Text 1271, 53 rader
Skriven 2006-06-02 11:16:00 av Robert E Starr JR (1717.babylon5)
Ärende: Re: Atheists: America's m
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Vorlonagent wrote:

> A good answer would be something like a quck set of highlights.  "he's very
> complete.  he coveres the warming climate and how CO2 emissions exacerbate
> an already warming planet, makes a good case for strong human influnce on
> climate and gives good play to the shortcomings in the case for global
> warming".  A description like that would pique my interest.

Okay, you want me to review a programme that you are, by your own
admission, too lazy to watch yourself. Fine:

Attenborough says quite clearly that over the millennia the Earth's
climate has changed - he uses the example of NYC which x (can't
remember the number) years ago whould have been at the edge of a two
kilometre high ice sheet, and y years ago would have been under five
metres of water. All through natural causes. The ice sheet was caused
by a global drop of two degrees, and the water by a global rise of five
degrees. He also gives the example of the rampant plant live at the
start of the carboniferous period (whatever its proper scientific name)
absorbing so much of the atmosphere's carbon dioxide that the planet
cooled, and the plants pretty much died off - causing all the oil, gas
and coal that we so freely use today - allowing the CO2 levels to
restore to a reasonable level.

So, having set the stage for the effects, timescale, naturalness and
range of climate effects that nature has already in the pastgiven us,
he then examines the degree that temperatures have changed (0.6 degree
rise since 1900) and are expected to change given our current and
anticipated greenhouse gas emissions (2 to 6 degree additional rise by
2100) because of humanity's activities.

He then maps these changes to known effects from the planets history
and anticipates the effects it will have on the planet in the future,
ranging from temperature changes affecting plant and animal life, to
weather changes like hurricanes caused by warmer seas to sea level
changes caused by melting ice.

I found it quite a convincing argument, but I very much doubt you will
believe a word of it because you don't *want* to. And that's why you
don't want to see the Gore piece, or watch the BBC programme.

Paul.
                                                                               
                                  
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