The weather has made me obsessed with ice and cold

[sampsoninc916]

The weather in about 75% to 80% of the United States has gotten me extremely obsessed with all things ice and cold. Everything from ice, snow, snowmen, pack ice, sea ice, icebergs, glaciers, I've even heard that there are 12 different chemical compositions of ice. It's even made me think in ice puns such as "Ice to see you". Unfortunately, my searches for ice and cold and North Pole kept on blowing up in my face in regards to what people are referring to as global warming, climate change, ice melting, sea levels rising, droughts in western states, etc. They keep on talking about how the main cause is human emitted carbon dioxide emissions. Isn't the climate unpredictable and God in control of the environment? The bible says we should be good stewards of our planet. The number of searches in regards to ice and cold from me has increased significantly. I just want to believe that at the top of the Northern Hemisphere, the North Pole, there exists mountains of ice and snow and not a tropical beach island like Hilton Head, SC. Plus, polar bears, seals, and walruses. So many days, even when I'm successful in accomplishing all my assignments in finishing up college by December 2015, ice and cold and snow are on my mind. I don't want to turn into Mr. Freeze from the Batman franchise who exists to freeze up everything to get what he wants. Maybe where I live in the South, when the weather warms up in spring and summer, I'll start thinking more about beaches and reefs than ice and cold. I need to get this cold and ice thing out of my head and focus on finishing up college. I don't really speak in puns because puns are an acquired taste, or so my brother claims. I also need to understand that God is in control of the environment. I'm pretty sure that many of you are believers in God and Jesus Christ, so give me assurance and help me curb my ice and cold obsession.

 

[The Penguin]

Always remember the cold is controlled by us penguins god.

 

[Suzanne]

And amazingly, each snow flake is different to another.

Global warming makes winters worse or more intense, depending on one's perception. Summers hotter. I really am a dunce with the science of it all, but someone who is not, told me that it is to do with water temperatures. I keep hearing ones saying that weather conditions laugh in the face of global warming, but in reality, it does the opposite.

Yes, our Creator is in control of the elements, but at the same time, He is not the CAUSE of our diverse weather conditions, that is thanks to imperfection, but He has promised to put things back to what they should be.

Yep me here is a christian

 

[Progster]

Perhaps you should go and live in Chili

Personally I'm not a huge fan of the cold, I much prefer warm temperatures. But who knows, the freshwater from the melting polar ice may interupt the Gulf Stream and we may see another ice age in Northern Europe. No one really knows how things are going to pan out, it's all just theory.

 

[Jaywalker]

No one really knows how things are going to pan out, it's all just theory.

Be careful not to confuse theory as science uses the term with theory as the word is used colloquially. Science has a pretty good understanding of what's happening, and why.

 

[Progster]

Be careful not to confuse theory as science uses the term with theory as the word is used colloquially. Science has a pretty good understanding of what's happening, and why.

I meant scientific theory, to me that's what the word means, perhaps 'speculation' would have been a better word? There is indeed scientific understanding of climate and weather, and how they work, but it's such a hugely complex subject that nobody can be sure exactly how the climate will evolve and what the future outcome will be - huge supercomputers are used to predict weather and they still can get it wrong - there are several theories or models, but they can't be proved until they happen, so it's just speculation (based on scientific theory, of course!).

 

[Jaywalker]

I meant scientific theory, to me that's what the word means, perhaps 'speculation' would have been a better word? There is indeed scientific understanding of climate and weather, and how they work, but it's such a hugely complex subject that nobody can be sure exactly how the climate will evolve and what the future outcome will be - huge supercomputers are used to predict weather and they still can get it wrong - there are several theories or models, but they can't be proved until they happen, so it's just speculation (based on scientific theory, of course!).

Climate and weather are not the same thing. Predicting weather is like predicting, a month in advance, the birth weight of the first baby born on the 100th day of the year at a particular hospital whereas predicting climate is like predicting the average birth weight of all babies born in a year at the same hospital.

Climate models have, thus far, proven themselves pretty accurate, and are only getting better. It is far from "just speculation."

 

[Progster]

Climate and weather are not the same thing. Predicting weather is like predicting, a month in advance, the birth weight of the first baby born on the 100th day of the year at a particular hospital whereas predicting climate is like predicting the average birth weight of all babies born in a year at the same hospital.

Climate models have, thus far, proven themselves pretty accurate, and are only getting better. It is far from "just speculation."

True, climate and weather are not the same thing in terms of predicting, they are just linked in that the climate will produce certain weather patterns.

I agree that scientific knowledge in this area has improved and more accurate predictions can be made, but I still don't think that we can know for certain what the climate will be in the long term future - there is a proven trend towards global warming, but how exactly it will affect each local area of the globe and how much impact man will ultimately have on the climate no one can know for sure until it happens, there are too many variables. Personally, I believe that the climate across the globe is changing as the mean global temperature rises, and we will see a lot more extreme weather in future, but there are still people in the scientific community who contest this theory, pointing out that historically there have always been fluctuations in regional and global climate.

 

[Jaywalker]

I still don't think that we can know for certain what the climate will be in the long term future - there is a proven trend towards global warming, but how exactly it will affect each local area of the globe and how much impact man will ultimately have on the climate no one can know for sure until it happens, there are too many variables.

You seem to misunderstand what science does. Science doesn't ever prove anything with absolute certainty. In fact, the scientific method imvolves trying to find ways to disprove hypotheses.

What science does do is allow us to be very confident, and statistics allows us to objectively quantify that level of confidence, that something is true.

We can say with an extremely high level of confidence that the sun will appear to rise once again tomorrow, but we cannot say such a thing with absolute certainty.

[T]here are still people in the scientific community who contest this theory, pointing out that historically there have always been fluctuations in regional and global climate.

You might find "scientists" speaking out of their areas of academic expertise saying such things, but you'll be hard pressed to find many credible climatologists making such claims. Certainly they will acknowledge natural fluxuations, but very few will deny man's role in global warming, and fewer still who will deny the existence of global warming.

The debate is over in the science community. The data have alreaded spoken, and the data are all that matter.

 

[wyverary]

This is a sensitive and polarizing issue, so this is your friendly neighborhood moderator popping in to make sure the discussion is respectful (which, so far it is, thanks!).

 

[Aspergirl4hire]

There's a saying I'm fond of that seems to apply..."You have the right to your own opinions. You do not have the right to your own facts." Science aids in the development of facts. Speculation aids in the development of ideas...which theoretically should be fact-based. That said, anyone can create a controversy...Holocaust deniers have done it for years, even to taking the author of a book to court (and failed ultimately.) Why do they do it? For the money.

Having Godwinned the thread, I'll see myself out. Hat tip to all.

 

[KinksFan]

I've been fascinated by ice, snow and winter for as long as I can remember. I've also seen a lot of pictures of the snow in Canada, the US and other parts of the Northern Hemisphere. I just hope that the weather doesn't warm up too quickly, or else there's going to be an awful lot of flooding.