Richard

I've known for a long time now thanks, mostly to multinational oil companies and countries whose economies are based on heavy-industry, that we are the worst kind of caretakers for Planet Earth, but always thought "Ah well, boys with money will be boys with money!".. I've looked at the documentaries, read the literature, always while sitting in a dentist's waiting room or when absolutely desperate for something to look at on cable and HBO etc were showing stuff I'd seen before.. but within recent times I've been reading newscasts on my show about the worst drought to hit Australia in over a hundred years, and much the same is happening here in my part of the world.. we in the Caribbean are accustomed to heat, but last Saturday when Buzz and I hit the beach(for the first time in quite a while) the white sand we were walking in was hot to the point of being painfull!!.. coming from a volcanic island (Montserrat) I'm aware of how hot black sand can get in the sun, but white sand?!
Anyway, since the heatwave we're going through started, we've lost our Crayfish, an albino Cory and several perfectly healthy fry.. unfortunately, only the master bedroom in our apartment has a/c, so I have no way of cooling down the tanks in my living-room, and tossing in ice-cubes is not much of an option since controlling the temperature would require someone being home on vacation, and with the jobs we both do that's simply not possible right now.
Global warming is no longer a boogie monster hiding under our bed folks, it's here and now.. and extremely scary now that some of us are seeing that boogie monster up close and personal for the first time.

Jim

I don't believe it... yes, the planet is experiencing a slight warming... because the environment is CYCLIC!!!! It's NEVER constant, not in the billions of years it's been around. The funny part here in the states is that Al Gore is flying around screaming Global Warming while we're trapped in coldest WINTER in almost 100 years!

sgould

I don't think anyone is arguing that the climate is not cyclical. The argument is that man's influence has so drastically accelerated the cycle that many species of plants and animals are simply not able to adapt quickly enough to the change to survive. Sure would be a shame to wake up one morning and find out that we were one of those that couldn't adapt, either in our own right or due to losing other species that we depend on. Be an even bigger shame if we could have done something to stop it but didn't because we were too stubborn to admit there was a problem until it was too late.

Anyhow, I'm done with this one...fish, and fishlore by extention, are my recreation and relaxation, but topics like this can seriously raise my blood pressure!

COBettaCouple

I do think it's maybe 100,000 or 200,000 years early to think we've figured out the weather patterns of the solar system (we can't accurately predict the next day's weather most of the time) and how often the planet warms up and cools down. I think the pattern of our orbit of the sun takes at least 80,000 years to complete. Denver, CO had a very cold winter with a lot of snow as did the NE US and our part of Florida had a cold winter (for us anyways. ). The greed of the big companies and governments keep us primitive in our fuel sources as we should have advanced past nuclear fission by now, but hardly use it in the US - stuck on old fossil fuels like oil.

What type of lights are in your aquariums - you might shave a few degrees off the water temp there, or do you not run the lights now because of the heat? What about some of those little high-force fans blowing on the tanks? or a window a/c unit or a window high-force fans unit? would any of those options work in the living room? an aquarium chiller would be an option, but an expensive one.

SHPEPoser

You know this is funny. I just recently went to a talk on global warming at my college. I don't think it exists. Yes there is more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere than there was 100 yrs ago. But you know it's generally colder. We are having more severe colder winters and summers, going through more droughts. But what most people don't know is that most statistics are based on a 60 yr cycle. But if you look at the levels for a lot longer you will notice patterns. Now these patterns are more severe now than in the past because we are producing more carbon dioxide and we have a hole in the ozone. But another thing most people dont know is that this hole in the ozone can be fixed. We have the technology to fix it. It's just no one wants to. To much politics involded. Who pays for it? Who supplies the goods? Who goes up and repairs it?

Luniyn

I can see it now... Headlines read "US/Europe/China/Russia launch a joint effort to repair the Ozone layer" next to a picture of an astronaut floating in space with a role of duct tape.

COBettaCouple

LOL.. that sounds like a plan. But if it's a government effort, you'll see 20 astronauts floating there watching the 1 taping. And I'm guessing Microsoft will cover the patch in advertising for their products. :

Gwenz

The holes in the ozone layer are closing though, so we must be doing something right!

I had to do my Welsh GCSE aural exam on Friday in a group of 3 and we had to talk for 20mins non-stop about global warming and we came up with some good things. We all agreed that global warming and stuff like the ice age goes round in a cycle by itself, naturaly, but we are just speeding it up by releasing Co2 and CFC's etc.

Ok maybe some people don't beleive it is so bad but lately it has been boiling here in the UK and it's not even summer yet, and apparently its been hotter here lately than in Spain etc.!! + I beleive that global warming contributes to lot warmer summers and much colder winters. this year we had the highest levels of snow recorded in ages and also we are meant to have the hottest summer EVER recorded!!

I beleive in it, but i reckon we can do a lot to stop it.

Gwenz

SHPEPoser

Well if you think of Global Warming as a cycle then yes I believe in it. But a lot of people think it's a permanent thing. Like I said before it's a cycle and yes we are speeding it up. There has been a lot of things done inorder to reduce pollution and a lot of companies are trying to cover their butts by planting trees and all to help with the Carbon Dioxide reduction in the atmosphere. I go to an Engineering school that tries to push ethics into the lives of the students. It doesn't work so much unless your're into environmental engineering. But we are required to learn this info. It's interesting to know how these things work. But once we get the CO2 production down or increase the Oxygen in the atmosphere things will be a lot different. Also I don't know if you've heard this but.... There's been gossip the past few years of the government trying to control the weather. This may be something that's happening and we just dont know it.

Jim

DUCT TAPE!!!!!!!!!!!! YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!

sirdarksol

You could always get an aquarium chiller. Of course, they cost about as much as an AC unit costs, so you might as well cool your home off, too. Another option would be to set up airflow across the top of the tank (only works if you don't have jumpers, because you need the tank open for this to work). The airflow causes water to evaporate, cooling the tank. However, this means you have to add water more often, and do more water changes (to take out the extra minerals that don't evaporate with the water)

Something to think about is that any time in the past that climate changes have happened at a rate they are happening now, those changes were due directly to some form of planetary disaster on an immense scale (large meteor, volcano erupting, etc...) Fast climate changes just don't happen naturally. They are slower, and allow more time for species to move or adapt.

Let's look at something most of us understand at least a little about, coral reefs.
The corals we know today first appeared about 220 million years ago, before the age of the dinosaurs. The first true coral reefs began to appear about 205 million to 210 million years ago. Since this time there have been several periods of major reef-building, but also periods when corals declined and did not build reefs.

In all, shallow coral reefs occupy only about 284,000 sq km (110,000 sq mi), or less than one-tenth of 1 percent (0.1 percent) of the world’s oceans. Yet in this tiny area, coral reefs house a quarter of all marine fish species. Reefs are highly productive resources for human beings. Hundreds of millions of people live within easy reach of coral reefs and rely on them to provide food. Coral reefs also help protect human settlements from large waves during storms.


This time around, there is not a decline in coral reefs, they are dying. In some cases, this death is due to change in water chemistry. However, several reefs are dying just because the water is changing temperature around them. There are scientists who predict that, unless we do something, the coral reefs will be gone. This means that a quarter of all marine fish species will lose their homes. The last time any change of this magnitude happened, it was the death of the dinosaurs.

One more thing to think about. If mankind doesn't have an impact on the global environment, explain why areas around cities experience drastic changes in weather (not just temperature, but precipitation as well.)

Jim

OK, I don't know if man is responsible to any real degree or not... I don't think we have the brain power to really accurately predict or truly understand the complexities of global weather patterns...
What ****es me off about it is (at least here in the states) the politicians taking advantage of it for their own personal agendas and gains. The most striking example being former VP Al Gore. He's going around the states telling everyone how we're destroying the planet unless we give up practically everything, but all the he's while consuming enough power for any 40 people. Then he has the GALL to say "well, I'm buying carbon offset credits, so it doesn't count". Truth is, he's STILL WASTING POWER while telling everyone else to cut back... The worst of it, he's using this issue as a platform to launch another attempt at running for president. Anyone think if he wins we'll hear another word about global warming?
Not likely!

Richard

What's happening to this planet's climate is way bigger than any political/economic agenda the Al Gores and Enrons of the day may have.. I love the creature comforts like most everybody else, but within the last several years I've noticed it's getting hotter and hotter in this part of the world, and the heatwaves and extremely cold winters are becoming more frequent in North-America and Europe.. I'm no scientist, so climatic cycles etc. whizz right over my head, all I know is it's hotter than ever here in the Caribbean, our reservoirs are drying up and while my feet are getting burnt in white sand on our beaches( which has never happened in the past), several of my fish have died!!
Simple maths folks, something's wrong with our weather!.. and I do mean all of us wherever we may be on the planet.

Eskielvr

Global warming has been around since the Earth has been here! It cycles. You may have 10, 20, 40 years of "normal" weather and then the temps rise for another several years and then it goes back. "Global warming" is just another season.....just as Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter. It's normal, it's natural, and what these "scientists" say that the ice caps will all melt, etc is a bunch of crud. If the so called Global warming was true, then how come on the Deadliest Catch they've lost more crab fishing grounds due to ice? It cut their fishing grounds back to almost 50% of where they can normally fish!

It's a cycle, it happens, it's natural. And as for the hole in the Ozone, it's been there for probably hundreds of years! Don't get too worked up about it. The only time this world will be destroyed is when God decides it's time. In the meantime, could you use some chillers in your tank similar to the kind the reef tanks use?

Jim

Eskielvr , I couldn't have said it better!

sirdarksol

Yes, it is a natural cycle. However, the speed with which it is happening is not. Normally, some major natural disaster, such as a meteor impact or a chain of erupting volcanoes, has been the herald of changes at the speed that they are happening.
I'm not even going to go into how global warming can lead to colder temps during the cold season. It's been said enough in plenty of media sources already.
Lastly, for those of us who believe in God, I would like to point out that He gave us wardship over the Earth. To say that He'll do what He will, and therefore we don't need to worry about caring for the world is a cop-out. If you don't believe in global warming, that's one thing. But purposefully ignoring Earth's pain because God will deal with it is something entirely different.

Jim

sirdarksol, I have to disagree with one thing... no wait, disagree isn't a good word... I question one thing you wrote... you said the speed at which the world is heating up isn't natural. I have to ask how anyone can accurately say that. Our planet is a couple billion years old. How can we say that the speed the earth is warming is natural or not when we've only been tracking global weather patterns for a few decades We as humans have no idea what's been happening for all those billions of years before we were here.
All I'm saying is I don't see how we could have enough data to say one way or another if humans are responsable or if this is just part of a big picture we're only seeing a very small part of.

COBettaCouple

I look at this global warming issue as pretty much a political thing. To say we have enough information to determine the speed at which the global weather climate changes is like middle-ages people saying the world was flat. Until recently, it wasn't even proposed that the orbit of the earth around the sun changes over an estimated 80,000-100,000 year cycle. The sun also has a life cycle that works on our weather. Then our solar system and galaxy are on the move and who can say what impact other stars have on our sun and on the earth as we go flying through the universe filled with stars bigger than our solar system along with so many other things that affect other stars.

I do think the human race pollutes more and wastes more than it should, but that too is a political thing - politicians being bought by oil companies keeping us in the dark ages of using gasoline as fuel. Does it really seem to make sense that we use the same basic fuel source as 100 years ago with how much change technology has brought along in that time? By now, we should be using a clean, cheap and readily available fuel source instead of oil. I belief God wants us to be taking good care of our home also, but hesitate to blame global warming on the human race or think we can understand something so complex as the cycle of global weather over ages, we still can't even predict tommorrow's weather precisely.