Still think your daily routine, namely driving and electricity consumption, has little or no impact on the environment? If so, you’re opinion flies in the face of the most recent report produced by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
The report disqualifies the notion that global warming may, in fact, be a myth, stating, “Warming of the climate system is unequivocal, as is now evident from observations of increases in global average air and ocean temperatures, widespread melting of snow and ice, and rising global mean sea level.”
The report doesn’t stop there. It goes on to point the finger at you and me, claiming that climate change is “very likely” man-made, which translates to greater than 90 percent certainty.
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report was produced by 2500 scientific expert reviewers, 800 contributing authors, and 450 lead authors from over 130 countries.
One of the many contributing authors, Andrew Weaver, a scientist from the University of Victoria, said bluntly, “This isn’t a smoking gun; climate is a battalion of intergalactic smoking missiles.” Responding to critics who called the Panel “alarmist,” Weaver said the report is based on science that rock solid, peer-reviewed, conservative, and consensus.
Tuvalu’s Tourism Bureau Offers “Going Out of Existence” Vacation Package
Several low-lying islands in the south Pacific are already experiencing one of the serious effects of global warming; rising sea levels. Pink Floyd once asked, “Mother should I build the wall?” The citizens of Tuvalu have an answer, that being, “Hell yes, and do it quickly.”
The second smallest of all nations (the first being the puny Vatican for those who were wondering), Tuvalu is made up of 10 square miles of coral atolls in the South Pacific, most of which is less than a meter above sea level. Assistant secretary of Foreign Affairs, Paani Laupepa, believes the demise of his island nation is on the horizon. Rising seas have already washed out roads and flooded villages. “Our whole culture will have to be transplanted,” he said.
A recent surge in the quantity and strength of hurricanes, such as Katrina, was also directly linked to man-made causes, primarily the burning of fossil fuels. It is expected that this pattern will continue, causing billions of dollars in damage annually.
Damn You, Automobiles!
In a somewhat related story, the California Attorney General will move ahead with a lawsuit against several of the largest American and Japanese automotive companies for producing vehicles that have directly contributed to global warming. Maybe Tuvalu should join the suit. With the money they receive from the settlement I’m sure they could build a very nice wall.
So What Hope Do We Have?
I think it’s going to take more than changing a few light bulbs to alter our path of environmental destruction. Now, I’m an optimist, always have been, therefore I believe that if everyone stopped driving tomorrow, and by everyone I mean the entire world, we may have a chance of preserving our civilization.
Rapper, Nelly, may have the best take on global warming. “It’s gettin’ hot in here,” Nelly sings, “so take off all your clothes.”
If anyone cares to join me, I’m throwing a “Dante’s Inferno ‘Abandon All Hope You Who Enter Here’ Skinny Dipping Party” at the Sky Hotel pool. Just not today, it’s too damn cold.
There has been so much information on this for 40 years that it amazes me that humanities trust in a few profiteering individuals has this planet on the brink of extraordinary climactic change. The space program brought a lot of interest in where will human beings go — what other planets or now moons can we go to. Carl Sagan, out of Cornell, came up with the idea of “terraforming” planets, in the case of Mars, a ten thousand year project at least. Mars has very little atmosphere to work with. Examinations of Venus astounded planetary atmospheric scientists. Books from the early sixties predicted an earthlike dynamic atmoshere (though not in composition, absorbtion spectral analysis had long shown the Venusian atmosphere to be rich in CO2 with various sulfides above — giving Venus the highest albedo amongst planetary bodies) where along the equator temperatures were expected to be in the 100C range with polar regions hot 35C-50C but possibly liveable. The results were truly shocking — >800C, despite the highest reflectivity of solar radiation of any planet. This is when I first became aware of “global warming,” about 1970. What followed were a few years of very cold weather here in the states and even talk of a new ice age about to dawn. But homo sapien activities have as all previous species modified their environment from the pristine areas of optimal development and degraded them as deer do when they eat themselves out of a food supply. Homo sapiens is as far as known among megafauna the only species to not go through a precipitous J curve population function. Will it happen and if so how many will have to die.
Listening to conservatives on this topic, reminds me of tobacco institute literature where they find one out of twenty thousand doctors to say there are two sides of opinion on whether cancer is caused by smoking cigarettes.
Vast amounts of empirical data have been turned into statistical analysis from hundreds of years and in the case of ice cores; 6,000,000 years using oxygen isotopes ratios. Varves have been useful in going back and counting the seasons, tree rings for the years in living species. Carbon 14 when organic materials are present, and other radioactive dating methods are also used. There is satellite photography, lastly there is the undeniable absobtion spectra of the green house gasses. The activities of man can be quantified as a functional rate of change, as well as physical processes tens of thousands of millenia.
In the face of this the conservatives, oil lobby and China will come up with some crackpot on the take, with a doctoral thesis behind him, or her, to present within a compliant media, two sides of this situation. There is however the analog of living reality — we are about to cook if we don’t do something about it. The two planetary desert zones will increase latitudinally in every direction, shrinking the amplitude of ITC movement.
What rights will Canada have to keep us (great grand children) out? Build a fence???
There has been so much information on this for 40 years that it amazes me that humanities trust in a few profiteering individuals has this planet on the brink of extraordinary climactic change. The space program brought a lot of interest in where will human beings go — what other planets or now moons can we go to. Carl Sagan, out of Cornell, came up with the idea of “terraforming” planets, in the case of Mars, a ten thousand year project at least. Mars has very little atmosphere to work with. Examinations of Venus astounded planetary atmospheric scientists. Books from the early sixties predicted an earthlike dynamic atmoshere (though not in composition, absorbtion spectral analysis had long shown the Venusian atmosphere to be rich in CO2 with various sulfides above — giving Venus the highest albedo amongst planetary bodies) where along the equator temperatures were expected to be in the 100C range with polar regions hot 35C-50C but possibly liveable. The results were truly shocking — >800C, despite the highest reflectivity of solar radiation of any planet. This is when I first became aware of “global warming,” about 1970. What followed were a few years of very cold weather here in the states and even talk of a new ice age about to dawn. But homo sapien activities have as all previous species modified their environment from the pristine areas of optimal development and degraded them as deer do when they eat themselves out of a food supply. Homo sapiens is as far as known among megafauna the only species to not go through a precipitous J curve population function. Will it happen and if so how many will have to die.
Listening to conservatives on this topic, reminds me of tobacco institute literature where they find one out of twenty thousand doctors to say there are two sides of opinion on whether cancer is caused by smoking cigarettes.
Vast amounts of empirical data have been turned into statistical analysis from hundreds of years and in the case of ice cores; 6,000,000 years using oxygen isotopes ratios. Varves have been useful in going back and counting the seasons, tree rings for the years in living species. Carbon 14 when organic materials are present, and other radioactive dating methods are also used. There is satellite photography, lastly there is the undeniable absobtion spectra of the green house gasses. The activities of man can be quantified as a functional rate of change, as well as physical processes tens of thousands of millenia.
In the face of this the conservatives, oil lobby and China will come up with some crackpot on the take, with a doctoral thesis behind him, or her, to present within a compliant media, two sides of this situation. There is however the analog of living reality — we are about to cook if we don’t do something about it. The two planetary desert zones will increase latitudinally in every direction, shrinking the amplitude of ITC movement.
What rights will Canada have to keep us (great grand children) out? Build a fence???
Edward,
Have you read “The Emperor wears no clothes” by Jack Herer? I thought for years it was just a pot smokers manifesto. Wrong again.
I know it seems hard to believe but a strong case can be made that the Hemp plant can actually be a huge part of a plan to curb and perhaps eventually reverse global warming. Not only that but the story of Hemp is fascinating beyond what I can get into here tonite. Scan and/or read through it and you will see what I mean.
But the latest greatest news that I have heard is that someone has (I only caught a glimpse of this news) finally found a way to harness the ocean tides. This is the breakthrough I have thought for some time makes by far the most sense.
Bottom line is that the solutions are either already out there or they can be found in the future, if only we provide leadership that allows it to happen. On and on…
Edward,
Have you read “The Emperor wears no clothes” by Jack Herer? I thought for years it was just a pot smokers manifesto. Wrong again.
I know it seems hard to believe but a strong case can be made that the Hemp plant can actually be a huge part of a plan to curb and perhaps eventually reverse global warming. Not only that but the story of Hemp is fascinating beyond what I can get into here tonite. Scan and/or read through it and you will see what I mean.
But the latest greatest news that I have heard is that someone has (I only caught a glimpse of this news) finally found a way to harness the ocean tides. This is the breakthrough I have thought for some time makes by far the most sense.
Bottom line is that the solutions are either already out there or they can be found in the future, if only we provide leadership that allows it to happen. On and on…