How Serious Is Global Warming?
A recent international report on climate change raises that question (from the AP):WASHINGTON (AP) -- Later this week in Paris, climate scientists will issue a dire forecast for the planet that warns of slowly rising sea levels and higher temperatures.
But that may be the sugarcoated version.
Early and changeable drafts of their upcoming authoritative report on climate change foresee smaller sea level rises than were projected in 2001 in the last report. Many top U.S. scientists reject these rosier numbers.
Those calculations don't include the recent, and dramatic, melt-off of big ice sheets in two crucial locations:
They "don't take into account the gorillas -- Greenland and Antarctica," said Ohio State University earth sciences professor Lonnie Thompson, a polar ice specialist. "I think there are unpleasant surprises as we move into the 21st century."
I've been frightened by the disappearance of ice sheets in the Arctic and Antarctic for a while, and I'm not sure why polar ice depletion doesn't get more attention.
Related:
Huge Ice Shelf Breaks Off in the Arctic (You Tube)
New Giant Iceberg Adrift Near Antarctica (CNN)
posted by Tinley | 11:37 AM
3 Comments:
"I've been frightened by the disappearance of ice sheets in the Arctic and Antarctic for a while, and I'm not sure why polar ice depletion doesn't get more attention."
Probably because the icepack is GROWING in other parts of the region. And also because this phenomena is not exactly unusual here on the planet. In fact, the glaciers and the ice caps have grown and retreated multiple times in the planets existence. Most people blame the sun. I think the're right.
Your facts are correct, but they don't tell the whole story. For example, this story and this story suggest that the matter is not so simple.
You and I agree completely on this-the story is anything but simple.
That's why many people who are familiar with the almost infinite number of variables that determine the temperature of our planet are EXTREMELY skeptical about anyone who claims that the jury has returned with a verdict as to the cause of the recent change.
There is no denying that global pollution is a problem, and the burning of fossil fuels are the main part of that problem. I wish that people would stop worrying about the temperature of the planet and more about bringing third world countries in to the modern era so the skies of Bejing more resembled Nashville.
The US was able to balance a free market with environmental regulations and the outcome was a better economy and cleaner air. Brow beating people in to submission over the plight of the polar bear is not going to get the skies cleaner any faster in Bejing.
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