Re: SOLVING REALLY BIG PROBLEMS

[Nick Palmer]

Jones, I think your post was spot on. If one looks at the geologic record 
there is evidence that there are several stable atmospheric thermal states 
signposted by different levels of atmospheric CO2. It is what happens to 
conditions for life during the changeover periods that concerns me. You 
pinpoint the dangers of runaway climate change accurately and it is 
precisely this danger which seems to be discounted at Government levels, 
inasmuch as an argument they advance is the "we must delay until the science 
is certain" one. As I am sure you appreciate, this is an insane risk. By the 
time the final verdict as to whether humans can definitively screw up the 
climate is in, it will be much too late to do anything about it. Putting 
excess levels of sequestered carbon from fossil fuels back into the 
atmosphere is experimenting with the climate plain and simple. We cannot 
afford to complete the experiment to see what happens because the 
consequences of doing so could be catastrophic. We cannot wait for the 
verdict of science - we need STRATEGY now. I have long held the view that 
cold fusion (or Blacklightpower etc) holds out great hope because, frankly, 
humanity en masse seems too stupid to take the necessary action for itself.