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No we're not. The complete opposite in fact: the planet would naturally be cooling now were it not for the increased amount of greenhouse gases in the atmospher

by phaemon 10y ago

No we're not. The complete opposite in fact: the planet would naturally be cooling now were it not for the increased amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

SeanDav 10y ago
> "Technically speaking, we’re living during an ‘Ice Age’ today – in the sense that we have a world with glaciers. However, the present time is a relatively warm phase within a period of geological time when glaciers and ice sheets have typically been larger and more extensive than now." Taken from: http://www.rgs.org/OurWork/Schools/Teaching+resources/Key+Stage+3+resources/Glaciation+and+geological+timescales/Ice+Ages+and+geological+timescales.htm http://www.rgs.org/OurWork/Schools/Teaching+resources/Key+St... There are other sources, but this is one example that makes it clear we have been in a warming phase the last few thousand years.
- a2l 10y ago
  Also from the same site: > "Since the industrial revolution in the 18th century, the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere (an important greenhouse gas) has risen significantly above the level it would be naturally. It now stands at over 400 parts per million (ppm) in the atmosphere. Evidence from ice cores (see Lesson four) tells us that the normal level for CO2 in the atmosphere during ‘interglacial’ times (such as the Holocene in which we now live) is 270 to 290 ppm, and that at no time over the last 800,000 (the time covered by ice cores) has the CO2 level been as high as it is now. (CO2 is thought to be at its highest level for three to five million years.)" http://www.rgs.org/OurWork/Schools/Teaching+resources/Key+Stage+3+resources/Glaciation+and+geological+timescales/The+Ice+Age+postponed+-+Impacts+of+melting+ice+in+a+warming+world.htm http://www.rgs.org/OurWork/Schools/Teaching+resources/Key+St...
  - SeanDav 10y ago
    You misunderstand me - I am not talking about man made climate change. I am saying that having data that shows current temperatures are highest ever in 1000 years is not surprising, given that temperatures have been rising for last several thousand years. If one had a time machine and went back 1000 years, took temperatures and compared them to those from previous thousand years, one would not be surprised to see that on average they were higher.
    - socialist_coder 10y ago
      No one is misunderstanding you, you are just wrong. Even if you were right and we were in a "warming" phase, the velocity of the change should be on a geological scale; that is, very very very tiny. We are seeing rates of warming orders of magnitudes higher, which cannot possibly be anything but man made.
      - SeanDav 10y ago
        At no point have I mentioned scale of change or rate of change. That is irrelevant to the point I am making: that during a warming phase, average temperatures will be the highest they have ever been at the end of the time period under consideration. So a result confirming that is hardly news. 4000 years ago there were still mammoths and far greater glaciation than now, so clearly climate has been warming over the last few thousand years.
        SamPhillips 10y ago
        Sure. But if someone is saying "the house is on fire" and you reply, "Ah, Yes, clearly we should expect it to be getting warmer, after all it's springtime now", it's not much of addition to the conversation.
- phaemon 10y ago
  No, that example is correct but you misread it: we're in a warmer period. Not a warming period. The warming stopped about eight thousand years ago. We've been in that warmer period since then. For example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temperature_record#/media/File:Holocene_Temperature_Variations.png https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temperature_record#/media/File... We would naturally now have started cooling again were it not for the additional greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. As I've already explained.

by phaemon 10y ago

No we're not. The complete opposite in fact: the planet would naturally be cooling now were it not for the increased amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

SeanDav 10y ago

> "Technically speaking, we’re living during an ‘Ice Age’ today – in the sense that we have a world with glaciers. However, the present time is a relatively warm phase within a period of geological time when glaciers and ice sheets have typically been larger and more extensive than now." Taken from: http://www.rgs.org/OurWork/Schools/Teaching+resources/Key+Stage+3+resources/Glaciation+and+geological+timescales/Ice+Ages+and+geological+timescales.htm http://www.rgs.org/OurWork/Schools/Teaching+resources/Key+St... There are other sources, but this is one example that makes it clear we have been in a warming phase the last few thousand years.

a2l 10y ago
Also from the same site: > "Since the industrial revolution in the 18th century, the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere (an important greenhouse gas) has risen significantly above the level it would be naturally. It now stands at over 400 parts per million (ppm) in the atmosphere. Evidence from ice cores (see Lesson four) tells us that the normal level for CO2 in the atmosphere during ‘interglacial’ times (such as the Holocene in which we now live) is 270 to 290 ppm, and that at no time over the last 800,000 (the time covered by ice cores) has the CO2 level been as high as it is now. (CO2 is thought to be at its highest level for three to five million years.)" http://www.rgs.org/OurWork/Schools/Teaching+resources/Key+Stage+3+resources/Glaciation+and+geological+timescales/The+Ice+Age+postponed+-+Impacts+of+melting+ice+in+a+warming+world.htm http://www.rgs.org/OurWork/Schools/Teaching+resources/Key+St...
- SeanDav 10y ago
  You misunderstand me - I am not talking about man made climate change. I am saying that having data that shows current temperatures are highest ever in 1000 years is not surprising, given that temperatures have been rising for last several thousand years. If one had a time machine and went back 1000 years, took temperatures and compared them to those from previous thousand years, one would not be surprised to see that on average they were higher.
  - socialist_coder 10y ago
    No one is misunderstanding you, you are just wrong. Even if you were right and we were in a "warming" phase, the velocity of the change should be on a geological scale; that is, very very very tiny. We are seeing rates of warming orders of magnitudes higher, which cannot possibly be anything but man made.
    - SeanDav 10y ago
      At no point have I mentioned scale of change or rate of change. That is irrelevant to the point I am making: that during a warming phase, average temperatures will be the highest they have ever been at the end of the time period under consideration. So a result confirming that is hardly news. 4000 years ago there were still mammoths and far greater glaciation than now, so clearly climate has been warming over the last few thousand years.
      - SamPhillips 10y ago
        Sure. But if someone is saying "the house is on fire" and you reply, "Ah, Yes, clearly we should expect it to be getting warmer, after all it's springtime now", it's not much of addition to the conversation.
phaemon 10y ago
No, that example is correct but you misread it: we're in a warmer period. Not a warming period. The warming stopped about eight thousand years ago. We've been in that warmer period since then. For example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temperature_record#/media/File:Holocene_Temperature_Variations.png https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temperature_record#/media/File... We would naturally now have started cooling again were it not for the additional greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. As I've already explained.