There is a theory that the "little ice age"(1400-1800) was caused by the fresh water of the glacier melt affecting the underwater cycle of the gulf stream current, stopping it "cold".
Saline density being the key factor. Any bites on this one?
Posted by TIKI AL at March 20, 2006 02:52 AMUmm,Didn't Bushco vehemently complain when Hussein insisted on gov't minders sitting in the room when they talked to IAEA and assorted weapons inspectors saying it would slant/taint their testimony because they would be fearful of retribution from Hussein. My how quickly times have changed and how far our country has fallen!
Did I mention how much I despise the policies and actions of this administration and the corrupt corporate crony republicon enablers running this country. Worst. Administration. Ever!
Posted by emal at March 20, 2006 04:27 AMD'oh! note to self, must have coffee before posting first thing in the AM.
Yes forgot to mention this, Hussein insisted on gov't minders when the IAEA and weapons inspectors talked to Iraqi scientists.
Posted by at March 20, 2006 04:36 AMMary, WE ARE the problem. What are we all going to do, suddenly get jobs close enough to home to walk to work? Discontinue flying for all but the most dire emergencies? Everyone is suddenly going to forgo using electricity except when absolutely necessary, reading by candlelight, washing dishes and clothes by hand? Our lifestyle is like that aircraft carrier the captain is ordered to turn around and head in the opposite direction. Slow, ponderous and requiring much time, room and exertion to achieve. Should we do it? Sure, oil will eventually run out but the development of alternatives will only happen when the pain and expense of finding and extracting oil are nearly unbearable. Can we halt the destruction of the enviroment, global warming and the rising of the seas before it's too late and millions have suffered and died? Not likely.
Posted by steve duncan at March 20, 2006 05:38 AMSell beachfront property. Pronto.
I would hope that this story shocked exactly nobody. Everything these fucking losers in BushCorp do is politicized. See, we are the suckers for living in the reality based community according to the wingnuts, who gulp their Karl Kool-Aid like frat boys at a keg stand. Ah, but the joke is on them, for they surely will suffer the most when the train comes roaring down the tracks to which they are bound.
I long for the day of reckoning. The sooner, the better. Let's get it on, BushCorp. Let's have it out. We'll see who's really tough.
Responsible, enlightened, forward thinking, (i.e. "liberal") humans would immediately plan and undertake activities that would be a sacrifice, but would preserve the miraculous stable climate we have enjoyed for over 12,000 years.
Since such people are currently a very small minority in the country most responsible for the relevant pollution, and we don't have much time, it's hard to be optimistic. Whatever happens, Hansen is a national treasure--a responsible American speaking for the world and its millions of species.
TIKI, I think one of the theories is that as the planet warms, and northern ocean salinity decreases from ice melt, this change in water densities "shuts down" the warm water "conveyor belt" currents which move warmer southern waters to the Northern Hemisphere, destroying the moderate climate of, say, Northern Europe, bringing on a new ice age (not a "little" one), and beginning a cooling process. One theory.
Needless to say, many millions of species will die with such climate upheaval---but probably not the horrendous human---which has the staying power of the rat or the cockroach.
Prediction: the Reactionary Right's next global warming tactic will be to say it's too late to do anything about it. The vile turds, they better start praying that the Rapture is indeed a figment of their lunatic ravings.
Posted by euzoius at March 20, 2006 06:24 AMIf humanity can effect the global weather/climate so easily, then why can we not fix it so easily.....
Why because we can't.
You lefty looney commie socialists, anti-capitalism morons, will do whatever it takes to turn this world into a pit of dispair and hatred.
If its good for capitalism, then you find some farce to limit the Free Market. Now its the weather, regardless if there is any proof for these changes.
note you never mention the dozens of other reports that suggest that the climate change is in the middle of another change the cycles ever hundred or so years. Long before evil capitalism came along.
Or that the Sun's heat has been stronger now than ever in the last 11 years.
Or that the increasing forests that we have, more now than 100 years ago, have more ozone killing producing leaves then almost ever before.
But instead, blame it on BUSH.
You know, I read an article the other day. According to the PEW polling, (I know you like reading polls when Bush is low on them) but this poll showed the Democrats are routinely less happy than republicans....
Did you ever wonder why?
Because you are miserable people. Always complaining, finding fault with everyone for what you think is the right thing. Never any answers, only problems.
Pathetic. . . .How do you stand it? Do the world a favor, do a mass suicide to prove your love of mother nature. That will show us. And perhaps give us another decade of life on this earth before all doom and gloom occurrs.
Sad, so very sad...
Can anyone even imagine the Reactionary Right Wing internet shit-troughs in which Crape gorges himself? What toxic poison to one's intellect. What must it be like to be trapped in that "brain"?
You forgot to take your meds this morning, Crape.
Posted by euzoius at March 20, 2006 07:13 AMSome things are truly sad and pitiful. The reason we're screwed in climate change is that we're still witnessing ontly the beginnings of changes we've already begun. Even if we all stopped producing carbon dioxide and all the cows stopped farting. the Greenland icecap would continue to accelerate its rate of melting, the arctic ocean would continue to remain iceless most, if not all of the year and the ocean levels would continue to rise, FOR ABOUT THE NEXT 25-50 YEARS.
Balanced systems always have tipping points. If you rock just a little too far in a rocking chair, you're going to go over. Once ice that has been forming for 120,000 years begins to melt, it will continue for a long time. Severe droughts, increasingly violent weather and massive flooding is the least of our probable worries. I've been concerned about the "conveyor belt" of ocean cruuents for some time now. That would be the most abrupt and catastrophic climate change I can imagine. The general theory holds that Northern Europe, especially, would, within 10-15 years, plunge into a climate at least 7 degrees colder than it recently has enjoyed. That would be enough to destroy millions of acres of cropland, foster new glaciation and make parts of the northern Atlantic nearly impassible.
What happens if a good percentage of the worlds species suddenly die, including massive numbers of human beings, and our delicately balanced economies get screwed as well? Perhaps 30% of our world's cities would have to be abandoned due to rising ocean levels, or they would all be more vulnerable to greater disaster than New Orleans has yet seen. Once society recovers, what will we do for quick and easy energy resources.
Our current world culture has already sucked all of the readily accessible oil, natural gas and even surface coal. A recovering world economy, struggling to recover from massive shocks just will not have the resources to return to the current wells. or find new ones. What minerals will be readily extractable from played out mines? I fear our generation, vile creatures like ol' 28 Guage DICK, Kenny boy Lay and especially enabling idiots like Carpedickem will be roundly cursed by the next hundred generations.
Posted by DeminNewJ at March 20, 2006 07:34 AMBecause you are miserable people. Always complaining, finding fault with everyone for what you think is the right thing. Never any answers, only problems.
Pathetic. . . .How do you stand it? Do the world a favor, do a mass suicide to prove your love of mother nature. That will show us. And perhaps give us another decade of life on this earth before all doom and gloom occurrs.
Sad, so very sad...
Posted by Carpediem at March 20, 2006 06:48 AM
*****
My vision of the future is an optimistic one, and it is a vision that is devoid of you.
You and your destructive, life-loathing, earth-hating ilk will not be part of the future of this nation or of this world. The time of your reckoning is near, and it will be a decisive and final reckoning.
Posted by God Of War at March 20, 2006 07:48 AMMry, whl m th lst f ll hrd scnc xprts, pls llw m t t lst prvd cpl thghts. Frst, th wrld hs bn gttng wrmr fr thsnds f yrs: snc th lst c g. Rmmbr ll tht glgy stff shwng hw c ct mch f N. mrcn nd N. rp/s? My grndp frmd n f ths glcl vllys.
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Whl glbl wrmng my b ‘ntrl,’ thr s ndd sns f ‘bsnss s nt s sl,’ ths rl cs fr cncrn. Fr w rd n th Bbl tht th rth ‘wll shw wr lk ld clths n th nd-tms,‘ r wrds t tht ffct.
Thrfr, th rl prblm s nt th wrmng f th plnt, bt tht w myb sng nthr jxtpstn f hstrcl fcts lnng-p wth Bblcl nd pnt vdnc.
Nw, w cn’t gt r rhd vtrs t vt fr ppl f Gd-frng bckbn, fr thy vt fr sft dts tht mrrr thr wn sft mgs f mn-md ntns, (whch s whtvr drctn th wnds f chs my blw t th prsnt, lk ths vry scnd) ll grndd n myrd f sclly mbrcd dprvts nd prvrsns tht thy h s nbly lbl s ‘tlrnt,‘ thrby pshng Gd-frng dmcrcy nt th vry byss rsrvd fr thmslvs. ls, s Stv pntd t, r kk dms n th Hll ’fft cn’t vn mstr ngh nrgy t try t st-p cbl-tnk-trp-strtgy. Th nly thng ths dcl pnks r cncrnd wth s wht thy’r gng t t fr lnch nd wth wh, thn, wht prty thy cn vst t ps mprtnt. Mnwhl, r fllw brthrs nd sstrs, mny f thm fthrs nd mthrs, lctd n rn nd Syr, hv thr frhds lsr-trgtd fr dstrctn. Why wld thy vw glbl wrmng s slf-bnfcl? Gt ths: whrs nd whrmngrs r slfsh. Ths pnks lv thr slfsh vmt, t ch thr’s slfsh vmt, nd thn wndr why th lks f myslf, nd vry fw thrs, crtcz thr ttl lck f mrlty. B thr brthrs’ kpr? Glbl wrmng? Fr f Gd? Y wll nt llct shm: bt mst dfntly n vl smrk n cmbntn wth psd-rrgnc.
Nice site. By a way, in Azerbaijan 5 persons died by bird's flu...
Posted by Azerbaijan at March 22, 2006 11:01 PMEarth has not been warmer in the last couple of thousand years (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:2000_Year_Temperature_Comparison.png) and the reason no one mentions the "dozens of other articles" is that they don't exist. At least not in any peer reviewed publication :p
Posted by K at March 27, 2006 01:35 PM