The Lincolnshire Bird Club

Global warming, green listing, carbon neutral cars, the list is endless. But what really is happening to our world? These so-called 'greenhouse gases', are they really as much of a contributor as we think? Obviously, there is more carbon dioxide in the air than 300 years ago; that is true, due to less being in solid state in the rocks, e.g. coal. But is carbon dioxide all to blame? No, methane traps even more of the Sun's rays as it tries to exit the atmosphere. Water vapour is a greenhouse gas as well.

But lets look beyond our planet. The Sun is cooling due to less hydrogen being available for nuclear fusion, and therefore the forces pushing in on the Sun is weakening, expanding the Sun's diameter. So even though the Sun is cooling down, we shall receive more of the Sun's radiation.

So lets return to our original topic, 'greenhouse' gases. Water vapour, methane, carbon dioxide and even a few of the inert gases, also known as noble gases, are 'greenhouse' gases. But how much of an effect are they having trapping the Sun's energy; and how much of the 'greenhouse' gases were here before hand? Carbon dioxide was certainly here, because that is how plants came to be on the planet. Then when the air was polluted with oxygen as a bi product of photosynthesis, only then did animals start to roam the earth.

Just after the Eocene era had started, 56.5 million years ago, global temperatures were above 28 degrees. Now, it is around 12 degrees.

Now, your chance to have your say, vote in my poll...

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Alastair Carr

Where there is a will, there is a way....

Sorry Alastair, slightly too complicated for my simple brain!

Everything on the planet will be affected by global warming. But is there anything else we can do?

Has the world been increasing in it's average temperature over the years, and how much, if any, have we contributed to it?

Vote in my poll...

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Alastair Carr

Where there is a will, there is a way....

There wasn't much interest in this thread the last time it was aired.
The latest theories now seem to say we are going into a mini ice age,the good news is it should only last 50-100 years.
It's all to do with sunspots,we normally have an 11 year cycle but the cycle has stopped and it's now 13.5 years and no new cycle.We had a Maunder minimum about 1645 which caused a mini ice age.
For information see,
http://www.solarcycle24.com
check out the message boards.
Looks like we'll be losing the Little Egrets,Cetti's and Dartford Warblers.
Doh! I was looking forward to global warming.

Never mind! We'll get more Snowy Owls in the meantime then!

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Alastair Carr

Where there is a will, there is a way....

Has the mini ice age already started? Just got back to Lincs and have'nt seen a Little Egret yet where as in November there was dozens. In the midlands Cetti's Warbler seem to be down and I hardly saw any Chiffchaffs during the winter.

Global Warming cannot be judged on one observation alone. Yes, there are some observations which seem to suggest the opposite, but there is a moderate, if not overwelming evidence thatGlobal Warming is happening to some extent.

[quote:"Prince Charles"]
We have less than ine hundred months before we the point of no return...
[/quote]

Or atleast, not while we humans roam the Earth, I think as to that statement/opinion.

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Alastair Carr

Where there is a will, there is a way....

We have now had four winters where each year the winters are getting harsher. This December so far has been the coldest since 1772. The sunspots did increase slightly this year,but at the moment the sun is completely blank,solar wind is slow and the jet stream is messed up.
I hope the Cetti's,Dartford Warblers,Little Egrets etc. can hold on for another winter.

There was an interesting article in the Independant on Xmas Eve discussing a theory that climate change will cause a threefold increase in severe winters in Northern europe for the next 50 years until overheating goes to a new level.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/scien ... 68418.html

The basic premise is that declining sea ice causes more heat to be released from the Arctic Ocean (which is much warmer than Arctic air) which causes the cold air mass movements we are experiencing. Overall though the planet is still warming up.

You could also look at this
http://stevengoddard.wordpress.com/2010 ... s-to-grow/