Beware how you meddle with climate change

Financial times ^ | 13 Jan 06 | Robert Mathews

[rellimpank]

Everyone knows trees are "A Good Thing". They take in the carbon dioxide that threatens our planet with global warming and turn it into fresh, clean oxygen for us all to breathe.

But now it seems we need to think again. In a discovery that has left climate scientists gasping,

[rellimpank]

--that has left climate scientists gasping,--

I really like that line--

[Semper Paratus]

"Don't think that I shall never see",
"A poem as lovely as a tree"

[mtbopfuyn]

And to think cows and trees are bad for the Earth.

[randog]

...preliminary estimates suggest that living trees and plants account for about 10 to 30 per cent of the methane entering the atmosphere.

Hmmmm....does this mean that loggers get "carbon credits" for cutting down trees, the more the better?

[jimfrommaine]

Anything we can do to promote global warming is great. Last winter we had stretches in Maine where it was 10 below zero. This past week it's been in the 40's. It's great.
And with more global warming, it will ease our energy crisis. And hopefully if the poles melt, the liberals that live in cities on the east and west coast will float away. God bless global warming!

[sit-rep]

This could throw a redwood sized monkey wrench into the tree huggers and global warmers gear box...that is of course, if it gets any serious media attention...

[rellimpank]

--It's especially good news to me, since I make a point of putting small batteries in the trash and on Earth Day, go out and kill a tree---(sarcasm)

[Mamzelle]

re: it is an entirely natural side-effect of plant growth that scientists had somehow missed.)))

LOL!! Who'd a thunk it?

[grayforkbeard]

I love the sound of chainsaws in the morning.

[r9etb]

I guess it's just another example of trying to describe a hideously complicated, feedback-driven system, in terms of a very few easily measured parameters.

Economists had to admit their failure on this score back in the mid-70s -- and economies are nowhere near as complicated as the Earth's climate and ecosystems.

[VeritatisSplendor]

There is no longer any serious debate about the reality of global warming. Some may still quibble about its causes, but the focus is on what nations should do to ameliorate the effects of climate change.

The first part of this quote from the article is correct: global warming is real, and the scientific debate is whether it is part of a naturally-occurring cycle or whether it is caused by human activity. But the 2nd part of the quote is stupid -- before you can focus on what nations SHOULD do, you need to know what nations CAN do, and we don't know that; furthermore, even if we did know what was possible, it is not at all clear we would even WANT to "ameliorate" global warming -- if the world were warmer it might become a lot wealthier because of easier agriculture and more habitable areas.

[Ditto]

We should count ourselves lucky that, for once, politicians do not share such delusions of omniscience.

Did someone say delusions?

[Bob Buchholz]

Reagan was right again. Trees DO kill people!

[TexasCajun]

"Touch that thermostat one more time & it's a timeout for you!"

[Real Cynic No More]

Well, all that carbon has to be someplace. After all, there are only a finite number of finite atoms. If they're not going into CO2, then what will they become? I like the idea of converting a lot of carbon compounds into C2H5OH.

[TexasCajun]

"Touch that thermostat one more time & it's a timeout for you!"

[pennboricua]

you are right when he first brought this up, they made more fun of him than they normally did.

[treffner]

romans 1:22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools