Kim, damn good call. People are arguing about cause, and in the process, ignoring the effect and possible remediation. Rome is burning while Nero fiddles. Nobody on this list (that I'm aware of, anyway, my apologies if someone here is doing the science) is a practicing environmental scientist with the means to conduct meaningful research on the causes of global warming. Any "debate" here has always been just a case of dueling Websites, always carefully chosen to bolster the poster's personal stance. It goes nowhere, nobody's mind is ever changed. You may as well tell someone that they practice their religion incorrectly. See how far you get when you challenge someone's belief system. Some people deeply involved in this "debate" obviously don't have conventional jobs that require large blocks of time on a daily basis. Heck, I couldn't begin to check out all the Websites mentioned here, on any subject, and can't until I retire! Some of us still have to work for a living. (darnit!) Just dashing-out an opinion once in a while is about the extent of our free Internet time. Yes, changes are coming, and we had better be prepared for them. Millions, perhaps billions of people are going to suffer. Starvation, mass migration, war, inflation, you name it. I've always thought it illustrative that earth is bordered by two planets of opposite extremes. Venus demonstrates a crushingly thick, corrosive, runaway greenhouse effect atmosphere, and Mars has lost almost all of the atmosphere it once had. It's as if both extremes have been placed in plain sight for us to see with our own eyes. Perhaps it's up to us to exercise some wise stewardship and not take anything for granted, lest our eventual fate parallels either Venus' or Mars'. It's time to just stop adding unnecessary emmisions to the atmosphere, period. Playing guessing games or the blame game gets us nowhere and wastes time. If the research isn't sufficient to draw a conclusion, fine, but don't add fuel to the fire regardless, until the facts are truly known. It doesn't hurt to cut emissions while the studies continue. Or am I simply, totally, off the mark here? On 5/22/07, Kim <kimharch@cut.net> wrote:
I just caught a few minutes of a piece on NPR's "All Things Considered," discussing rising ocean temperatures and how they may relate to increased storm activity. One person made the most accurate statement regarding the "debate" that I've heard. To paraphrase, "People should know that the climate is warming and be prepared for it."