I'm starting to get the sense we don't have the first clue what's happening to our planet: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/tyne/5283278.stm Global warming boost to glaciers Researchers studied the western Himalaya Global warming could be causing some glaciers to grow, a new study claims. Researchers at Newcastle University looked at temperature trends in the western Himalaya over the past century. They found warmer winters and cooler summers, combined with more snow and rainfall, could be causing some mountain glaciers to increase in size. The findings are significant, because temperature and rain and snow trends in the area impact on water availability for more than 50 million Pakistanis. Researchers focussed on the Upper Indus Basin, which is the mainstay of the national economy of Pakistan and has 170,000 sq km of irrigated land - an area two-thirds the size of the UK. Dr Hayley Fowler, senior research associate at the university's school of civil engineering and geosciences, said: "Very little research of this kind has been carried out in this region and yet the findings from our work have implications for the water supplies of around 50 million people in Pakistan." Water resources Co-researcher David Archer added: "Our research is concerned with both climate change and the climate variability that is happening from year to year. "Information on variability is more important for the management of the water system as it will help to forecast the inflow into reservoirs and allow for better planning of water use for irrigation. "However, information on the impacts of climatic change is important for the longer term management of water resources and to help us understand what is happening in the mountains under global warming." The findings are published in the American Meteorological Society's Journal of Climate. ________________________________________________________ And there's this: http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/view.php?StoryID=20060825-091321-7556r Russian scientist predicts global cooling MOSCOW, Aug. 25 (UPI) -- A Russian scientist predicts a period of global cooling in coming decades, followed by a warmer interval. Khabibullo Abdusamatov expects a repeat of the period known as the Little Ice Age. During the 16th century, the Baltic Sea froze so hard that hotels were built on the ice for people crossing the sea in coaches. The Little Ice Age is believed to have contributed to the end of the Norse colony in Greenland, which was founded during an interval of much warmer weather. Abdusamatov and his colleagues at the Russian Academy of Sciences astronomical observatory said the prediction is based on measurement of solar emissions, Novosti reported. They expect the cooling to begin within a few years and to reach its peak between 2055 and 2060. "The Kyoto initiatives to save the planet from the greenhouse effect should be put off until better times," he said. "The global temperature maximum has been reached on Earth, and Earth's global temperature will decline to a climatic minimum even without the Kyoto protocol."
Like so many other issues, I don't really know who to believe. I believe there are people who could care less about the environmental effects of industry: however, I also believe some socialists use the issue as a tool to further their world views.
i'd be one of those ppl . In other related news, since when did al gore become the enviroment expert?
of course i care, i recycle . I'm just saying that the needs of industry outweight the lives of some offbrand roaches enviromentalists are trying to protect. Drilling oil in Alaska might kill a few polar bears? This economy needs oil far more than polar bears.
Well to paraphrase Al Gore in the excellent movie "An Unconvenient Truth", the petro companies and their flacks are taking a page from te tobacco industry's tacics, after the original Surgeon General's Report that showed how deadly cigarettes were/. "Doubt is our product". If the fossil fuel guys can somehow make the role of burning petro carbons sort of in doubt, that is the best they can do. Do we know everything their is to know about our planet? No. Is the global warming science beyond debate? Yes, except for the approximately 1% who are subsidized by the petro guys.
I would much rather heave the unspoiled wildlife and habitat. We need a deep respect for the world and ALL life more than anything else.
The Little Ice Age is one of those things from history that's always tripped me out. What caused it? Imagine what the winters were like! The Thames froze, rivers froze all over much of Europe. The growing season shortened. The Dutch went crazy ice skating. Glaciers grew. Vikings fled Greenland. It was nuts! What caused it? A volcano? I've blanked out. (where's google) Keep D&D Civil.
A giant volcano in Indonesia caused the Year without a summer in the Northern Hemisphere. I guess those meteor movies had a bit of truth in them.... Who knows what's going on with climate cycles... solar flares? It's a start. Overpopulation will eventually trump even the most harshest conservation standards. It usually takes a largescale disaster to force people to change their worldview, so I don't have faith in democratic governments to be a large mover until that happens. UN ecological summits just agree to backlog problems into the next generation. Progress is being achieved through corporations who have the forsight to recognize sustainability and they realize how resource shifts affect their bottom line. The first step would be to aim for the ISO14001 standard which inventories a product's envt. impact from cradle to grave. The ideal would be to create a zero waste chain for its materials. China could also be a big mover with its plans to design and build several green cities with William McDonough as consultant. Buildings and infrastructure would be planned to the molecule. Its sewage system would also serve its people with recycled water and energy. Buildings wouldn't be noted for being Green because they all would be. China's command economy gives the country the potential to leapfrog other industrial nations in green technology and infrastructure because it doesn't have to face grandfathered opposition, profit minded lobbyists against treehuggers are ignored, the brown infrastructure isn't entrenched, it has the numbers to mature new technology with its economy of scale, and its government realizes the current consumption and cost/benefit standards is not sustainable with its population. China's dirty environment as a result of its explosive growth could give everyone a cleaner future with the plans they're setting now.
I'm not sure if i think global warming is happening. However the way humans treat nature is not good. I do not understand how people can just destroy nature because it makes them a bit more money. A big problem is that a lot of people are poor and you cannot expect from them that they care a lot for nature(since they have trouble staying alive). But the people who are rich do not do enough to help nature. In my believe we (humans) will destoy mammal life on our planet(including our own). And when we are gone The earth will still be here and new Organisms will life on our planet. but i do not think Mammals will be so dominant(altough there are people who say insects are more dominant then mammals). I do not believe we humans are able to destroy earth and all the nature, Nature will survive when we will not, only not the nature we know today.
It is still a research topic if global warming is a natural fluctuation or an actual trend. NASA and EPA spend hundreds of millions each year to fund such research. Various information has been collected with more and more evidence supporting global warming as a trend. People can take sides on what they want to believe. However, they have got to think about the consequence. There is no way that human can afford the results from global warming, i.e., increasing natural hazards, elevating sea level from the melting of arctic ice. Some models predict that cities like New York would be underwater in several hundred years.
No offense guys but get out of the stone age; the jury is not still out on global warming, the verdict is in. It's as much reality as gravity. Some silly UPI (UPI btw is now owned by the moonies) report by an unknown russian crackpot isn't going to change it unfortunately.
I agree that the Weather is changing, however i'm not confinced it is only because of (human made)global warming. I do think that factorys are not good for Nature. I'm just not confinced about global warming. But i'm in favor of not taking chances. So I am in favor of a lot of restrictions for Industy etc.
MONEY MAKES THE WORLD GO ROUND, LOL LOL. NOT SOME STUPID POLAR BEAR. POLAR BEARS SUCK!!!!!!!! BOO!!! GO BACK TO WHERE YOU CAME FROM YOU STUPID POLAR BEAR!!!!!!!
Man if you are serieus you could actually be the first person i Add to my ignore list. (i didn't even put Bigtexx and T_J on my iognore). Some people really have no perspective.
Sure, let's see you say that to his face.. You know, if the Russian fellow is correct about the decreasing solar emissions.. and assuming global warming is an actual man-made trend.. we could potentially see the Earth getting both warmer and cooler over the next few decades. I wonder if this will all balance out nicely, or (as is more likely) throw our climate into complete chaos
No, im not serious, when i type in all caps, i'm being stupid. But on the serious issue: Do i find it absurb that people care more about the Alaskan wildlife than Alaskan oil? yes If you're offended by this idea, don't complain about the price of oil. Because there is a surplus of oil in the US, but enviromentalists don't want to pull the trigger.
No, I will complain when people don't conserve and buy gas guzzling cars etc. We are destroying wildlife for Hummer SUVs etc and it's pathetic. Nature is everything. When it's gone it will all have been in vain.
Global Warming is not debated in the science community, it is accepted reality. Cyclical climate change is historically accurate, on a LARGE time scale. Recent changes in temperature and CO2 concentrations do NOT fit the "cycle" that anti-global-warming corporate stooges reference. That is the distinction.
