Climate change
When they got through the ice, they brought up of all things - ferns! Global climate change has been going on for a long time before man ever came on the scene. It certainly is the epitome and height of arrogance to think that man can have any effect on the weather. Yes, concrete and asphalt, when in high concentrations, can absorb more solar heat that tundra and dirt. The percentage of surface area covered with man made materials is infinitesimal.
Meanwhile in today’s paper, Boulder, Colorado has just had a gathering of global warming scientists who have confirmed global warming. So what? You have ferns in Alaska. They can’t prove that man had anything to do with it. But, those who wish to plan our lives from the womb to the tomb and lower our standard of living so that we all ride bicycles instead of driving cars will push for more government regulation and intrusiveness. Oh dear Mother Earth what shall we do - boo hoo hoo.
George Lilly
Denve
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Ferns in Alaska are no surprise. There is coal in Antarctica. Science has been aware of both for decades. The presence of either is evidence for plate tectonics (ever hear of Pangea?); it does not refute global warming.
The evidence of man's contribution is overwhelming. You might want to research some ice core or atmospheric data.
Posted by on January 24, 2007 01:03 PMOh well that’s it then, everything is ok!
A guy told a guy about ferns in Alaska, Denver is getting lots of snow, and heck we are far too puny to affect the weather.
Case closed, the man has spoken.
Luckily that’s not how science works George, otherwise we would still be wearing scratchy hides and bowing to thunder.
Not only were there ferns in Alaska George, the sea once came pretty close to the Rockies, the Sahara desert was once lush, and the poles were once in completely different places.
None of that changes what is very clear to those that study the subject, man has affected the climate, the climate is changing globally, and it’s changing faster than anything we can see in the geological history.
The effects of this increase in average global temperature are amongst other things; increased hurricane frequency and strength, more droughts in some areas, increased rainfall in others, more severe cold in some places, more severe droughts, and higher summer temperatures in others.
In other words, global warming doesn’t mean everywhere gets warmer all the time, but climate stability changes, and yes, some places get a whole lot colder at times and get a whole lot more snow.
The fact that Alaska once had jungle conditions and not only ferns, but probably cycads too, does not in the slightest way change the consensus that the whole planet is undergoing an average increase in temperature, and nor does it change the fact that human activities have played a role in the climate change.
Far from being puny, our carbon emissions, increased heat output, and changes to the reflectivity and plant types on the ground are substantial, significant, and potent.
Glaciers have retreated to positions that date back hundreds of thousands of years and at a speed that is startling, and we have even seen the recent breakup of a major ice-shelf.
But then maybe by “proof” you mean something other than what science deals in, perhaps you wanted an old guy to come down from the mountain with stone tablets or something. Well, that’s not how science works either, we work on discrete phenomena and follow the facts, and at best science can offer the consensus of its practitioners and the most current theoretical model for consideration.
You can “Boo Hoo” all you want in the face of this worldwide scientific consensus George, but we are in for some rough times ahead and lots of people now living in marginal conditions are going to find life a whole lot more “interesting” over the next few hundred years.
To plan without this in mind is imprudent at best, and fatal at worst.