----- Original Message ----- From: "Craig Haynie" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: Global Warming - State of Fear
> > Cow farts.... the 3rd largest source of methane release on the planet. > > http://www.epa.gov/methane/sources.html > > > > Cow-talitic converters? > > But everyone here realizes, (right?), that biological emissions of such > gasses do not contribute to global warming, because the carbon emitted from > a biologic, into the environment, was carbon which was recently pulled by > the biologic, from the environment. In other words, there is no net increase > in greenhouse gasses due to biological life. The problem, (if there is a > problem, and I'm not sure there is), occurs when carbon, which has been > stored deep within the earth for eons, is now pulled from the ground and > emitted into the environment, causing an increase in carbon dioxide in the > atmosphere. This would be the only cause of additional greehnouse gasses in > the atmosphere -- not biological life. > > And, the only way to stop it, is to stop pulling carbon from the ground. It > doesn't help to slow down the process, or reduce greenhouse gas emissions > from cars. As long as carbon is pulled from places where it has not been a > part of the environment, into the environment, there will be a gradual > increase in CO2 in the atmosphere. -------------------------------------------------- A recent cover story in Scientific American presented a very convincing case for human activity contributing to global warming, and it has been going on for thousands of years. The case is based on evaluation of the contents of gas bubbles trapped in ice cores extending back very very long periods. The CO2 and CH4 content cyclically vary with a cycle generated by the earth's orbit about the sun and the earth's precession about its axis. The cycles produce global warming and cooling. Projecting the cycles to the present day would indicate that the earth should have been cooling for the last several thousand years, but it has not. The trend leveled off with the rise of human agriculture and production of methane, and clearing forests, which reduce CO2 capture. The rate of warming has ramped up acutely with the industrial age. This is one of the most persuasive cases for human activity inefereing with the global weather cycles that I have seen. Mike Carrell
