an increase in temperature will induce that heat. It may be one degree warmer now, but a few degrees within the next century could be problematic.

just looking into another point anyways.
 
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We were within 2 degrees of a record cold last night. Last 2 days the highs have been barely above freezing and had to get out the winter coat. “warming” like this is not warming.
We’ve always had a variance in temps - some winters are worse than others and some summers are quite bit hotter than others. We adapt and deal with it. My point is that NOTHING we are doing or can do can change that. Throwing a lot of money at it will not change it.
 
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