[Baseballl]

Topic: Is Global Warming An Overhyped (Exaggerated) Threat To The Environment?
Yes: Spikeout
No: Gotenksjr3

Competition Ends: May 16th, 3 PM Eastern.

[Spikeout]

Global Warming as you know is everyone's excuse to stop pollution. It is very overhyped. Global Warming is a natural happening. It has happend throughout Earth's Passed. What do you think caused the end of the Ice Age? If the world naturally de-freezed all of the iceburgs that covered most of the Earth's surface 10,000 years ago, then why try to stop it? Even if we manage to stop all the pollution that humans are doing, things are going to heat up anyways. (+3)


That's my opening statement. Not a good one, but I hope to get things started

My sources:
Discovery Channel (+5)
Animal Planet (+5)
History Channel (+5)

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** Total: +18 **

This post has been edited by Baseballl: 09 May 2005 - 11:04 PM

[Goto]

Global Warming refers to the recent sustained increase in the average temperature of the world. It is a very controversial issue, with many prestigious scientists backing each side. There is far too much information available about the many potential dangers that are arising, so I shall merely mention a few points of interest, there is a lot of information available for those wishing to hear more detail. (+3)

In case there is anybody out there that hasn’t heard of Global Warning before, I’ll briefly explain the concept. Average temperatures the world over are rising, ice caps are melting, the ozone layer is being systematically destroyed, entire species are slowly being wiped out, and there is a wide array of other problems. And why, you may ask, is this happening? The primary cause would have to be pollution. Not only is it destroying the ozone layer (which protects us from much of the Sun’s more dangerous radiation), but it’s accelerating the Greenhouse effect to dangerous levels. Greenhouse gasses eliminate the ozone layer by breaking up the O3 it is made up of. As well as more heat and radiation from the sun getting through the atmosphere, these greenhouse gasses hang around up in the atmosphere and stop heat from escaping out into space. Think of a greenhouse, light and heat come in, but get trapped inside and so it gets warmer and warmer inside. (+8)

First up, the loss of the ozone layer. Beyond the fact that this is causing heightened temperatures, it’s letting far more UV light through than once was, especially in countries such as Australia. This is causing an explosion in numbers of various skin cancers, which is likely to expand as the situation worsens. (+2)

That pales in comparison to other problems, however. Weather systems are being thrown off, animals aren’t evolving to keep up with changing conditions, large parts of coral reefs (one of the most diverse habitats around) are dying off due to warmer oceans, and of course the polar ice caps are melting and causing a raise in water levels. If current trends continue, whole islands will be submerged under the ocean. Now that isn’t happening anytime soon, but there are many more immediate worries that should be decreasing our emissions as soon as possible. (+5)

It has been suggested by my very able opponent that the Greenhouse Effect is a natural effect, that life as we know it would not be possible otherwise. There is considerable evidence to suggest this, and it’s an argument often used. A small amount of greenhouse gasses is necessary; a large amount could well be deadly. Unless something is done soon, it may well be too late to prevent catastrophic changes to the environment. Our society as it is now can’t suddenly minimize our greenhouse gas emissions, it will take a great deal of time to find alternatives. The sooner the populace as a whole realises this, the better a chance we have of turning things around. So while there is a lot of talk and hype about Global Warning, I think it’s fair to say it’s not ‘Overhyped’. (+5)


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Sources

http://www.climatehotmap.org/ (+5)
http://yosemite.epa....nt/Climate.html (+5)
http://magazine.audu...312/opener.html (+5)



Your turn, Mr Spike.

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** Total: +38 **

This post has been edited by Baseballl: 10 May 2005 - 07:20 PM

[Spikeout]

Arr you got many good points there Gotenks.

In case there is anybody out there that hasn’t heard of Global Warning before, I’ll briefly explain the concept. Average temperatures the world over are rising, ice caps are melting, the ozone layer is being systematically destroyed, entire species are slowly being wiped out, and there is a wide array of other problems. And why, you may ask, is this happening? The primary cause would have to be pollution. Not only is it destroying the ozone layer (which protects us from much of the Sun’s more dangerous radiation), but it’s accelerating the Greenhouse effect to dangerous levels. Greenhouse gasses eliminate the ozone layer by breaking up the O3 it is made up of. As well as more heat and radiation from the sun getting through the atmosphere, these greenhouse gasses hang around up in the atmosphere and stop heat from escaping out into space. Think of a greenhouse, light and heat come in, but get trapped inside and so it gets warmer and warmer inside.

As I said before, the world will keep changing. Many spieces have became extinct because of these changes. We helped the fasten the rate of Global warming and the Greenhouse gasses are rising more and more. It's our fault. Almost everybody in this world helps the rate of global warming go up. (+1)

Many people using "Global Warming" as an excuse to defend whatever they may be doing, is also a contributor to global warming. It is something we have created and cannot stop. In everday life, people are continuously helping Greenhouse gasses get released into the environment. (+1)

Btw, Goto, you're a very good debater
Although I don't belive that Global Warming is exaggerated I just chose to defend it because no one else would pick it. I'm glad I am able to defend my opinion in ways but you're comebacks are too good (-1)

Resources:
www.msnbc.com
Fox News
My School Survey Project (From last year)
Discovery Channel
National Geographic

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Please give me a link to the exact article you used as your source, not the site. I'd like to see how these sources relate to your argument.

** Total: (+1) **

This post has been edited by Baseballl: 10 May 2005 - 08:45 PM

[Spikeout]

I will quote this phrase from a website.

In 1988, James Hansen, director of NASA's Goddard Institute, brought "global warming" to the public's attention for the first time when he testified before the Senate that he was "99 percent" certain " . . . the [human caused] greenhouse effect has been detected and it is changing our climate now."

During the last century, the earth has been warmed between, .3 and .6 degreese celcius and carbon dioxied, a primary greenhouse gas has increased 30%. Scientists agrued that the earth's current warming is due to increased Co2 and use of fossil fuels. It is said that Climate models are crude predictors of climate change. A study in October 2, 1998 refutes the claim that the current warming could only be caused by human activities. It showed that 12,000 years ago that global temperature rose by more than 20 degrees in approximatlely 50 years. The natural change was more than ten times the "Environmentalists" claim only humans could be causing and it occured in half the time. In the Discovery Channel, scientists have claimed that the Earth shifts from glacial to warm periods every 100,000 years or so. Why exagurate about a natural occurance and blame it on "us" that we are causing it when more natural things can cause greater warming of the Earth than what we do. People often say that the Global Warming we cause is our fault and we are the cause of the most pollution of the air. But what they're missing is that we only play a tiny role in the warming of the Earth. We cannot change the Natural phases that the Earth goes through. That is why Global warming is very overhyped. People only look at what the people do, but the past and natural events of the Earth has done. (+7)

Resources:
http://www.ncpa.org/.../krt081999a.htm (+5)
Discovery Channel
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** Total: +12 **

[Goto]

I'll post a rebuttal tomorrow when I get a chance, I'm quite busy with some work currently.

Just wanted to quickly ask a question... Since it doesn't seem that each person has to have an equal number of posts here, are our points getting averaged? Otherwise it seems a little biased towards who has more time in which to post.

[Baseballl]

Well, I'm not going to allow people to just keep posting and posting with no replies. Do your best to keep up with the competition

[Baseballl]

Current score as of this post:

Gotenksjr3: 38
Spikeout: 31