thelittletruck
Well-Known Member
Global Warming is a completely natural phenomenon. On Earth, greenhouse gases have kept the planet a good deal warmer than it would have been w/o. Global Warming is cyclic. When there is too much C02 in the atmosphere, it gets warmer and more H20 becomes gaseous and sits as water vapor in the atmosphere. H20 is also a greenhouse gas (as water vapor). As a result of higher temperatures, there is more rainfall and precipitation (weathering) which in turn pulls C02 (and H20) out of the atmosphere and deposits it back on the surface in rocks (such as limestone) which then locks the carbon on the surface. As more C02 is removed from the atmosphere, it becomes cooler. When it is cooler, there is much less precipitation because there is much less H20 in the atmosphere and the C02 in the atmosphere does not get removed. However, carbon that is locked in limestone and rocks is continually recycled into the atmosphere by volcanic activity. So after a while, carbon builds up in the atmosphere once again and it becomes warmer, which then triggers more precipitation and so on and so forth. This is the basis for Earth's Ice Ages and cyclic periods of global warming.
In the beginning of our Solar System, the Sun was 20-30% dimmer than it is today due to the physics of a star's combustion. Greenhouse gases are what kept the Earth warm enough for life to develop. Plate tectonics are also an important factor in Global Warming, without which carbon would not be re-introduced to the atmosphere.
Greenhouse gases have been with the earth since the beginning of its atmosphere. However, as the Sun continues to get brighter, Earth will get hotter, which will eventually disrupt the cycle enough to create a runaway greenhouse gas problem (estimated around 1 billion years from now). This is the real Global Warming issue.
Venus is a perfect example of a planet with a runaway greenhouse gas problem. Venus
is quite similar to the Earth and is considered Earth's twin. However, Venus has no way of keeping its carbon in balance and as a result has a huge gaseous atmosphere at temperatures high enough to melt lead.
It is safe to say that humans are directly responsible for the huge increase in atmospheric CO2 and other greenhouse gases in our atmosphere today. This can't be good. Push the cycle far enough out of balance and we will end up with our own runaway greenhouse gas problem and end up like Venus. Nobody wants that.
Just my two bits.
Sorry if this doesn't make sense, I'm still learning.
In the beginning of our Solar System, the Sun was 20-30% dimmer than it is today due to the physics of a star's combustion. Greenhouse gases are what kept the Earth warm enough for life to develop. Plate tectonics are also an important factor in Global Warming, without which carbon would not be re-introduced to the atmosphere.
Greenhouse gases have been with the earth since the beginning of its atmosphere. However, as the Sun continues to get brighter, Earth will get hotter, which will eventually disrupt the cycle enough to create a runaway greenhouse gas problem (estimated around 1 billion years from now). This is the real Global Warming issue.
Venus is a perfect example of a planet with a runaway greenhouse gas problem. Venus
is quite similar to the Earth and is considered Earth's twin. However, Venus has no way of keeping its carbon in balance and as a result has a huge gaseous atmosphere at temperatures high enough to melt lead.
It is safe to say that humans are directly responsible for the huge increase in atmospheric CO2 and other greenhouse gases in our atmosphere today. This can't be good. Push the cycle far enough out of balance and we will end up with our own runaway greenhouse gas problem and end up like Venus. Nobody wants that.
Just my two bits.
Sorry if this doesn't make sense, I'm still learning.
