Posted on 01/17/2006 7:43:06 AM PST by NYer
Renowned scientist James Lovelock says he believes the world has passed the point of no return for climate change, and civilization is unlikely to survive.
Thirty years ago Lovelock conceived the idea that Earth possesses a planetary-scale control system he named Gaia, which keeps our environment fit for life, The Independent reported Monday. But now he believes mankind's abuse of the environment has made climate change insoluble and life on Earth will never be the same again.
In an extraordinarily pessimistic new assessment published in Monday's Independent, Lovelock suggests efforts to counter global warming cannot succeed, and that, in effect, it is already too late.
Lovelock now believes Earth and human society face nearly complete disaster, and sooner than nearly anybody realizes.
He writes, "Before this century is over, billions of us wil! l die, and the few breeding pairs of people that survive will be in the Arctic, where the climate remains tolerable."
Might as well just lie back and enjoy it.
I guess not everyone's a warm-weather person.
You know, Lovelock may actually be right. However, his premise I assume is that macro climate change is somehow caused by mankind. He is wrong in that respect. Mankind has no control over global climate change unless man controls volcanic activity, the oceans, the earth's core, the electromagnetic field surrounding the earth, and the sun's cycles. Anyone, "renowned scientists" included, who states otherwise is pushing some kind of agenda.
I guess it doesn't require much in the way of brains to be considered a "scientist" in Britain
oops. I hate it when it does that...
This is Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz of the Galactic Hyperspace Planning Council. As you will no doubt be aware, the plans for development of the outlying regions of the Galaxy require the building of a hyperspatial express route through your star system, and regrettably your planet is one of those scheduled for demolition. The process will take slightly less than two of your Earth minutes. Thank you.
There's no point in acting all surprised about it. All the planning charts and demolition orders have been on display in your local planning department in Alpha Centauri for fifty of your Earth years, so you've had plenty of time to lodge any formal complaint and it's far too late to start making a fuss about it now.
This is probably true but it will have nothing to do with climate change.
Great link, I love that kind of stuff, thanks!
Think this is junk science?
"Yes" says a geologist...
According to solstation.com, the sun (as all main-sequence stars) slowly brightens (while remaining the same yellow-white color) through the main sequence. Even so, by the time the sun is just about ready to become a red giant it will already be 2.2 times as bright as today, meaning Mars will get as much energy as Earth does today (good argument for terraforming, perhaps?).
Estimates for the Sun's brightness as a red giant ranges from 625 times current to 5000 times current.
To calculate how far you'd need to be to have current Earth-like solar imput:
Earth Equivilant Distance (in AUs) = Square Root of Stellar Luminosity (in Solar units, so current solar = 1)
Assuming 625 times current brightness - 25 AU's, or about the distance of Uranus
Assuming 5000 times (which is, granted, probably way more than it will actually be) - 70 AUs, or between Pluto and the outer reaches of the Kupier Belt.
Sheesh, if we are going to fail no matter what....hey lets break out the SUV's and have a ball!!!!
PS. And if the location we need turns out to be where Uranus is today, that's no big deal if whatever civilization is here can move the earth. After all, we've got at least a few hundred million years to work on it. Moreover, we should have the terraformed Venus and Mars to work with as well. I guess they'll need moving too.
And there's other big fish to fry before then BTW! Such as the more intense solar waves ripping away the earth's atmosphere. We'll wanna do something about all that....
GAIA???? Yea, no bias in this guy
Yes, I think that is the perfect description.
More horse pucky from the original horse's a$$. Turn your hymn books to page 93 and we'll all sing "What a Friend We Have in Gaia."
Let's get it over with!(sarcasm)
Even if you can prove that Global Warming is man-induced [you can't] the solution is not a static one [energy credits]. Research & development is the only solution.
Well, unless they come up with a way to make us all immortal - this is a very true statement.
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