Worth worrying about
Just finished watching Larry King live where he had 3 different experts in the field of meteorology and related fields. They included a Harvard professor, and 2 weathermen. All 3 were commenting about the recent flooding on the East coast.
The subject of global warming undoubtedly came up during their discussion. All three men agreed that we humans are behind most of the problem of ocean temp's rising, causing more water to evaporate from the ocean and then being dumped down in blankets on land once the clouds burst. It is funny to me that some folks still contend that gw is a natural process occuring without the "help" of humans. If Earth were to ever show that her climate was changing, signs of massive flooding more intense hurricanes, waterfalls of freshwater flowing off glaciers etc. would seem sufficient warnings to our race that drastic changes must be made, and made soon.
I won't sit here and tell what these solutions are because I think they are pretty well known to those who worry enough to research. But I think it is worth saying that if all CO2 production from humans were to completely stop at this moment in time, it would take about 120 years for us to begin seeing "positive" effects on our environment; mainly, levels of CO2 levels to begin dropping at all (due to the way O2 molecules attach to C molecules and their life-cycles in our lower atmosphere). I'll leave the serious science to the scientists, because what I honestly think is that it may be too late. It is sad that those people who make it their life's work to warn us of the vehement danger on the horizon(no pun meant, but I'll take it) are not seriously heard by those in power. I am not predicting the "End of the World" by any means, but I think we should all be prepared to face an earth drastically different than what we are used to (rising coastlines, millions of displaced people, storms getting worse...the list goes on). It seems human nature to solve a problem only after it shows itself to be serious. I'm afraid gw isn't seen as a serious enough threat. Maybe some these scenarios will get some attention, but unrightfully so, as our Doomsday scenarios rooting from movies and science fiction books are all very unlikely to happen compared to Reality.
My environmental physics professor, Ben Brabson, is one of the smartest men I know. He currently researches the climate of the North Atlantic near Scotland and I keep in touch with him pretty regularly, wanting to know his thoughts on my thoughts. Ben made it a point to show our class just what could happen if gw were to hit a critical point of no return. It is not pretty in any way. Professor Brabson, and many others see doubters of human-induced Global Warming comparable to those in the 15th century believing Earth to be flat even when told different. I will take the word of science over skeptics any day, especially after seeing evidence first-hand in our class.
The point of this message is to clear my conscience more than anything: I cannot sit by silent when I know what might be coming. I'm not saying to go buy out Floaties.com anytime soon, but be weary of (seemingly) improbable possibilties. Because even though WaterWorld might now have won any oscars, it may have been on to something. So let's enjoy it while we can!
The subject of global warming undoubtedly came up during their discussion. All three men agreed that we humans are behind most of the problem of ocean temp's rising, causing more water to evaporate from the ocean and then being dumped down in blankets on land once the clouds burst. It is funny to me that some folks still contend that gw is a natural process occuring without the "help" of humans. If Earth were to ever show that her climate was changing, signs of massive flooding more intense hurricanes, waterfalls of freshwater flowing off glaciers etc. would seem sufficient warnings to our race that drastic changes must be made, and made soon.
I won't sit here and tell what these solutions are because I think they are pretty well known to those who worry enough to research. But I think it is worth saying that if all CO2 production from humans were to completely stop at this moment in time, it would take about 120 years for us to begin seeing "positive" effects on our environment; mainly, levels of CO2 levels to begin dropping at all (due to the way O2 molecules attach to C molecules and their life-cycles in our lower atmosphere). I'll leave the serious science to the scientists, because what I honestly think is that it may be too late. It is sad that those people who make it their life's work to warn us of the vehement danger on the horizon(no pun meant, but I'll take it) are not seriously heard by those in power. I am not predicting the "End of the World" by any means, but I think we should all be prepared to face an earth drastically different than what we are used to (rising coastlines, millions of displaced people, storms getting worse...the list goes on). It seems human nature to solve a problem only after it shows itself to be serious. I'm afraid gw isn't seen as a serious enough threat. Maybe some these scenarios will get some attention, but unrightfully so, as our Doomsday scenarios rooting from movies and science fiction books are all very unlikely to happen compared to Reality.
My environmental physics professor, Ben Brabson, is one of the smartest men I know. He currently researches the climate of the North Atlantic near Scotland and I keep in touch with him pretty regularly, wanting to know his thoughts on my thoughts. Ben made it a point to show our class just what could happen if gw were to hit a critical point of no return. It is not pretty in any way. Professor Brabson, and many others see doubters of human-induced Global Warming comparable to those in the 15th century believing Earth to be flat even when told different. I will take the word of science over skeptics any day, especially after seeing evidence first-hand in our class.
The point of this message is to clear my conscience more than anything: I cannot sit by silent when I know what might be coming. I'm not saying to go buy out Floaties.com anytime soon, but be weary of (seemingly) improbable possibilties. Because even though WaterWorld might now have won any oscars, it may have been on to something. So let's enjoy it while we can!
posted by Patrick F at 10:01 PM
0 comments
