Slashdot Mirror
Study Finds World Warmth Edging to Ancient Levels
Krishna Dagli writes to mention a decades-long study by NASA scientists. According to the research, global temperatures are reaching highs not seen in thousands of years. From the article: "One of the findings from this collaboration is that the Western Equatorial Pacific and Indian Oceans are now as warm as, or warmer than, at any prior time in the Holocene. The Holocene is the relatively warm period that has existed for almost 12,000 years, since the end of the last major ice age. The Western Pacific and Indian Oceans are important because, as these researchers show, temperature change there is indicative of global temperature change. Therefore, by inference, the world as a whole is now as warm as, or warmer than, at any time in the Holocene. According to Lea, 'The Western Pacific is important for another reason, too: it is a major source of heat for the world's oceans and for the global atmosphere.'"
I never knew that Bush not signing the Kyoto Treaty would have such an effect that it would raise temperatures in the past as well!
Oh, wait, you mean that's not what happened? Okay. So that means the temperatures were that high before manufacturing and automobiles? Gee, imagine that.
Seriously, though. This is the kind of information that I try to show to the 'OMG WORLD IS GOING TO END IN TEN YEARS' crowd, but they never seem to want to look at it objectively. The earth has had some really hot periods - it hs also had some really cold periods - all BEFORE mankind started to add their marginal extra amount of pollutants into the air.
I'm not saying that pollution is okay, but I do think that it has less to do with long term global climate shifts than others would have you believe.
Love sees no species.
How else can it be funded? In order to fund anything you have to come up with some cash, so you can either sell someone something, like a business, or force them to give it to you at gunpoint, like a government. So either a business is trying to further its own agenda by funding a report that helps them sell more stuff, or some particular political group in control of a government is doing it to help themselves stay in power.
If you were some well known public personality you could go on a fundraising tear for your favorite independent organization that funds science, but you'd be doing that fundraising to push your own particular agenda and the organization the money goes toward isn't going to publish anything that jeapordizes their continued existence or mission statement or whatever, sound science or not.
"Sacrifice for the good of The State" - The State
Are you kidding me? Because of the U.S. and Europe's blatant disregard for their emissions standards, the endangered Manbearpigwill become extinct within the next 10 years. Please, save the Manbearpig! You can send your money donations to my paypal account: SaveTheManbearpig. We prefer donations in $20 increments. Thank you.