Global Temperature is trending upwards, Man made or not, Why is this a bad thing?

It worked well during the medieval times. Agricultural trade was the source of many nation's economies and would benefit today's society just as well. The oceans may rise a few inches, but it won't be catastrophic like some politicians want to predict. The cities on the beaches of the world will just have to deal with it, they will lose about 1 foot of sand. The climate of today is still cool compared to most of the Earth's history, so how does this slight warming justify the calls that there will be catastrophe?

There is nothing wrong with a warmer earth. The earth doesn't care what temperature it is. Life forms on the other hand do care. The fact is the earth is warming too quickly for many organisms to adapt, particularly those organisms in specialized biological niches such as many bird species. Our own economy is geared around a climate whose global temperature is around plus or minus a couple of degrees of what we have today. Any warmer or cooler and we face loss of agricultural lands and with rising shorelines resulting in hundreds of thousands of people become displaced.

The other problem is the reasons that the planet is warming. We are emitting huge amounts of carbon into the air and the earth's systems are unable in many cases to compensate for this increase. One example is that right now there are signs that the southern ocean is becoming saturated with CO2. If this continues and more of the ocean become saturated we will have reached one of those tipping points you've heard about. We will be in a situation where humans are still emitting carbon from fossil fuels, but the earth's oceans will be less able to absorb it efficiently. The CO2 build up in the atmosphere will then accelerate and we will be one step closer to catastrophic greenhouse effect.

Angel Girl- I'd go over your notes thoroughly before your exams if I were you. Or somebody else’s notes

The major problem with global warming is the rate at which it is happening. Just a few of the problems we can see with global warming are the glaciers melting which will put many cities underwater, already the salt water is contaminating fresh water wells of some poor countries as well as destroying cities and bridges. We also have to take into account the precious balance of plant and animal life. With a drastic change in temperature many animals will be forced to migrate north or south depending on which side of the equator they are on. Many plants (some of which we depend on) will die out as they cannot migrate quickly at all. Also some animals such as amphibians cannot migrate because they can't move fast and they can't go over dry land like a highway.

Yes life will go on after global warming cause drastic changes, but it will not be the same. Our earth is overpopulated now. How is it going to be when half of our land is underwater and half of our plants and animals have died? So like I said earlier it is not necessarily global warming we fear but the rate at which it is happening due to our lifestyles.

There's nothing wrong with the Global Temperature trending upwards. If you think about it there's more benefits to a warmer climate than a colder one.

Because our modern society, with massive coastal development and intensive agriculture, will be severely damaged.

We're no longer nomads that can just pack their tents and move.

"We humans have built a remarkable socioeconomic system during perhaps the only time when it could be built, when climate was sufficiently stable to allow us to develop the agricultural infrastructure required to maintain an advanced society."

We were actually in a very slight cooling trend until we messed it up. Data here:

http://www.globalwarmingart.com/wiki/Image:Holocen...

"If the Earth came with an operating manual, the chapter on climate might begin with a caveat that the system has been adjusted at the factory for optimum comfort, so don't touch the dials."

Well the temperature is getting hotter because the ozone layer is getting destroyed from aerosols, carbon monoxide, and many more things. If the ozone layer gets completely destroyed the sun will burn the earth up. The ozone layer acts as a blanket protecting it from damaging sun rays.

It is change, and change is frightening to some people. It will also cause major inconveniences to some.