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,

[AuH2ORepublican]

Maybe President Reagan was right when he declared in 1981 that "trees cause more pollution than automobiles do."

[ModelBreaker]

But last month Nature published new research showing aerosols may be twice as effective at keeping the earth cool as was thought. Suddenly, wholesale closure of power stations no longer seems such a good idea.

This has always seemed like a good idea to greens and will continue to sound like a good idea, regardless of the science. What greens think our society should look like has nothing to do with science.

[Mike Darancette]

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

It goes to show Scientists that Scientists don't know what Scientists don't know.

[TheForceOfOne]

Killed the flatulent cows, burn them all!

Wait, make mine medium well please.

[KC Burke]

Article:
Now it seems that deforestation - that bête noire of the environmentalist movement - may have helped combat the rise of this greenhouse gas. While no one is suggesting chopping down the world's trees to save the planet, the new research highlights the astonishing complexity of environmental science. Measures to combat climate change that once seemed simple common sense are turning out to be anything but.

I think we need more roads and parking lots, especially in Atlanta. If 16 lanes can't be made to work, I say let's have 28 lanes. So to counter the above, I will be the first to dispell the "no one" assumption above.

[rellimpank]

--What greens think our society should look like has nothing to do with science--

--nor would any be able to survive in that "society"--

[Ramius]

Global Climate Change is an inescapable reality. The ONE thing that global climate has NEVER done, is to remain fixed and static for any measurable length of time.

Calling it "warming" or "cooling" is wrong. It is change, and some places will warm, and other places will cool.

Does mankind have any effect on this? I would hope so.

If we have an effect then it means we have the opportunity to control it in a preferred direction. If we cannot conrol it, then our only option is to merely figure out how to adapt to the changes.

But this author is absolutely and intuitively correct. It gets us into the territory of chaos. Any semblance of 'control' may be, in fact is most likely, merely an illusion.

The most obvious conclusion so far, is that nuclear power would have been a far better choice many years ago. It's ironic that of all the methods available it ends up being the most benign.

[jpl]

In addition to being produced by trees, and other living things, methane is also naturally produced by geologic processes deep within the Earth as well.

[rellimpank]

--and, apparently, under the oceans as well---

[TChris]

Global Warming is just as real as Global Cooling.

Both are cyclical and controlled by forces far beyond the reach of man.