How many of you Global Warming theorists who believe that if the northern polar Ice Cap melts we will flood ?

If the ice caps are melting, there will be a rise in water levels. Although in parts of Antarctica, the ice cap is INCREASING.

Exactly why is GREENLAND called by that name? Because it used to be GREEN.....

If you look at the report, especially the temperature part you will see it shows only data from the Northern Hemisphere not the whole world. The data prior to 1890 was made up using tree ring readings. It is interesting that they found 1,000 year old trees in Europe, as most of the trees there are not anywhere close to being that old.

Looking at the CO2 data, back in the time of the dinosaurs CO2 levels were 100 to 1,000 times current levels.

The solar data is suspect as well. High sunspot activity means a hotter sun, and we are in a peak sunspot cycle. Also why are Mars's ice caps melting more than they should?

Oh, 30 years ago they were clammering about Global Cooling....so which one is it?

Ok once and for all . When we burn anything to generate heat be it wood , coal , oil , natural gas or the refined gas we use to operate automobiles for the most part the result is carbon is released . The same as forest fires volcanoes and methane gas from the decaying ocean life accumulating on the ocean floors and lakes . Now the only thing that converts this carbon is plant life and trees and some sea life like plankton and kelp all convert carbon to oxygen storing the carbon . We convert oxygen to carbon as we breath . So to breath we need plants and plants need carbon so its a nice balance . The problem is pumping trapped carbon out of the ground and burning it releasing the carbon into the air . SO much carbon that the amount able to be digested and converted by plants is exceeding that conversion ability . Now add in the reduction of rain forests old growth forests and killing of the coral reefs that also convert carbon to oxygen and you can see where we are headed . This is what i call a no brainer . If you have a brain you get it . And as those of us who do get it are begging to say it does not matter if you belief it or not it is happening . Levels have increased higher over the last 100 years to a point that has never been seen before . Average global temperatures have risen like it or not and it is having an effect . In fact we have not been this warm in 3,000,000 years Thats around 2,750,000 more years then anything like man roamed the planet . If we warm up to fast it is not that we will not survive it is that 60% of us will not survive . Starvation and wars may lead to even less then that if China or the Usa say screw you we are taking the food and attack russia who is now growing crops in Siberia .They may launch nuclear weapons . So this is a major world problem and I will be gone by the time the crap hits the fan so listen now and begin to correct this problem . Destroying hemp may have lead to this . The hemp plant converts carbon at a high rate and releases little back in effect scrubbing the carbon from the air . And when burned and inhaled provides a mellowing effect and joyfulness . Keep your head down in the sand and get out of the way and let people with solutions act before it is to late .

Cuban Friend, I don't think your analogy holds up. We're not referring to icebergs floating in the ocean already. You're correct when you state THAT water has already been displaced.

No Cuban, we're talking about glaciers and ice shelfs. These are tremendously huge chunks of frozen FRESHWATER which can tower as much as 1,800 to 10,000 feet ABOVE sea level (not in the water). That polar ice cap is just that: A CAP. If it drops into the oceans, well, I live in Phoenix and I will immediately get in my car and head to the highest elevation I can get to. The splash and resulting tsunami wave could easily kill hundreds of millions of people.

The OTHER big problem is more subtle. That Ice cap is blindingly white. That vast white surface area refects a LOT of the Sun's heat energy away from the planet, helping keep us cool. As pieces of the Ice Cap melt and break off into the ocean, there is less white area to reflect heat away, consequently the earth warms even faster, which in turn accelerates and perpetuates the global warming problem.

People who say "global warming is a naturally occurring phenomena" seem to forget we had better worry whether this is a phenomena (natural or not) we can adapt to, that we can learn to live with, as a species. And we had better hope there are plants and animals which can also adapt to the changes in time to survive.

To use your example, what happens when you take that full glass of water and drop a big cube of ice into it? The water in the glass splashes up and then overflows. Only problem here is, when the ocean overflows, that's goodbye, Florida. Or NYC. Or Holland. Or Venice, Italy. Or Australia. Those old levees which failed New Orelans? The tallest and strongest of what we have now will be underwater and so will Louisiana.

Same principle here. At the present rate, most port cities will be mostly underwater by 2100.

Because the ice that is melting was not in the water to start with. You are correct. Water levels go down when floating ice melts. An ice shelf was never in the water. Nice try.

PS - Global Warming is NOT A THEORY! It is a verifyable fact: The temperature is indeed going up as measured around the globe. What IS a theory is the cause of that warming. That is what the debate is about. Get your facts straight and leave the politics out of it, or you will be continually led by the nose by whatever talking head you are listening to.

Perhaps you should check into that science a little deeper. And maybe you should try that glass of water trick at home. Then imagine it compunded by hundreds of thousands of square miles, sometimes miles deep. Nobody has claimed mass global flooding, but the position is that lowlands and coastlines will be flooded. Already, islands are being lost to rising sea levels.

FOLLOWUP: Cooling? Have you not heard the report about the 74-square mile ice shelf that just broke off of Antarctica and fell into the sea? Are you unaware that in Northern Canada, many small villages that rely on over-ice shipments of supplies are cut off because the ice isn't there? Are you unaware that the polar bears were just labeled as a threatened species because they hunt on the edge of the thinned ice and are found drowning by the masses? Are you unaware that sea levels are rising, resulting in the disappearance of islands? Are you unaware that glaciers are melting throughout the earth? You don't have to have a brother whose a geophysicist to observe these widespread reports. They hardly add up to the conclusion of polar cooling.

Because Much of the ice sits on land masses and as it melts it runs into the sea .As the snow falls it has no place to accumulate so it increases water levels . Ice floats and as it melts the actual volume of water increases in the glass as does condensation which if you ever put a glass on a table top you will see . You just do not grasp some fundamental science and are missing the point . Sea level will rise as the Ice melts .

A normal glass of water doesn't have the majority of its water in frozen form sitting both on top of and below it.

Not to mention, the earth isn't a glass of water, nor is a glass of water a good model for the earth.

With your example of a "glass of water", the ice is in the water... hence it doesn't overflow when the ice melts (as colder fluids expand when they freeze). This is why it's highly flawed. The ice in the poles isn't floating around in the ocean... the ice of the poles is fixed at either side of the planet... and as that ice melts (as it melts, not when... it already is melting and this is an observed reality) the water mass will distribute across the ocean, which is where the flooding comes from.

Basically, your premise is false and your model is flawed and doesn't reflect the real situation.

Edit: You claim to have 4 science degrees and you don't even know that a cylindrical glass of water isn't a good model for the planet earth? Wow... are these correspondance degrees or something of that nature?

Actually, if you read about polar ice melting at the EPA website (which is approved by the Bush administration) you can clearly see that flooding a concern. An ocean rise of a few inches translates to millions of feet of coastline being reclaimed by the ocean. It has nothing to do with what Al Gore says, it's just fact that when ice melts, water level rises.

The northern Polar Ice Cap is already in the process of melting but most of it is over water. When the Southern ice packs, which are mostly on land begin to melt, that's when the real problems begin. Don't be so rigidly polarized.

You are mistaken with your analogy.

Ice in a glass is not the same as ice outside of a glass. If one adds the ice to a full glass of water, then this will raise the level and the water will overflow.

If you actually saw the documentary, perhaps you would have a better understanding of this concept.