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Slavetrainer2007 -> Are people really that uneducated? (4/15/2007 12:28:38 PM)
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Their have been many topics on this. But i was surfing and came across a reputable website that discussed global warming( oh no another global warming thread!) I was reading a list of comments left by readers and i was surpised at the lack of knowledge people have.
This is basic 8th grade natural science( here in america). And they lack a total understanding of anything. And on top of that, they actually think they are right in their profound ignorance.
Some of the comments ive seen are as follows:
1) when water evaporates it goes into space( someone want to tell me where a cloud comes from then?)
2) who cares if the ice caps melt, We can then access the untapped resources they are covering.( hmm lets see when ice melts in my cooler it tends to FLOOD it)
3) we have had ice ages before and they ended the ice melted and we were fine. We are just coming out of one( true....at a very fast unnatural rate)
I remind you these are from adults. and these are only a few examples.
I am by no means a scientist, but i do understand science to a degree. i learned about the earths ecosystem in 8th grade( it was a memorable year for me).
I think people are so wrapped up in themselves they dont care or worry about their enviroment or that its falling apart. Now im not a big save the enviroment do gooder.
But im also realistic.
Here are some things i know:
1) In space just outside the earths atmosphere the tempature variance from sun to shade ( not day to night, sun to shade) is over 400 degrees difference. This is because of the vacuum. Its not hard to heat a vacuum or cool it quickly( this is the same as it takes longer to heat water than air because water is more dense)
2) the atmosphere has a protective layer, we call the ozone. This has gas in it, o3 i believe, that acts as a smokescreen ( or sunglasses if you will) for the suns rays. This is why the sky is blue( which i have noticed the last couple of years isnt as blue as when i was a kid.)
3) This ozone allows their to be fairly stable climates. What causes the ice ages is the distance the earth is from the sun. The earth dont always travel in a perfect circle around the sun especially over a long period of time. 1000 years ago we orbited at a different distance from the sun than we do now. This cause the intensity of the sun to be less or more thus making it warmer or cooler.
4)The ozone acts as a "buffer" for this change helping to absorb some of the differences.
5) IF you strip the ozone layer away, you will instantly become a well done human steak in direct sunlight. this is not dramatizing. The ozone keeps the several hundred degree tempatures that happen outside the atmosphere from happening inside it.
6) now a little about chemistry. o3 is not all that stable of a gas. CO2( carbon dioxide) is a stable gas and the one exhaled. It does not affect o3 when they come in contact. however CO(carbon monoxide) is not a stable gas. The O wants to combine with another O to become stable. When CO comes in contact with O3 the CO pulls an O from O3 to become stable. The result is CO2 and O2 or carbon dioxide and oxygen. And the bad result 1 less O3 atom.
7) The ecosystem naturally replaces the O3 at a slow rate.( just like oil is naturally made in the ground)
8) we put CO in the air in large amounts. This combines as in #6 and takes away from the O3 .This is called "depleting the ozone"
9) this has been going on since the industrial age began. We are losing ozone faster than it can repair itself.
10) less ozone means you go from spf 150 to spf 50 spf 30 spf 2 etc. More harmful sun rays enter the atmosphere warming it up faster and hotter.
11) this is called global warming.
12) global warming affects ecosystems, mainly the oceans of which cover 70% of the earths surface.
13) a 2 degree change in the ocean tempature causes severe changes in weather. It allows more ice to melt further north, it causes more severe storms.
14) If you live in the same place you did 15-20 years ago think back to your seasons then. Now look at them. Ive lived in the same area for 20 years i see a definate change even in the last 10 years.
This is all pretty common sense. I learned all this in school 10 years ago.
So my questions is are people that uneducated they have no understanding of this?
OR do they just not give a shit cause they will be dead in 40-50-70 years?
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