The Conqueror.
Frankly, I am painfully averse to using labeled mountaintops as metaphors. Yep. As hackneyed images, they’re right up there with a sinking Titanic, etc. But I kept coming back to this twist on the image and the term “summit,” as I felt it best expressed what I needed to say. And well, heap scorn upon me if you wish, but here it is….
This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 9th, 2008 at 10:41 am by Matt Davies.
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Perfect. An ineffective response to an imaginary crisis.
I always love it when people refer to global warming as an imaginary issue. So intelligent.
Nice comment from a guy with an imaginary name.
I would like to see some evidence of GW before we dismantle the economy on speculation.
J.
Are you referring to evidence that humans are causing global warming (by overwhelming the earth's natural CO2 "sinks" – trees and other vegetation – with an indisputably unnatural and accelerated 100 year CO2 output.) Or evidence that GW exists, period? Melting of ancient permafrost and polar ice shelves don't do it for you? Either way, I wouldn't worry about hurting our oil-based economy…It's doing a pretty good job of dismantling itself.
Matt, whether there is global warming or not, I disagree that humanity has any significant effect on it. As parts of the earth are warmer than usual, other areas are cooler. I guarantee you I have done more research on this issue than you have. Are you aware that global warming has been detected on other planets? That the earth is presently in one of the cooler cycles of its 3 billion year history? That sunspot activity and natural variations in the earth's orbit have more effect on climate change than anything else? That CO2 makes up 1/3 of 1 percent of our atmosphere? that the human contribution to natural CO2 is a minute fraction of that? That CO2 levels actually follow increased warming and don't cause it? that the famous "hockey stick" graph has been proven a hoax? That the measuring stations which supposedly measure the amount of surface warming are placed in urban areas in order to cook the readings? that the computer models which predict global warming are erroneously based on the earth's atmosphere being infinite? The earth's climate has been, at times, both much hotter than it is now and much cooler. We are well within the range of the natural cycle.
Google Robert Giegengack – the U Penn prof with 50 years experience in studying the earth's climate through the geologic record. See what a real scientist has to say about it, not UN bureaucrats pushing a socialist agenda via the climate change trojan horse.
There are of course an awful lot of highly respected scientists who disagree with Mr. Giegangack. You know, the chances of humans taking any significant action toward climate change are so remote that deep down, I really, really, REALLY hope Robert Giegengack is right. I hate that Al Gore has effectively been the catalyst for turning CO2 into a left/right political issue, seeing as we all live here and it's safe to say we all care what happens to our planet. No matter which political tribe is right on the question of human affect on climate change, the irony is the rapidly rising market price of fossil fuels/oil will effectively cut our CO2 output anyway. The venerable laws of economics will ultimately decide our energy fate.
I agree with you that I think the market will ultimately determine how this plays out, and already the price of oil is stabilizing because people are traveling less. I also regret that politics seems to have taken over where science should come first.
Years ago the issue was driving me crazy because I did not see how we could possibly stop increasing our CO2 output – worldwide, not just the USA – and I have been reading everything I can on the subject, to the point where my beliefs have turned 180 degrees.
J. – I can't figure out how to post a link here, so I'll paste below instead. I certainly don't think the warming trend is completely a result of human activity, but there is no question we are contributing, and some basic changes in the way we go about existing can make a difference. It's not about dismantling the economy, it's about shifting its focus.
National Geographic News
Updated June 14, 2007
Global warming, or climate change, is a subject that shows no sign of cooling down.
Here's the lowdown on why it's happening, what's causing it, and how it might change the planet.
Is It Happening?
Yes. Earth is already showing many signs of worldwide climate change.
• Average temperatures have climbed 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit (0.8 degree Celsius) around the world since 1880, much of this in recent decades, according to NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies.
• The rate of warming is increasing. The 20th century's last two decades were the hottest in 400 years and possibly the warmest for several millennia, according to a number of climate studies. And the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports that 11 of the past 12 years are among the dozen warmest since 1850.
• The Arctic is feeling the effects the most. Average temperatures in Alaska, western Canada, and eastern Russia have risen at twice the global average, according to the multinational Arctic Climate Impact Assessment report compiled between 2000 and 2004.
• Arctic ice is rapidly disappearing, and the region may have its first completely ice-free summer by 2040 or earlier. Polar bears and indigenous cultures are already suffering from the sea-ice loss.
• Glaciers and mountain snows are rapidly melting—for example, Montana's Glacier National Park now has only 27 glaciers, versus 150 in 1910. In the Northern Hemisphere, thaws also come a week earlier in spring and freezes begin a week later.
• Coral reefs, which are highly sensitive to small changes in water temperature, suffered the worst bleaching—or die-off in response to stress—ever recorded in 1998, with some areas seeing bleach rates of 70 percent. Experts expect these sorts of events to increase in frequency and intensity in the next 50 years as sea temperatures rise.
• An upsurge in the amount of extreme weather events, such as wildfires, heat waves, and strong tropical storms, is also attributed in part to climate change by some experts.
Are Humans Causing It?
• "Very likely," the IPCC said in a February 2007 report.
The report, based on the work of some 2,500 scientists in more than 130 countries, concluded that humans have caused all or most of the current planetary warming. Human-caused global warming is often called anthropogenic climate change.
• Industrialization, deforestation, and pollution have greatly increased atmospheric concentrations of water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide, all greenhouse gases that help trap heat near Earth's surface. (See an interactive feature on how global warming works.)
• Humans are pouring carbon dioxide into the atmosphere much faster than plants and oceans can absorb it.
• These gases persist in the atmosphere for years, meaning that even if such emissions were eliminated today, it would not immediately stop global warming.
• Some experts point out that natural cycles in Earth's orbit can alter the planet's exposure to sunlight, which may explain the current trend. Earth has indeed experienced warming and cooling cycles roughly every hundred thousand years due to these orbital shifts, but such changes have occurred over the span of several centuries. Today's changes have taken place over the past hundred years or less.
• Other recent research has suggested that the effects of variations in the sun's output are "negligible" as a factor in warming, but other, more complicated solar mechanisms could possibly play a role.
What's Going to Happen?
A follow-up report by the IPCC released in April 2007 warned that global warming could lead to large-scale food and water shortages and have catastrophic effects on wildlife.
• Sea level could rise between 7 and 23 inches (18 to 59 centimeters) by century's end, the IPCC's February 2007 report projects. Rises of just 4 inches (10 centimeters) could flood many South Seas islands and swamp large parts of Southeast Asia.
• Some hundred million people live within 3 feet (1 meter) of mean sea level, and much of the world's population is concentrated in vulnerable coastal cities. In the U.S., Louisiana and Florida are especially at risk.
• Glaciers around the world could melt, causing sea levels to rise while creating water shortages in regions dependent on runoff for fresh water.
• Strong hurricanes, droughts, heat waves, wildfires, and other natural disasters may become commonplace in many parts of the world. The growth of deserts may also cause food shortages in many places.
• More than a million species face extinction from disappearing habitat, changing ecosystems, and acidifying oceans.
• The ocean's circulation system, known as the ocean conveyor belt, could be permanently altered, causing a mini-ice age in Western Europe and other rapid changes.
• At some point in the future, warming could become uncontrollable by creating a so-called positive feedback effect. Rising temperatures could release additional greenhouse gases by unlocking methane in permafrost and undersea deposits, freeing carbon trapped in sea ice, and causing increased evaporation of water.
Art –
People like J aren't interested in facts. As our esteemed ex-president Ronald Reagan said, "Facts are stupid things."
-jp (believing in the preponderance of Science!)
Art – none of that Nat'l Geo. post is contrary to my lengthy post above – the measuring of temperatures is faulty, the computer models are faulty. I found a Nat'l Geo. from the early 70's in my basement – they were predicting the next ice age back then. My point is, all the hysteria is overblown. We are well within the normal ranges for the earth's history. See Geigengack. please.
jp, I notice you did not try to refute any of the facts that I stated. And Reagan was quoting John Adams' well-known quotation, "facts are stubborn things." He certainly knew the correct words-
it was a simple misstatement-but it makes a funny quote in its own right.