Climate Change

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We do not know how weather patterns were 1000 years ago...so I must vote for 3.

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In the 1840s the United States and Northern Europe experienced a mini-ice age in which the summer temperatures never exceeded 60 degrees in the day time. It was actually called by papers, "The Summer that never came". Crops didn't produce and the nights had freezing temperatures and frost. Scientists have said that we are actually in the end stage of the ice age that begun 10k years ago. They use a certain ratio of ice on our planet to determine that. Some speculate that global warming would lead to global cooling as the melting ice caps would slow down the flow of the gulf stream and actually cool off Northern Europe and North America. The reason this would happen is because the gulf stream actually keeps Europe from being deadlocked in ice.

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Do you know how the weather was 20,000 years ago? No. So how do you know this is not a normal cycle?

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Do you know how the weather was 20,000 years ago? No. So how do you know this is not a normal cycle?

There's several things wrong with this post, States. (and, btw, I could have picked on just about any other instead, and not just on this board but throughout the literature - it's just typical of the level of debate)
What does it matter if this is a normal cycle? It still means Life on Earth as we know it won't go on as it used to...it was hotter than now in the age of Dinosaurs, we know that. But there were no men there, either.
What is the meaning of "normal" here? Where's the point in the distinction of "man-made" and "natural"? Are humans unnatural or what? Many millions of years ago, well before the dinosaurs, some species started pumping oxygen into the athmosphere. 90-odd% of the other species around died from that poison. Those who survived, almost all of them, became dependent on it. Those who started it are extinct, too, now. Was that natural? Yeah, sure.
I hope I'm getting the point across...

The whole situation is out of our hands. If its a normal cycle as I expect and it eliminates us...oh well..nothing we can do about it anyhow. Lets live for today and be done with it.

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Oh and we're still in an inter-glacial period (and an unusually cold one at that).
Within a geological timescale all the current climate changes are little details, as in a few thousand years the Ice will return.
And that's also a fact.

We are still in the Ice Age actually. The very end of it but still in it.

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Oh and we're still in an inter-glacial period (and an unusually cold one at that).
Within a geological timescale all the current climate changes are little details, as in a few thousand years the Ice will return.
And that's also a fact.

We are still in the Ice Age actually. The very end of it but still in it.

Sort of... the Ice Ages (there have been more than one) are still the defining climatic feature of the Earth.
We're currently in an inter-glacial period (ie: in between two fullblown ice ages) and have been for thousands of years (less than a second of geological time).
The high point of the current inter-glacial phase was the Early Mediaeval period (much of Greenland *was* green, there were large vineyards in England etc) and from then things have been edging (slowly) towards another icy invasion.
The current climatic changes (as serious as they are) are a little blip, and even if the changes are as bad as some people suggest, the climate won't be as hot as in an average inter-glacial.
Geologists expect the ice to return in about 5000 years... Whether the next glacial phase will be bigger than the previous or smaller is uncertain, though I'm of the opinion that the Ice Sheets will advance quicker than before, due to the lakes created by the last invasion (none of which existed back then).

Did you ever read about the "Summer that never came" in the 19th Century? It never warmed up for an entire summer.

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Did you ever read about the "Summer that never came" in the 19th Century? It never warmed up for an entire summer.

There was a (very, very) big volcanic eruption in 1815 (Tambora) which caused the famous "Year with no Summer" (1816 IIRC).

You are right Al. I forgot about that!

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I wonder if all these back to back hurricanes have anything to do with climate change. My suspiscion however is that conditions have been just[/b] right. Little sheering, very very warm water.

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I predict that Ivan has a 75% chance of hitting Florida. I predict landfall will occur between Tampa and Sarasota. You read it here first.

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I predict that Ivan has a 75% chance of hitting Florida. I predict landfall will occur between Tampa and Sarasota. You read it here first.

Thank God! Florida is safe!! You also said Hillary would be the VP nominee!!!

The latest track has almost 5-6 prediction lines landing between Tampa Bay and Sarasota.  The conditions are almost exactly the same as they were when Charley hit.

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I predict that Ivan has a 75% chance of hitting Florida. I predict landfall will occur between Tampa and Sarasota. You read it here first.

Thank God! Florida is safe!! You also said Hillary would be the VP nominee!!!

The latest track has almost 5-6 prediction lines landing between Tampa Bay and Sarasota.  The conditions are almost exactly the same as they were when Charley hit.

Except that it is much farther south and will pummel Jamaica and Cuba first.

Like Charley did.