Posted on 06/18/2004 7:19:18 AM PDT by Cobra Scott
The head of one of the world's biggest oil companies has admitted that the threat of climate change makes him "really very worried for the planet".
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Lord Oxburgh's words will also fuel arguments over sequestration. Supporters say it will allow a smoother transition to reduced emissions by allowing us to burn coal, oil and gas for longer. Critics argue that the idea is an expensive and probably unworkable smokescreen for continued reliance on fossil fuels.
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According to a 3,000m (about 10,000ft) ice core from Antarctica revealing the Earth's climate history, carbon dioxide levels are the highest for at least 440,000 years.
excerpted
Thought it might be thought provoking and worthy of remembering the next time some watermelon throws this out.
(the excerpting was out of confusion over Guardian policies, and to highlight the actual interest, in case it is posted elsewhere. Search doesn't show it for me).
What gets me is not whether we're actually having global warming (or FTM whether it's human/US/Halliburton's fault).
What gets me is: who *cares* if some ambient temp raises 1 deg in 100 years?
Yeah, and we know how that 440,000 year-old CO2 level was caused by all those SUVs that Homo erectus was driving around...
Very good points, both of them.
Lord Oxburgh needs to get together with Sir Paul McCartney, and have a song fest. After which they can sell the rights to Michael Jackson, if the lawyers leave him any money, that is.
I'll bet Shell's new reserve to production profile is the lowest of any major in about the last 440,000 years. Shell absolutely stinks when it comes to replenshing reserves, maybe Lord Oxburgh should focus a little more of his energies on Shell's exploration and development problems. Or maybe he's hoping we do away with all fossil fuels in the next decade as Shell at present rates will be out of the oil business by then anyhow.
In response to who cares, I think it may be relevant to point out that the soviets, at least as early as the mid-60s, and probably earlier, had been exploring initiatives to raise the mean global temps by a degree or two, in an effort to gain more arable land. As you probably know, the Ukrainian breadbasket represented the bulk of arable land for them, and it was woefully inadequate for a number of reasons. Hence the importance of US grain exports to the soviets, and the Carter grain embargo strategery. </p>
Even then, it was a huge "concern" for greenies, who claimed that a 1 degree rise would see icebergs floating around Hawaii. Even then they dismissed the Medieval maximum.
Global poison pill? LOL!
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