From: Damien Raphael (phoenix@ugcs.caltech.edu)
Date: Mon Feb 04 2002 - 12:04:16 MST
On Mon, Feb 04, 2002 at 06:20:52PM -0000, steve wrote:
> No, I don't think that is what Mike is saying, he is arguing that things are
> much less certain than much of the reporting we get supposes. A lot of this
The greenhouse effect is real. (See Venus, or basic planetary science
calculations about the temperature of the Earth.)
CO2 is a greenhouse gas.
We're pumping CO2, and other greenhouse gases, into the atmosphere.
Especially in the case of coal, the CO2 was sequestered hundreds of
millions of years ago when (1) the sun was dimmer than today and (2) the
Earth was warmer than today.
What's the basis for a default presumption that the Earth wouldn't be
getting warmer?
Someone else asked why we would want to keep the climate at a set point
even if we weren't responsible for changing it. Well, I like the fact
that a good winter will kill a lot of insects and parasites. Winter has
been called one of the larger contributions to northern public health.
I don't want to go home to Chicago some day and get malaria.
And with the 70 degree Decembers Chicago and Minneapolis have been
having for the past few years, that might not be so unlikely. The cold
weather still breaks in by January, but the trend is rather alarming.
For a less alarmist view, there's all this coastal property to be
flooded...
-xx- Damien X-)
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