I believe in

Chatterbox: Down to Earth

I believe in

I believe in global warming. Does anyone else out there? Just listening to adults talk about winters that came before is proof enough. Last year was FANTASTIC but this year has fallen short. Since 1979, the size of the summer polar ice cap has shrunk almost 20 percent. I think that since kids will be the ones to inherit this planet, we should learn as much as we can, and start taking action now. 

submitted by Emma D., age 11, Montana
(January 3, 2012 - 9:14 pm)

back to the Down to Earth

Aaaaaaaaand, for the opposition, I don't beleive in Global Warming. I think that just because the temperature of the earth fluctuates naturally does not mean that there is anything out of the ordinary. I think that Global Warming comes out of political propaganda trying to scare people into doing what they want. I think it's over-publicized and there's very little scientific evidence for it. I doubt you meant to turn this into a debate, but there is another side to it, after all...

submitted by Emily L., age 16, WA
(January 4, 2012 - 12:27 am)

I believe in global warming. I live in CANADA and we had a GREEN Christmas. And there's NO SNOW IN JANUARY!

submitted by Olive
(January 6, 2012 - 7:39 pm)

I don't like the word 'believe' here, but personally, I do find that there is sufficient evidence to support that theory. The previous decade was the hottest, on average, since we started keeping records of it in the 1800s. Even if it is completely natural--which I really doubt--its effects will be disastrous, and while its being natural would make it much more likely to continue for long, that's not really a risk we can take. Ask anyone who lives on one of the islands that will be flooded and covered by rising sea levels in decades (if the theory is correct) whether they think it's important that we do something about this. Even if we're not causing the global changes--which, again, I find extremely unlikely--we're the only ones who can stop it.

submitted by Ima
(January 7, 2012 - 12:27 am)

How do you stop it if it's natural?

submitted by Emily L., age 16
(January 8, 2012 - 12:07 am)

Probably the same way as if it's unnatural. Even if the activities most people say contribute to global warming aren't a major cause of it, unless you think that not only are we not doing those things enough to cause it, there's something inherently wrong with the greenhouse effect theory that makes it impossible on principle (in which case I'd really like to know just what that flaw is), slowing down these activities will have at least some effect on the degree of the problem.

submitted by Ima
(January 9, 2012 - 7:12 pm)

Well, I'm not aware of any scientific flaws with the idea of greenhouse effect. (but I haven't researched it much.)
But I just think that humans aren't releasing nearly enough Carbon Dioxide by artificial means to have any impact on the environment. I know you can give me huge numbers in metric tons, but the truth is I think that the overall atmosphere is so vast that it would be like a drop of water in... well, not the ocean, but maybe a swimming pool. In other words, no effect.

Not that I  don't think pollution is real. I'm not for smog in cities or dumping trash into rivers. I just think Global warming is a non-issue.
For that matter, I think the warming of the earth has already stopped, and we are headed into a cold period. That's what the scientists predict, anyway, at least when they're focusing on actual weather predictions and not trying to please the politicians.

submitted by Emily L., age 16, WA
(January 11, 2012 - 10:09 pm)