CobblyWorlds, I compliment your handle; a piece of work and open to lots of interpretations.
I agree with your assessment that peak oil spell trouble for the global atmosphere. US military and coal-States governors are teaming up with speculators to provide future oil supply with coal liquids. Even Senator (now Presidential hopeful) Barack Obama is encouraging federal support for coal to liquids. Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer boasts the following: With a demonstrated reserve base of 120 billion tons, Montana's coal is, in liquid terms, over one quarter the size of the entire Middle East oil reserve--enough fuel to power every American car for decades. see the following link for his depressing projection of the contribution Montana will make to the well-being of our children: http://governor.mt.gov/hottopics/faqsynthetic.asp Ignore his rhetorical nonsense about carbon sequestration and storage (I realize CCS is the mantra for those promoting clean coal but words will not make that a reality...the (can do) way of marching forward without the corporate (will do) or the geologic formation (cannot do). The Governor has a selling job to do and he makes a presentation that would make a good demo for AMWAY sales agents. And, I too sense trouble ahead in the stated views of James Annan when he says: [Anyway, my complaint is primarily with those who have clearly asserted that yields are going to go down due to climate change.] He might not be ready to saddle the South Australian drought to climate change, just yet. Though, there is observation of a shift in the subtropical jet stream being drawn closer to the Antarctic pole by the tightening of the Antarctic Polar Vortex. It seems to be pulling the South Australian coast precip patterns with it. Australia wheat crop is down by 60 percent this year and China is feeling the hurt of lower yields, expanding desertification and drought. Throw in the melting Himalayan glaciers that are headwaters for five major rivers in South Asia, home to nearly 600 million people reliant upon those rivers for irrigation. Should I also mention the Ogallala Aquifer and the Rocky Mountain snow pack diminishing water availability in the Western North American grain basket. It takes more than miracle seeds to grow the crop. Am I getting too gloom and doom). There is hope and there is reality? We need both but economies and civilizations plan best from the standpoint of the latter. Sure, Wall Street is on a rocket ride but that does not mean all is well with the American economy. Petrodollars, CEO mega bonuses and real estate investment pull back means more investments into the only game in town. But, our children will have to tax themselves into pauperism to cover the $40 trillion-plus unfounded mandates and federal debt hanging over their heads. These pieces do fit into the AGW picture and are related to the US fix. And, that fiscal straightjacket will work against much of what Americans will have to do to adapt to and mitigate the AGW crisis. When the engine room is taking on water, one solution might be to flip the boat over. To me, that sounds a lot like Governor Schweitzer up there on the bridge shouting in the captains� ear. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups Global Change ("globalchange") newsgroup. Global Change is a public, moderated venue for discussion of science, technology, economics and policy dimensions of global environmental change. Posts will be admitted to the list if and only if any moderator finds the submission to be constructive and/or interesting, on topic, and not gratuitously rude. 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/globalchange -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
