Great post Blaine. Star from me. Now as to the big picture:
The problem with all these Global-Warming-Holocaust threads is that they keep pointing to observations while ignoring the reasons behind them,
preferring to state only that it has to be 'us' that are causing this. Now, I like the idea of people picking up after themselves. I like the idea
of not wrapping every single item that can be bought in 3 pounds of shrink-wrap. I like the idea of re-using items to their fullest practical extent.
I try to do all these things in my life, pick up after myself, try to not purchase unwieldy loads of plastic to throw away whenever possible, and I
like to believe I am a quasi-genius when it comes to reusing things.
But when it comes to the real intent of Global Warming activists, this isn't the agenda. It's money. CO2 is not some terrible, exotic, carcinogenic,
poisonous, death-wielding, temperature-exaggerating gas. It is the exhaust of all living animals (including us) and the source of carbon (the building
block of all life) for every green plant in existence. That includes the mighty redwood all the way down to algae. As a matter fact, plants thrive
better when the CO2 level increases, in turn exchanging that overage of CO2 for O2, their exhaust which we (and all other animals) breathe.
CO2 is a slight 'greenhouse' gas, meaning it can reflect a mere 6% of the heat that is directed at it. That's not exactly like a blanket on a cold
night. It is also not tremendously extant in the upper levels of the atmosphere, being a bit heavier than other air components like oxygen and
nitrogen, and thereby staying closer to the ground. Add to this that the present concentration of CO2 is about 387 parts
per million by volume
(
source). It would take a concentration of 10,000 parts per million for people to have any
trouble whatsoever (
source) with breathing it.
Much has been made about the correlation between historic warm periods and historic high CO2 levels. That does not mean CO2 levels increase
temperature. It means that either
- High CO2 levels cause high global temperatures
- High global temperatures cause high CO2 levels
- Both phenomena are caused by something else.
We simply do not know which of these are true, as we do not have exact data on the total environmental factors at the times we have studied.
We do have some data that is readily available but is being ignored by the media. Check out
this
link for some interesting information. It seems wind power has been steadily increasing since the early 1980s. Now if you correlate this with
this picture from
NOAA:
external image
It shows how the temperature has been increasing since the 1980s. Hmmm, strange coincidence. We are pulling energy out of the prevailing winds in the
Northern Hemisphere, yet no one seems concerned about what will happen ecologically when that much energy is removed from the prevailing winds. It
might also interest some to note that most of the wind power generated today is in the Northern Hemisphere, and
this map:
external image
indicates that the vast majority of the temperature anomalies are located in the Northern Hemisphere. Another coincidence?
In other words, we
could be causing the global warming effect by relying on so much wind power, not by burning carbon compounds. Yet, there has
not been a peep about this from those so concerned about Global Warming.
There is also a chance that it is something completely beyond our planetary boundaries, such as
this article:
The planet Mars is undergoing significant global warming, new data from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) show, lending
support to many climatologists' claims that the Earth's modest warming during the past century is due primarily to a recent upsurge in solar
energy.
Please visit the link provided for the complete story.
Apparently all that CO2 we have been producing has reached the Martian surface as well.
So, to close this little rant, let's find out what the real problem is before we give in to some silly scheme that politicians are using to try and
add a tax on breathing. Because that's what the Global Warming agenda really is. Al Gore recently stated that (and I paraphrase, can't seem to find
the exact quote right now) 'all carbon emissions will eventually have to be taxed'. That would include the one carbon dioxide producer that isn't
tied to fossil fuel consumption: your breath.
TheRedneck
Edit: OK, how do you get the picture from another site to actually show up?
[edit on 19-7-2008 by TheRedneck]