Posted: Mon Jan 24, 2005 11:16 pm Post subject: Global Warming
This is awesome news! Once we reach the point of no return, we will no longer have to listen to those enviro-nazis and their ridiculous, factless theories. Whoooo-hooo! Three cheers for the point of no return!!!
I hope it comes today.
The thing I enjoy the most about mocking these enviro-nazis, is that the FOUNDER of Green Peace has turned on them and has joined the Voice of Reason. i.e., he actually decided to search for EVIDENCE of global warming... and found none...
Quote:
Report: Global Warming at Critical Point
Science - AP
By ED JOHNSON, Associated Press Writer
LONDON - Global warming (news - web sites) is approaching the point of no return, after which widespread drought, crop failure and rising sea levels will be irreversible, an international climate change task force warned Monday.
It called on the Group of 8 leading industrial nations to cut carbon emissions, double their research spending on technology and work with India and China to build on the Kyoto Protocol (news - web sites) for cuttings emissions of carbon dioxide and other "greenhouse gases" blamed for global warming.
The independent report was made by the Institute for Public Policy Research in Britain, the Center for American Progress in the United States and the Australia Institute.
"An ecological time bomb is ticking away," said Stephen Byers, who was co-chairman of the task force with U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe (news, bio, voting record), R-Maine. "World leaders need to recognize that climate change is the single most important long-term issue that the planet faces."
Byers is a close confidant of British Prime Minister Tony Blair (news - web sites), and the report was timed to coincide with Blair's commitment to advance international climate change policy during Britain's presidency of the G-8 this year.
Byers said it is vital that Blair secure U.S. cooperation in tackling climate change. President Bush (news - web sites) has rejected the Kyoto accord, arguing that the carbon emission cuts it demands would damage the U.S. economy and that it leaves out emerging polluters like China and India.
"What we have got to do then is get the Americans as part of the G-8 to engage in international concerted effort to tackle global warming," said Byers. "If they refuse to do that then other countries will be reluctant to take any steps."
According to the report, urgent action is needed to stop the global average temperature rising by 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above the level of 1750 — the approximate start of the Industrial Revolution when mankind first started significantly adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.
Beyond such a rise, "the risks to human societies and ecosystems grow significantly," the report said, adding that there would be a danger of "abrupt, accelerated, or runaway climate change." It warned of "climatic tipping points" such as the Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets melting and the Gulf Stream shutting down.
No accurate temperature readings were available for 1750, the report said, but since 1860 the global average temperature has risen by 0.8 percent to 15 degrees Celsius (59 degrees Fahrenheit).
The report said a 2-degree Celsius rise in the average temperature could be avoided by keeping the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere below 400 parts per million. Current concentrations of 379 parts per million "are likely to rise above 400 parts per million in coming decades and could rise far higher under a business-as-usual scenario," it said.
The task force urged G-8 countries to agree to generate a quarter of their electricity from renewable sources by 2025 and shift agricultural subsidies from food crops to biofuels.
The task force of senior politicians, scientists and business figures was formed last March. Its chief scientific adviser was Dr. Rajendra K. Pachauri, chairman of the United Nations (news - web sites)' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
The British government welcomed the report, which mirrors many of the suggestions already floated by Blair in the leadup to Britain's G-8 presidency.
Blair has acknowledged the importance of U.S. cooperation, but concedes Washington is unlikely to sign on for the Kyoto Protocol and is instead pursuing international commitment to developing new environmentally friendly technology.
____________ "Let's turn Iraq into a glass parking lot."
Posted: Wed Jan 26, 2005 10:38 pm Post subject: Some lessons from Fred
Thanks for your always-enlightening, Harper-bred take on science, HickoryStick. .
First off, greenpeace founder Dr Patrick Moore didn't go on a search for evidence of global warming, only to find none - he isn't, after all, a meteorologist, or climatologist, or oceanographer. He's an ecologist. He's not qualified to perform that search. He did, however, caution against putting unquestionable faith in the science surrounding climate change. Almost any worthy scientist who is involved in the subject will caution the same. After all, one computer model does not an Earth make.
So, in searching for evidence, I suppose you'll only accept increased temperatures as evidence of climate change. The supporting evidence - an increase in CO2 concentration in our atmosphere, or the theoretical basis of global warming, is well known, and easily verified. The vast majority of climate scientists will agree that human actions are the cause of the increase in CO2 levels. We have things like the Industrial Revolution to allow scientists to discern trends in fossil fuel burning and CO2 concentrations. So, the main questionable aspect of climate change is whether these effects of human consumption (i.e., increased CO2 levels) actually do increase the temperature on Earth, according to the laboratory theory.
This is not something like PV=nRT, which can be easily investigated. Because there are so many factors and inteannual and interdecadal variability in climate and temperature, and sunspot cycles, etc., it is difficult to discern a conclusive trend.
But, it is easier in the Arctic, as it is considered a'bellwether' for the rest of the planet, responding more dramatically to effects of the climate. And here, you can read the recent report by "the most comprehensive international assessment of Arctic climate change" which has concluded that "Earth's upper latitudes are experiencing unprecedented increases in temperature, glacial melting and weather pattern changes." These guys aren't NDP-funded (does that even happen?) spout-mouths, but some of the most well-respected and credible arctic climatologists.
I think the evidence that you and George Bush are looking for is the exact thing that eminent climatologists are trying to avoid. We'll only have the evidence when we've suffered from the threat. So even if questions remain about how human actions are creating climate change, don't you think the alternative of 'waiting for the evidence' is a bit foolhardy, considering whats at stake?
Also, we should be cautious of polarizing this debate. There are fanatics who read way too much into a computer model, picking and choosing their scientific evidence, and touting 'The Day After Tomorrow' as prophetic.
Then there are those who don't accept any scientific input on the basis of its inconclusivity, because it doesn't fit their agenda. Or alternatively, they fund their own 'science' to get agreeable results. Its the same sort of people that don't buy the theory of evolution due to a lack of evidence (but really, because it refutes the Old Testament). In some instances it IS the same people.
I really don't think the article could be considered enviro-nazi quality stuff...the 'ticking time-bomb' style of delivering results is due to the politicans who chair the task force, and are trained in rhetoric. The actual study is a bit toned down: 'Beyond such a [2 degree] rise, "the risks to human societies and ecosystems grow significantly,"'.
So. heres a 'yea' for general consensus in the scientific community, and a 'nay' for conservative agenda-seeking politicians take on climate science.'
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