Hi All Chris Green's argument implies some universal time scale. But geologists and cosmologists would have very different views on what are short and long times from those of explosives engineers and chip designers. This means that instead of the popular general usage we should look at the mathematical definitions of catastrophe which contain words like bifurcation, singularity, instability, cusp, changes of slope and irreversibility which fit well with arguments about Arctic ice and methane. You can even get catastrophic behaviour from algebraic equations.
The relevant time scale could be related to the time taken for political realization to lead to the correct the adaptation. There is evidence from ice cores that some climate events can occur much more quickly than our present politics and technology are able to adapt. It would be better to have a response before it is needed that when it is too late Stephen Emeritus Professor of Engineering Design School of Engineering and Electronics University of Edinburgh Mayfield Road Edinburgh EH9 3JL Scotland tel +44 131 650 5704 fax +44 131 650 5702 Mobile 07795 203 195 [email protected] http://www.see.ed.ac.uk/~shs Christopher Green, Prof. wrote: > A dictionary (Webster's) definition of "catastrophe" is: "a sudden and > terible event, e.g. an earthquake, flood or tornado, any disster affecting > one or more persons". > > By this definition a giant meteorite hitting earth is a "catastrophe", but > the relatively slow workings of climate change, while likely to be very > serious, is not well-described as a "catastrophe". > > For this reason, the cautionary position taken by Alan, and by Tom Wigley, > and that are implicit in Ken's many clarificatory statements and in the Bala > article he recently circulated, are well taken. > > Level-headedness, to say nothing of science and political judgment, might > benefit by (a lot) less use of the "c" word. > > Chris Green > > > -- The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in Scotland, with registration number SC005336. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "geoengineering" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/geoengineering?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
