Biotech Values

[microcapfun]

Global warming

>>I don't think there is any dispute that the earth has gotten warmer just whether the majority of that increase is due to human actions or uncontrollable natural global changes. I'm a believer that human actions have had an immaterial impact to global warming.<<

Anyone who understands the CO2 - temperature plot should have great difficulty in doubting that human actions are directly responsible for global warming.

http://zfacts.com/metaPage/lib/zFacts-CO2-Temp.gif
http://whyfiles.org/211warm_arctic/images/1000yr_change.jpg

It's really that simple. Burn wood, coal and gasoline, and you release CO2 into the air. Release CO2 into the air and more radiation from the sun is trapped rather than re-radiated into space, by known and very well-understood chemistry. So the temperature goes up. If you don't believe the details of the modeling, that's fine. They are quite complicated and not all the effects are under good control. But at least believe the correlation, which is obvious from the graphs and from basic science. And appreciate from the plots that the CO2 concentration and temperature are increasing at an increasing rate . It is this acceleration of the problem that is the most worrying thing. At some point you are so far out of equilibrium that even reducing CO2 emissions to 0 won't solve the problem. The system approaches a new equilibrium state which looks less like our present Earth and more like the present Venus.

That's why we don't have the luxury to wait another decade or two until the models are accurate enough to determine whether when we will pass the 'tipping point', the point of no return. The answer may be that we've already passed it ...

"Reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled."

micro