> -----Original Message----- > From: Gruss Gott [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Tuesday, December 28, 2004 12:26 PM > To: CF-Community > Subject: Global Warming (Re: Epic devestation in Asia) > > > Brian wrote: > > The way I see it, sometimes nature just happens. > > > > We seem to think we have some sort of control, for better or worse, over > > everything. It reminds me a little bit of the global warming debate. I > seem > > to recall the earth experienced a massive case of "global warming" > thousands > > of years ago when it came out of the Ice Age....I wonder if we caused > that > > one too?
Just because we didn't cause ALL of the warming events doesn't mean that we aren't causing this one. That logic is completely twisted. (Can a rapist use the defense that he didn't commit the last rape investigated so he must not have committed this one?) The warming after an ice age is caused for much the same reason: an usually large release of CO2 in a short (geologically) time span (several thousand years). As the ice receded it exposes thousands of square miles of dead organic matter which (as organic matter tends to do) rotted. The current case has additional problems. We're releasing vast amounts of CO2 (in this case from fossil fuel consumption) AND we're destroying the available CO2 sinks (the forests and jungles, especially in the Amazon and green ocean algae) which means more of that CO2 ends up in the atmosphere than ever before. The fossil fuel resources that we're expending actually represent former CO2 sinks (forests) as well, so we're not only destroying the current sinks, but we're "unlocking" ancient ones as well. We're also doing things faster than ever. The glaciers of the last ice age took thousands of years to recede and release that CO2 - we're set to match that output in much less time (perhaps much, much less time). Lastly the damage to the ozone still has to figure in completely, but it seems more and more likely that allowing more energetic radiation in through the atmosphere will act as an accelerating factor. It's also becoming quite clear that relatively minor changes in global climate has tremendously vast implications over the long term. Most models are now showing, to circle around, that the last ice age was the result of very small global temperature changes. (As an aside this affects another hobby of mine, the search for intelligent life in the universe. Unfortunately the evidence that small changes create huge implications could also mean that the chances for planets to form in the possibly rather thin "hospitable" zone around a star are very small. Then again atmospheric composition could also play a much larger regulating role and the zone could be quite broad. Anyway... it's not really part of the discussion.) So, is man the only cause of Global Warming? No, of course not. But is he the cause of THIS global warming? Most scientists would agree that in large part, yes he is. At the very least he's a major contributing factor. Jim Davis ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Special thanks to the CF Community Suite Silver Sponsor - RUWebby http://www.ruwebby.com Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:5:141062 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:5 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
