Climate changes making planet greener

CNN ^ | Thursday, June 5, 2003 Posted: 2:58 PM EDT (1858 GMT) | Richard Stenger

[RoughDobermann]

CNN) -- The Earth has become significantly greener over the past two decades, the result of climate changes that have furnished plants with more heat, light, water and carbon dioxide, according to a new Science magazine report.

The overall plant bulk went up about 6 percent over much of the planet, with spikes in the tropics and high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere accounting for 80 percent of the gains, researchers said.

[RoughDobermann]

So, we're all going to live just a little while longer...?

[Mr. K]

i am 45 years old and I swear the last few years I have been thinking about how everything seems more lush and greener than I ever remembered... anyone else notice this?

Of course then I have to shovel 6 feet of global warming out of my drivewa each year....

[KellyAdmirer]

So all those fools who are so worried about saving the Amazon are utterly wasting their time. How charming....

[cubreporter]

Don't you just love the way these people pretend to know and think they control the environment? I've got news for them. Mother Nature will do what she wants, when she wants and where she wants. She does what she does for reasons. I trust Mother Nature. God created this world and He and He alone will do what He thinks needs to be done without the advice or consent of the "green team." :)

[Guillermo]

The most ridiculous notion that the "greens" espouse is that the earth is fragile, or "in the balance."

The earth is quite tough and resilient. Anyone who can't see this is a buffoon, or has an alterior (communist) motive.

[jimkress]

The years since 1980 included two of the warmest decades on record

Uh, the years since 1980 ARE only two decades. In addition, if you look at the complete temperature history record, the 1980's and 1990's were average in temperature, not "warmest on record" (ref: "Satanic Gases", PJ Michaels and RC Balling, Page 77, Figure 5.1).

[darkwing104]

Shhh, nobody tell them we have a republican in the Whitehouse....:-)

[Mind-numbed Robot]

Does this mean that Mother Nature is (gasp) self-regulating?

[Frumious Bandersnatch]

The years since 1980 included two of the warmest decades on record, producing changes that have boosted growth ingredients in regions where they might otherwise have been scarce.

Funny, even though the enviro-wackos keep saying that the temperature has gone up between 1 and 2 degrees since the turn of the 20th century, this is the first time I have heard them refer to the last 2 decades to bolster their case. I remember corrected NASA satellite data in the mid '90s which indicated that the earth at that time (since the '70s) was in a slight cooling trend.

[cake_crumb]

"The years since 1980 included two of the warmest decades on record..."

The 80's and 90's were warm?? WHERE?? The winters were COLD, it's cold now, it's JUNE and I'm TIRED OF BEING COLD. Where are MY greenhouse gasses?? I want my global warming NOW, please!!

"Losers are parts of Mexico and northern Siberia [drying and cooling, respectively]."

What? No EVIL United States, even though the EEEEEVEEEEEEEL Republicans are polluting the environment and murdering all of our trees?

[Darksheare]

"These ... changes have not improved global habitability in any significant way."

I noticed they have to try and spin it to cover their butts...

[D. Brian Carter]

Yay! Pollution is good! Ok, just kidding...

But, seriously, how about this: The South American rain forest has suffered from deforestation on the edges in recent decades, but the interior sections have grown vigorously, he said.

I thought the Amazon rainforest was teetering on the verge of extinction, along with all the wildlife and plant life that reside there! And check it, folks, this report is from none other than CNN... this ain't some conservative, right-wing wacko reporting this info. How much agony do you think the editors went through in deciding to report this?

[RoughDobermann]

"Life, ah, finds a way." Spoken with my best Jeff Goldblum accent.

[flamefront]

CO₂ is good for plants.
Who would have thunk it?

[cubreporter]

What a great line! :)))

[cubreporter]

Communits motive is good but I really prefer to look upon them as Buffoons! :)

[shaggy eel]

What? No EVIL United States, even though the EEEEEVEEEEEEEL Republicans are polluting the environment and murdering all of our trees?

,,, save the whales, save the seals. Save anything that bloody squeals!

NOTE: Suggestion may extend to plastic bags.

[boris]

That's why they call it the The Greening Earth Society.

[boris]

This temperature update presents the NASA satellite measurements of monthly temperature anomalies—the difference between the observed values and the 1979–1998 mean values. Global satellite measurements are made from a series of orbiting platforms that sense the average temperature in various atmospheric layers. Here, we present the lowest level, which matches nearly perfectly with the mean temperatures measured by weather balloons in the layer between 5,000 and 28,000 feet. The satellite measurements are considered accurate to within 0.01°C and provide more uniform coverage of the entire globe than surface measurements, which tend to concentrate over land.

April 2003: The global average temperature departure was 0.14°C; the Northern Hemisphere temperature departure was 0.25°C; and the Southern Hemisphere departure was 0.03°C.

Below: Monthly satellite temperatures for the Northern Hemisphere (top) and Southern Hemisphere (bottom). Trend lines indicate statistically significant changes only.

[Skywalk]

Does anyone do "kooky scientist" better than Goldblum?