Climate change could mean the extinction of our species

[trish]

Nonsense. The solar constant (the flux of solar energy striking our planet) has been relatively constant (1.366 +/- 0.04 kW per sq. meter) since it [has] first been measured in the early nineteenth century. For nearly twelve years the SOHO observatory, located at the Lagrange point between the Earth and the Sun, has been monitoring particle flux, energy flux, magnetic field strength etc. etc. and over that time detected no significant increases in solar activity. The quack theory that the Sun is somehow driving climate change throughout the solar system is just that, a quack theory. The current climate imbalance on Earth is due in part to the unlocking [of] vast tonnages of once fossilized carbon dioxide and exhausting it into the atmosphere effectively creating a one way blanket that allows light energy from the Sun through to the Earth's surface where it degrades into heat energy which is then trapped beneath the one way blanket. The changes we're experiencing are characteristic of a climate seeking a new equilibrium because of a persistent energy imbalance.

Humans definitely played a role in getting this "ball rolling." Frankly, I think half the world's fossilized carbon dioxide is already out of the bag and there's little hope of getting it back in. Carbon taxes, if they work at all, are only designed to slow the process of letting the rest of our fossilized carbon "out of the bag" and into the atmosphere. I don't have much hope for the efficacy of carbon taxes or carbon trading. Moreover, the Earth's climate is already in motion...that's a lot of inertia to counter. The Earth's climate is definitely changing, and it's not the Sun's fault. It started with the industrial age. To be fair, in the mid nineteenth century no one suspected the Earth could be damaged in any way by mere human beings. The oceans were thought to be too big to pollute, the frontiers to[o] vast to tame and climate was the province of God. Today, we're the gods. Individually, we know how to plan and think ahead. Our forms of government generally cannot do the same. We're inadvertently terraforming the planet and I'm afraid w[e']ll just have to live or die with the consequences.

[Ben]

I don't know if global warming is true or not but for argument sake let's say it is true.

The thing that bothers me is that people have treated me like trash all my life. From old men messing with me when I was a teen to the bashers who's attacking put me in the hospital and now make me fear walking the streets at night. And then there are the people who refuse to give me a chance at a decent job, I could do regular work but they never give me a chance. And now these same people are telling me to save energy so that their offspring can have a better future. i say fuck 'em, I don't care if their childrens children live in a Mad Maxx society,,, they made my life hell let them have a taste of the same.

I don't debate whether global warming is true or not,,, i just don't care. Let the earth rot for all I care.

The planet is fine, as George Carlin pointed out. (It's a fantastic clip.) There is nothing wrong with the planet. The people, however, are fucked -- ha! ha!
There is the little or big (depending on your view) thing about: future generations. I think as human beings we should have concern about future generations. And children born today bear no responsibility for the way the planet is being destroyed.
The responsibility rests with the institutions of government and corporations. AND FOR OIL COMPANIES: it is AN INSTITUTIONAL IMPERATIVE to destroy the planet.
The CEO of Exxon-Mobil Rex Tillerson is REQUIRED by law to maximize investor return. By law. If he doesn't do that he can be sued. So, that requires the utter trashing of the planet. Again, it is an institutional imperative to destroy the planet. Core changes come when we change the institutional structure of corporations. I mean, now we have to and should regulate the hell out of corporations.
(The activist and writer Helen Caldicott said she isn't really concerned about people. What she cares about are birds, dolphins, tigers and all other animals.
And, well, I mean, look at how we treat animals. Ain't very good. I think in the future, through, say, ethical enlightenment, we'll all become vegetarians.)

[south ov da border]

that Carlin Clip is classic. It's us in a nutshell...

[russtafa]

Fools there is always climate change, always will be.Its just the latest boogie man made up by the left and and their brought and paid for scientists

[Stavros]

Carlin is amusing but misses some crucial points that relate to conservation and survival strategies: the cyclone that hit Burman [Myanmar] a few years ago caused excessive damage because of mangrove forest clearance in coastal regions: redressing this damaging alteration to the environment would make sense and I don't even know if left alone the 'natural' processes of the planet would restore the mangroves.

Ben, your comment about Exxon is hysterical nonsense-the company is not trashing the planet. Do you really think that among its 75,000 employees worldwide nobody cares about the environment they live in and share with you and me? Greater environemntal awareness has been a political factor now since the 1960s, it might not 'save the planet', but I have seen bicycle paths in the Netherlands and China, and they work...

[Faldur]

Climate change hits Mars

Mars is being hit by rapid climate change and it is happening so fast that the red planet could lose its southern ice cap, writes Jonathan Leake.

Scientists from Nasa say that Mars has warmed by about 0.5C since the 1970s. This is similar to the warming experienced on Earth over approximately the same period.

Since there is no known life on Mars it suggests rapid changes in planetary climates could be natural phenomena.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/new...cle1720024.ece

[trish]

Mars has a relatively well studied climate, going back to measurements made by Viking, and continued with the current series of orbiters, such as the Mars Global Surveyor. Complementing the measurements, NASA has a Mars General Circulation Model (GCM) based at NASA Ames. (NB. There is a good “general reader” review of modeling the Martian atmosphere by Stephen R Lewis in Astronomy and Geophysics, volume 44 issue 4. pages 6-14.) Globally, the mean temperature of the Martian atmosphere is particularly sensitive to the strength and duration of hemispheric dust storms, (see for example here and here). Large scale dust storms change the atmospheric opacity and convection; as always when comparing mean temperatures, the altitude at which the measurement is made matters, but to the extent it is sensible to speak of a mean temperature for Mars, the evidence is for significant cooling from the 1970′s, when Viking made measurements, compared to current temperatures. However, this is essentially due to large scale dust storms that were common back then, compared to a lower level of storminess now. The mean temperature on Mars, averaged over the Martian year can change by many degrees from year to year, depending on how active large scale dust storms are.
In 2001, Malin et al published a short article in Science (subscription required) discussing MGS data showing a rapid shrinkage of the South Polar Cap. Recently, the MGS team had a press release discussing more recent data showing the trend had continued. MGS 2001 press release MGS 2005 press release. The shrinkage of the Martian South Polar Cap is almost certainly a regional climate change, and is not any indication of global warming trends in the Martian atmosphere. Colaprete et al in Nature 2005 (subscription required) showed, using the Mars GCM, that the south polar climate is unstable due to the peculiar topography near the pole, and the current configuration is on the instability border; we therefore expect to see rapid changes in ice cover as the regional climate transits between the unstable states.
Thus inferring global warming from a 3 Martian year regional trend is unwarranted. The observed regional changes in south polar ice cover are almost certainly due to a regional climate transition, not a global phenomenon, and are demonstrably unrelated to external forcing. There is a slight irony in people rushing to claim that the glacier changes on Mars are a sure sign of global warming, while not being swayed by the much more persuasive analogous phenomena here on Earth…

[Ben]

[Ben]

[ezed]

I AM FUCKING PISSED ABOUT GLOBAL WARMING! There I said it! Shit it's fucking cold outside.