Hi Mike, I really like what you wrote about shaking hands with the person who grew your food. The next question might be; if we do not love this planet enough to stop GHG emmissions will their come a time when the climate will not be condusive to growing food?
Terry Dyck >From: "M&K DuPree" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Reply-To: biofuel@sustainablelists.org >To: <biofuel@sustainablelists.org> >Subject: Re: [Biofuel] Carbon Freeze? >Date: Sun, 22 Oct 2006 09:55:17 -0500 > >Quote at the end of the article: The point is not whether Gaia is alive or >not, but rather, whether we can learn to love life enough to save the >planet. -- Colin Wright > >The challenge to this learning is essentially that most of us are basically >unplugged from the planet. When was the last time your feet actually >touched the ground and not concrete? When was the last time you looked the >grower of your food in the eye and shook his or her hand? How many more >questions like this can we all ask? Perhaps this article will help us gain >a bit of motivation to accept the challenge, if for no one else, our >children. Mike DuPree > >----- Original Message ----- >From: "Keith Addison" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >To: <biofuel@sustainablelists.org> >Sent: Wednesday, October 18, 2006 11:00 AM >Subject: [Biofuel] Carbon Freeze? > > > > http://eatthestate.org/11-03/CarbonFreeze.htm > > (October 12, 2006) > > > > Carbon Freeze? > > > > Recently I've been reading "Revenge of Gaia" by James Lovelock. > > Though it sounds like a science fiction novel (and some will critique > > it that way), it is in fact an impassioned plea for recognizing the > > depth of the climate crisis and a call to action. > > > > Gaia, or the notion of a living planet Earth, was proposed by > > Lovelock in the 1960s when he was a planet scientist for NASA looking > > at the inert atmosphere of Mars. It occurred to him that life itself > > on Earth was manipulating the atmosphere to its own benefit. While > > the Earth Science community has now recognized that our planet does > > indeed self-regulate its temperature and composition, it shies away > > from Lovelock's contention that there is an active, willful component > > to Gaia. > > > > Now Lovelock is back, arguing that the regulating mechanisms are > > failing; in fact, that Gaia has a fever and is raising her > > temperature to get rid of us. As anthropomorphic as this notion is, > > Lovelock at 82 is no crackpot. I recently saw him at the University > > Bookstore, and he comes across as the genteel but sharp-witted > > English scientist that he is. As a fellow of the Royal Society, > > Britain's most prestigious science organization, he is on top of the > > latest climate science. And unlike most scientists, he feels that his > > objectivity is not compromised by speaking out. > > > > Much of the science in the book is familiar: the hockey-stick-like > > rise in global temperatures in recent years, the dramatic loss of ice > > in Greenland and the Antarctic and Arctic, the melting permafrost, > > etc. But Lovelock adds some new twists and goes beyond the smooth and > > linear temperature increases that characterize the IPCC predictions. > > For Lovelock, discontinuities and tipping points in the form of > > sudden temperature rises will bring irreversible change and add up to > > a bleak future where humanity itself is threatened. > > > > Lovelock advances the notion that the Earth is returning to a new hot > > state, about eight degrees Centigrade warmer, that will last a > > hundred thousand years or more. Such an episode did occur about 55 > > million years ago, when massive methane releases overwhelmed the > > planet. As corroborating evidence that we could enter a new hot > > state, Lovelock points to his computer simulations that mimic algae > > growth in the oceans. According to his model, when carbon dioxide > > levels begin to exceed about 500 parts per million, the ocean algae > > with their ability to absorb carbon and promote cloud cover become > > extinct, leading to an abrupt jump in global temperature of around > > eight degrees. This sort of temperature jump would turn much of the > > planet into scrub and desert, which together with massive flooding > > would lead to a catastrophic die-off in the human population. > > > > To be sure, these sorts of predictions are speculative at this stage. > > The new IPCC report is due out next year (and it is rumored to be > > frightening). But it would be foolish to ignore the possibility that > > letting carbon dioxide levels rise to 500 ppm would put the lives of > > billions of people at risk. (Note, according to Paul Roberts' "The > > End of Oil," that even if we stabilized carbon emissions at current > > levels--a carbon freeze--we will reach 520 ppm by 2100. If we do > > nothing, we will hit 550 ppm by mid-century.) > > > > Even if we have already passed a point of no return, Lovelock > > advocates replacing our fossil fuels as soon as possible to slow the > > temperature increases and to buy us more time. He proposes a range of > > alternative energies, including nuclear fission, until we can develop > > nuclear fusion, which is still decades away from feasibility, if at > > all. > > > > Getting off of fossil fuels may be easier than Lovelock thinks. He > > seems to be unaware of peaking global oil supplies. Retired Princeton > > geology professor Ken Deffeyes is still sticking to his December 2005 > > prediction for global peak oil. His new evidence? New data from the > > US Energy Information Administration that world crude oil production > > peaked at 85.1 million barrels a day last December and then declined > > to 84.3 million barrels this past June. > > (www.energybulletin.net/20518.html). A temporary downturn, perhaps. > > (Chris Skrebowski, editor of Petroleum Review, with his > > field-by-field analysis, still sticks to his 2010/2011 peak.) > > > > Meanwhile knowledge of the coming energy crisis seems scant in > > Seattle. Portland and San Francisco city councils have already passed > > Peak Oil resolutions, setting up committees to study how their city > > will react and prepare for the coming high energy prices and > > shortages. Energy analyst Matt Simmons thinks the genie is now out of > > the bottle and peak oil and gas will dominate the 2008 election > > (www.energybulletin.net/21055.html). > > > > Al Gore, well aware of the global warming/peak oil systems crisis, > > and who has done more than anyone recently to wake up lethargic > > Americans, is calling for an immediate carbon freeze, followed by > > steep declines. Gore, who has singled out Ballard as a model > > neighborhood for carbon reductions, will be speaking in Seattle on > > Oct. 23rd at Key Arena. > > > > The hope is that the challenges of the coming decades will pull us > > together. The doctrines that the Republicans and neocons are > > pushing--infinite war, market worship, massive debt to drown the > > government, a police state--will be wholly inadequate in the new > > environment. They need to be trashed as soon as possible. New ideas > > about alternative energy and conservation, about global cooperation, > > and most of all, about the empowerment of us all to use our > > collective energies for the public good will be essential. > > > > The point is not whether Gaia is alive or not, but rather, whether we > > can learn to love life enough to save the planet. --Colin Wright > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Biofuel mailing list > > Biofuel@sustainablelists.org > > >http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org > > > > Biofuel at Journey to Forever: > > http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html > > > > Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 > > messages): > > http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/ > > > > > > > >_______________________________________________ >Biofuel mailing list >Biofuel@sustainablelists.org >http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org > >Biofuel at Journey to Forever: >http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html > >Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 >messages): >http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/ > _________________________________________________________________ Experience Live Search from your PC or mobile device today. http://www.live.com/?mkt=en-ca _______________________________________________ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/