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Good News on Global Warming
TheSync writes "OK, CO2 levels are rising, but iAfrica has a report that atmospheric methane concentrations are leveling off. Methane is the second most important greenhouse gas, accounting for one fifth of total warming. Researchers don't know why this is."
You are absolutely correct. Global warming has been turned into a big deal because scientists & universities hotly compete for government grants.
In the 1600's, Dutch settlers regularly walked or travelled by sled from Manhattan to Brooklyn. During particularly cold winters, one could walk to Staten Island.
The Hudson & East Rivers have not frozen since the early 1800's... I suppose you cannot blame global warming from 400 years ago on SUVs...
Conformity is the jailer of freedom and enemy of growth. -JFK
Quite probable that there's a lack of understanding.
However, here (Switzerland) we've noticed a _massive_ recession of glaciers over the last 50 years. Like as in >100 meters for a few. Several inhabited areas are pretty seriously threatened, because the build-up of melted glacier water is being held back by the masses of rocks and other crap that glaciers tend to accumulate; a lot of geologists think that there's a pretty heavy danger of huge rockslides when water pressure exceeds the buildup's ability to hold it back. We've had several of these in recent years.
There have also been a number of rock avalances in the alps, when the ice that's been holding large chunks of stuff in place for centuries has melted.
Personally, I tend to believe panicky reports that a lot of lower-lying ski resorts won't have snow by 2030; I've noticed a pretty constant reduction in snow each year since as far back as I can recall (~1980) and that's only about 20 years.
Maybe it's not understood, but _something_ is happening, and it's not all those cows farting.
Cole's Law: Thinly sliced cabbage
It even fluctuates during the year. Ozone is formed by the Sun's UV rays. Not a lot of light (UV or otherwise) hitting either pole during the winter so Ozone production drops. It's unstable & converts back to regular O2, so the amount of Ozone gets thin. The amount of UV generated by the Sun isn't constant, so the amount of Ozone in the atmosphere won't be either.
the good ground has been paved over by suicidal maniacs
The half life of methane in the atmosphere is seven years; it has never been a serious problem as far as global warming is concerned because if we produce too much of it, we can stop whatever is causing it and things will return to normal fairly quickly. The same is true for particulates.
The problem with atmospheric CO2 is that its half life is nearly 200 years. Whatever we emit now, we are going to be stuck with for a long time. Once the concentration of atmospheric CO2 causes dangerous increases in global temperature (and we will reach that point sooner or later), there is absolutely nothing we can do: we will have to live with increased temperatures for decades.