Science a GoGo's Home Page Forums General Discussion Climate Change Forum Hey! Just a question about this stuff....

Alright so I'm just a High school student who is always been told "HUMANS ARE KILLING THE EARTH!!! ROAR!!!!! STOP USING YOUR CARRRRR!!!!", and I must say that it is irritating when they say these things but never tell me exactly why this is happening.

I mean, yeah we know about the greenhouse effect and such but really....it all seems out of place. Last semester, we were told to do some research on the Global warming theory. So I wanted a good grade and tried my hardest to do some good research.

Halfway through the paper I realized I thought that "Global Warming" could be being caused by something much more Earth related than human related. Wouldn't the decreasing strength in the Earth's Magnetic field cause the suns damaging (and by-golly they are HOT!) rays to easily get to the Earth, thus INCREASING THE TEMPERATURE?????

I don't know much, because heck, I'm in 11th grade. But I can't help but wonder if it?s the gases humans give off or if it?s the magnetic field that is causing this heat wave.

Let?s get some scientists opinions. What do you guys think?
Would the magnetic field?s natural decrease in strength be a good theory for this world wide heat wave?


~~~~~Ash, email me at 33poop33@earthlink.net It sounds like a stupid email? Hey, kill me...I'm in 11th grade.

Nothing happens in the universe that is not governed by the laws of physics and chemistry: Nothing.

And quite simply that means that if we, humans, introduce something into the environment it will affect the balance of physics and chemistry in some manner. Perhaps subtle, perhaps catastrophic, and perhaps just enough to tilt the balance of a carefully balanced ecosystem.

Given that you are a high school student and I am almost 60 and teach at a university let me give you a bit of advice: Take this seriously. Because after I am dead you will have somewhere around 45 years to regret the mess my generation irresponsibly made of the planet you are about to inherit.

Take seriously the affect of climate change on weather.
Take seriously the affect of warming oceans on seafood
Take seriously the affect of warming climates on diseases.
Take seriously the affect of toxins on species.
Take seriously the lack of water for crops and livestock and humans.

Better get used to the fact that my generation, and your parents generation, have been irresponsible stewards of this little ball pebble we call earth. It is small, it is irreplaceable during your lifetime at least. And yes cars, power plants, and many other things we have done have been a Faustian bargain creating a lifestyle that is unsupportable without leaving the rest of the planet in poverty. And the rest of the planet's inhabitants don't like that any more. So your lifestyle is going to change and the things you assume about your future are going to change.

And not one for the better if you don't become part of the solution.

There's not a darned thing you can do about the earth's magnetic field. But there is something you can do about global warming and toxic pollution. It is your planet. Act like it. Because some day you are going to be my age and you are going to remember what I wrote.

"Given that you are a high school student and I am almost 60 and teach at a university let me give you a bit of advice: Take this seriously. Because after I am dead you will have somewhere around 45 years to regret the mess my generation irresponsibly made of the planet you are about to inherit."

DA-This sums up so well how I feel! We certainly had fun didn't we!.. but we knew even then that there would be a price to pay. I reread The Silent Spring and the Doomsday Book (both pub: in the 70s) last year (way before I even knew about An Inconvenient Truth) and it seems so horribly prescient now. You see Ash, we are responsible for our behaviour which is ruining the environment of our planet to such an extent that it will force us to make enormous changes to the way we live. Meanwhile magnetic waves, droughts, weather events etc will still occur and would maybe have done so anyway. But now we are also exacerbating these things, and their effect is even more disastrous than it might have been. The certainty is that we are not there yet, things will change and we can try and make it less catastrophic or just push on denying the truth and fail to deal with the consequences.

Ellis wrote:

"The certainty is that we are not there yet, things will change and we can try and make it less catastrophic or just push on denying the truth and fail to deal with the consequences."

We will not have any option but to deal with the consequences. It may not be pleasant of course.

There is, I hope, a difference between attempting to deal with the consequences and suffering the consequences.

However I feel we may well do both.

Ellis wrote:

"However I feel we may well do both."

How true, how true.

You are both optimists. ;-)

I see in my country no will to do either.

I suppose economic power will delay the USA's having to deal with the consequences. But ultimately even it it will have to face them. Mind you a consequence may be that the population goes extinct.

Look at what happened when the predicted and inevitable happened in New Orleans. They wasted billions, did a lousy job both for the people and the city. And it is 100% predictable it will happen yet again.

<SARCASM>
But then of what value of the lives of people whose skin is darker than ours?
</SARCASM>

Thanks for the reviews guys.

Yeah, it really does show that I'm young and don't really understand what has happened in the past or what's happening right now.

DA--Oh believe me, I take this seriously and realize now that we (my generation) WILL have to pay for whatever is causing this. I just wondered if it had anything to do with the Magnetic Field.

Other than my petty theory, what can we really do about it? Is there really ANYTHING my generation can do to undo the damage done?

Only if human stupidity and selfishness and shortsightedness can be blamed on the earth's magnetic field.

Stop looking for excuses.

You country is to blame.
Your city is to blame.
Your family is to blame.
Your parents are to blame.
I am to blame too.

Stop looking for an excuse ... start doing something about the mess you are about to inherit.

Ash. My advice would be for you to join a local conservation group. You will then have a chance to become active, at least locally, and you are always more effective as part of a group. Individually you may not achieve much but the more people doing something the more will be achieved. As they say, "think global, act local."

Good idea, but also making personal change helps to not feel so doomed! Walk or cycle to nearby places, open a window instead of turning on airconditioning, put on a jumper instead of the heater! All small things but they are symtoms of how unthinkingly we overconsume energy.

Maybe Ash, it will be your generation that decides to be content with the idea that quality in their lives and not quantitiy of possessions is the most important aim.Hopefully by the time you are ready to build a house it will have to have recycled water and solar heating panels. Maybe you will use a non polluting car and, most important of all, you will have solved the problem of how to deal with the millions in the newly affluent Asian nations who want to live at least at the standard level that you and I do now.

Really we know what else we should be doing too, but we lack the will to achieve it- maybe your lot will be more involved...and I hope it won't be because you have to be.

Hi Ash,
I can see that you have a very sharp mind. I think you?re on the right track. The weakening magnetic field can explain most of today's problems...climate change, plate tectonics, rising sea levels, soaring cancer rates, stronger geomagnetic storms, Bermuda Triangle phenomena...the list goes on. I have been researching this for a couple of years now, and it does seem to have merit.

Keep up the good work, and think for yourself.
:-)

James Lovelock has a lot to say about the effects of human activities on the environment, and particularly climate. Has anyone read his book 'The Revenge of Gaia: Why Earth is fighting back'? If so, would you recommend it to people like Ash - or me for that matter?

There are aspects I would recommend and a few that make me shudder. But, in combination with other sources, I'd say it is worth the read.

Read the reviews:
http://www.amazon.com/Revenge-Gaia-Earth...TF8&s=books

Very bleak stuff, but also quite convincing to a convert like me but then i find the whole idea of Gaia very compelling.

I also found "The Weather Makers" by Tim Flannery brilliant and not to hard to read for a non-scientist. There is also a version for school students available. Tim Flannery was Australian of the Year last year and he is a conservationist of note here. So imagine everyone's amazement and/or consternation when he came out in (qualified) favour of nuclear power. There is none at all in Australia yet, the only small reactor produces a small number of medical radio-active items. The ensuing debate continues though.

Very bleak stuff, but also quite convincing to a convert like me but then i find the whole idea of Gaia very compelling.

I also found "The Weather Makers" by Tim Flannery brilliant and not to hard to read for a non-scientist. There is also a version for school students available. Tim Flannery was Australian of the Year last year and he is a conservationist of note here. So imagine everyone's amazement and/or consternation when he came out in (qualified) favour of nuclear power. There is none at all in Australia yet, the only small reactor produces a small number of medical radio-active items. The ensuing debate continues though.

Double post again--- it told me the system was down sorry!!

The system has a few rather significant bugs.