Originally Posted by xyzdonna  Hi Geof,
Sorry, didn't mean to be equivocal. Let's take it from the top. I pointed out that the Optimum perhaps wasn't as pervasive as what we're facing now. You summarily dismissed this. You may be right. Perhaps the Optimum was the genesis of the biblical floods, (pardon the pun) who knows. Let's conjecture on and assume you're right. What I meant by a confluence of events was a large increase in global population in conjunction with man made global warming. I think that the increase in population is what is causing global warming. I think that this may be an even greater problem than the global warming. You pointed out that because CO2 is going up, that didn't necessarily imply a cause and effect relationship with global warming. Kind of like the point I made about the post hoc fallacy, just because one event precedes another doesn't necessarily imply a cause and effect relationship. Maybe, in this case I think it does. What happened 6,000 years ago? Maybe a lot of volcaneos went off at once and spewed a lot of stuff, maybe changes in the earth's orbit, something happened. Something else is happening now and it's probably man made. The question becomes how far will it go. Will we totally melt the polar ice caps and have to deal with the sea level rise that would portend. It may make those 6 to 8 degrees that you allude to look like a cold front. We need to consider what we are doing to the planet with rationality and science. Then take action if it looks like it's going past the tipping point. We may be taking our world way past what happened 6,000 years ago.
Donna |
xyzDonna...
Not to attack you from two fronts....but....
If we, humans, are these horrible parasites slowly killing our host, Earth...then how do you explain not one, but several meteorite impacts throughout history (The one in Siberia (Tanguskie?), the one that supposedly ended or ushered the end of the dinosaurs reign, the one in Mauritania, the one in the Nazca Plains in Central America...) that would have had an impact considerably greater than any nuclear blast...and surely contributed to global weather patterns (When Mt. St. Helens exploded, its ash traveled as far away as Italy on the air currents and released millions of tons of toxic gases...and had an adverse effect on the following winter) but miraculously, Earth survived those catastrophic bombardments, but now, little puny man, with his SUV is killing the earth? Give me a break. Please.
ADAPT or DIE. That is how man has managed to go from hairless ape to top of the foodchain. Harsh as it sounds, adapting is better from an EVOLUTIONARY standpoint than any technological solution. We are after all, organic, biologic creations. We must evolve or go extinct. Technology is not our savior, it is our creation. I will not bow to any virtual "Jesus" that the NEO-GREENIES parade about as the way to salvation...but I just may pass on stronger genes to my children that will keep them alive if this impending BBQ you call GW/CC is indeed the new Armageddon. I hope that you have strong genes to pass on to your children as well. I damn sure don't want my children having machines be their protectors. I want my children to be strong enough to deal with adversity. Not coddled in some bubble-wrapped air-conditioned techno nanny cubicle.