Greenhouse-gas levels highest for 650,000 years

news@nature.com ^ | 24 November 2005 | Michael Hopkin

[amigatec]

Well if you believe in creationism like I do then the Earth is only about 6000 years old, so all this data is just a bunch of hogwash.

[cb]

yeah, but....isn't CO2 only 4% of greenhouse gases? And how did co2 exceed this level 650k ago?

If you know the answer, you can find the "evidence"

[TexGuy]

Well if you believe in creationism like I do then the Earth is only about 6000 years old, so all this data is just a bunch of hogwash.

Yep ... Its down the drain ...

(ducks low to avoid being hit by flying barbs)

[phantomworker]

That's not to say that current rises in temperature are due to natural shifts, as some climate-change sceptics have claimed. "The CO2 emitted now is not part of the natural cycle,"...

Thanks for the post and the reminder. Too often, we get caught up in our mundane day to day tasks and forget we need to take care of the planet as well. ==> We lose sight of the big picture and can't see the forest for the trees.

[GreenAccord]

yeah, but....isn't CO2 only 4% of greenhouse gases? And how did co2 exceed this level 650k ago?

This is the main point of divergence when you think this true. An environmentalist whacko, when told this fact, and how human intervention might up this to 4.25% (my figure, only to serve to argue the point), will tell you that the additional 0.25% will thrust the entire climate out of whack. But then you need simply point out that volcanoes pump out equivalent, even greater amounts of CO2 (and pollutants) and the earth swallows it up, readjusting and stabilizing in only a few months.

Human involvement in the climate is anecdotal, at best.

[Sam Cree]

The fractions being referenced in the article are really very small. To me, a non scientist, they would seem to fall within the margin of error.

[Free Baptist]

Yes! The Chinese will be the great predictors of our environment! (sarcasm).

I was eating in a restaurant at the Hebei Guest House, Shijiazhuang City, China (3 hours by train south of Beijing), and I was chatting with an Italian who was there inspecting and servicing environmental protection equipment in factories.

"Chinese factories have environmental protection equipment?" I asked.
"Certainly! They have to install it as part of their agreements to get World Bank loans for development" was the Italian's reply.
I went on, "It must be tough to keep it all serviced in this filthy environment."
"Not at all," he answered, "The equipment is as clean as the day it was installed."
"How is that?!" I asked in amazement.
The Italian explained, "The equipment has to be installed and inspected by the World Bank people in order to get the loans, but it is never turned on; never used. It requires too much power and maintenance. They got their money. The equipment sits there unused. My job is easy."

It seems that the periodic inspections are required, and the technician must sign off that the equipment remains properly in place and serviceable. He is not required to report whether the equipment is actually used.

This is how the Chinese do business. The Chinese say that we Americans are "TOO HONEST," and therefore they can beat us! They have no moral compunction to be honest in the INTENT of contracts, and the environmental equipment situation is a real illustration. If any American thinks that the Chinese are going to REALLY comply with copyright and trade mark laws or agreements (for yet another example), they are very naive and gullible. These are reasons that I am opposed to the willy-nilly free trade agreements we foster worldwide.

[bandleader]

I think he did?Wasn't that book he wrote called"The Earth In A Lurch"??

[bandleader]

Exactly!Why should cattle have all the fun!!We enjoy FLATULENCE too!!!

[bandleader]

After reading this,I got up and put on my cd of "In A Yugo"by Paul Shanklin!

[bandleader]

I'm reminded of the weather reports stating that"This Is The Hottest Summer In One Hundred Years"!!What were WE doing to make it(the weather)so hot one hundred years ago???

[ChadGore]

Well then, we better start exterminating the whole of mankind.

After all, we are the problem, right?

[phantomworker]

ping. What's your take? Just curious.

[aliquando]

Good point. Care to extrapolate on it?

[mountn man]

I am pretty good at remembering the sequences and processes, but stink at dates.(ask my wife!)

May I suggest bathing?

Your wife must have found something worthy in you, if your dating life were so bad, and still she married you.

[upcountryhorseman]

According to tree rings, there was a 500 year drought with
associated warming millions of years ago in the West. Long
before humans inhabited earth.

[mountn man]

These numbers are off the top of my head, but its seems to me that the world has been through some drastic changes. Most of it has happened while life has been present.

Are you saying man because of his presence is responsible for these changes?

Early man (cavemen) caused greenhouse gasses by his flatulence.

You had stinky dates.

Therefore you're a caveman. :)

[aliquando]

To quote some Monty Python, " I fart in your general direction". Your a funny guy mm. I do believe that man has added greenhouse gasses to the atm., however I believe our impact is minimal when compared to mother nature. A few good volcanoes can make our input look minuscule.

[mountn man]

A few good volcanoes can make our input look minuscule.

don't you mean OUTPUT?

That orrifice was not made for input.

[Matchett-PI]

"...the Earth is only about 6000 years old.."

You embarrass yourself.