University of Kansas geography professor Johannes Feddema recently published a paper in the journal Science that lends more credence to the theory of human-caused global climate change. As he told the Lawrence Journal-World, perhaps we shouldn’t wait until all the evidence is in: “We’ll probably never come up with 100 percent proof before it’s way too late to do something about it. So the question is, ‘Do you want to take the chance?’. . . The problem is we only have one planet.”
Posted by Randy Scholfield
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10 Comments
This is something about hunam nature I’ll never understand.
People complain about the aesthetics of windmills over our landscape but are perfectly willing to keep up the dependency on fossil burning fuels even if it drags us into unnecessary wars.
The permafrost in Alaska been frozen for thousands of years and now it’s melting at a rapid pace. Whole Villages are being moved because of this.
Sharks need to be culled from the Alaskan salmon runs, because the waters are warming and welcoming them.
You can believe the weather patterns are all because of a cyclic pattern. What if you’re wrong?
When the ice age struck, were the cavemen telling each other it was just the norm?
It’s our only earth.
I agree. What do we have to lose by finding alternatives to fossil fuels and taking better care of our environment?
I’m really glad that Rush Limbaugh has told me that global warming is nothing but a myth.
I more quickly believe a man who never attended college than I believe the vast majority of biological, chemical, meteorological and environmental researchers collecting reams of hard data showing the contrary.
And I AM NOT a stupid idiot, so stop saying that!
I believe the planet will survive, no matter what we do with it. As far as human beings being around, well… the dinosaurs are gone, maybe we will be too. Especially since we are so evil and destorying the world.
On page 4A is a short blurb about melting permafrost. As carbon-rich histosols and other carbon-rich soils warm and dry they will release their carbon as CO2 and some as methane. This sets in motion a positive feedback loop – warming-CO2-more warming etc. Coupled with the ice-albedo feedback loop as dark earth and ocean absorb what used to be reflected by ice and the positive feedbacks accellerate the warming.
The experiment we are carrying out with our planet is becoming quite interesting. It’s effects are wide-renging; changes in rainfall patterns, record hurricane season, etc. Of course, I am only an “educated idiot” according to Rush and his crew.
A quote from long ago … from a scientist studying it …
W.S. Broecker, 1990
“The inhabitants of planet earth are quietly conducting a gigantic environmental experiment. So vast and so sweeping will be the impacts of this experiment that, were it brought before any responsible council for approval, it would be firmly rejected as having potentially dangerous consequences. Yet, the experiment goes on …”
Ben–the truly sad thing will be that even as the waves come crashing over Miami, the Rush Limbaughs and Bill O’Reilly’s will still be inveighing that “we are right!”
Somebody recently wrote a book about the Easter Islanders who cut down every last giant palm tree on their islands to construct their giant-headed gods, until their religious practices forced their own extermination.
That’s how dumb WE ARE!
Unlike Ben, I don’t have any climate science credentials, unless you count my meteorology merit badge (BSA, 1973) :). But I remember reading a very long time ago (I’m thinking even before 1990) about some of the alarming predictions of what would result from increasing the global mean temperature. Most notably, the polar ice caps would start melting:
http://nsidc.org/iceshelves/larsenb2002/
And we would see more frequent and stronger hurricanes:
http://www.weather.com/newscenter/tropical/?from=wxcenter_news
A lucky guess?
Now, who you gonna believe…one of them new fangled sciencists…or a freakin OxyContin addict…??
Oh, sorry Rush (fitting nickname) EX-OxyContin addict.
I am not a scientist, politician, religious leader, or anything else. As my name implies, just one man out of millions. We (all of us) have spent decades dumping on good old mother earth. Pollutants from crude oil products, agri-sludge (pesticides, herbicides, and all the rest of the cides), waste in any form you want to think about, trash, garbage, ane list goe on and on. For decade upon decade!! And now we are starting to see the results of our actions. This is the world we are giving to our grandchildren. I only hope that they are more forgiving than most of us are.