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Could Global Warming Make Life on Earth Better?

mikee805 writes "A lengthy article in Spiegel explores the possibility that global warming might make life on Earth better, not just for humans, but all species. The article argues that 'worst-case scenarios' are often the result of inaccurate simulations made in the 1980s. While climate change is a reality, as far as the article is concerned, some planning and forethought may mean that more benefits than drawbacks will result from higher temperatures. From the article:'The medical benefits of higher average temperatures have also been ignored. According to Richard Tol, an environmental economist, "warming temperatures will mean that in 2050 there will be about 40,000 fewer deaths in Germany attributable to cold-related illnesses like the flu." Another widespread fear about global warming -- that it will cause super-storms that could devastate towns and villages with unprecedented fury -- also appears to be unfounded. Current long-term simulations, at any rate, do not suggest that such a trend will in fact materialize.'"

9 of 923 comments (clear)

  1. This article paid for by... by u-bend · · Score: 0, Troll

    The GOP, [pick your favorite oil conglomerate], everyone who hates Al Gore.

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    u-bend
  2. Re:Head in the sand by morgan_greywolf · · Score: 0, Troll

    Agreed. Life better? Let's see, with Florida, much of California, Michigan, and many East Coast states, including much or all of New York City completely under water...let's just say it won't be a picnic...if you thought Katrina was bad, as BTO would say ... you ain't see n-n-n-nothin' yet. And, speaking of Katrina, some scientists studying global warming believe that it is responsible for the more-active-than-usual hurricane seasons of the past few years. Which makes sense since the main cause of hurricanes is -- wait for it -- heat. Who paid these shills?

  3. Re:Give me a break... by stonecypher · · Score: 0, Troll

    To my knowledge, Ice core records correlate pretty well with tree ring records and other geologic evidence.
    That has what, exactly, to do with their being difficult to date more accurately than ten years? (By the way, where do you believe those correlations come from? Something other than estimates?)

    Oh right, and also, where did I say they failed to correlate? Oh, right: I didn't.

    Pretty much all of it stands up to scientific scrutiny.
    You should look up the phrase "weasel words." All of what, exactly? Do you believe you see me saying the ice core samples are wrong? Because I never said that. All I said was that parent was likely jumping to conclusions based on a poor understanding of the data the ice cores gave.

    You seem to have turned that, in your mind, into something else entirely.

    Would you mind citing *your* source to support your claims?I've cited several, and if you'd bother to follow any of the links I'd given, you'd have watched a documentary that showed similar data. I realize you think it's cute to catch someone asking others to support their data and say "no u," but maybe you should check and find out whether they did before accusing them of not having done so.
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    StoneCypher is Full of BS
  4. dude it was parody by circletimessquare · · Score: 1, Troll

    it didn't require a serious reponse

    if you want to get serious though, most americans don't even know or care about canada

    you're just americans living on unincorporated land. too cold, not worth it

    the southeastern usa has more unique cultural signifiers than canadians do, in terms of cultural identity as being distinct from the average american

    molson and hockey don't make a country, eh?

    sorry, but what you apparently seek the most: respect, or even recognition, is forever beyond you. because what "you" are doesn't even really exist

    you're just american, and you don't even know it

    someone wiser than me said it best: the us canadian border is a one way mirror. canadians look south and see everything they are not. americans look north and see themselves

    so, if cultural pride is really that important to you, open an ice cold molson

    it's all you got going for you as something distinct and uniquely canadian

    all of your actors and athletes come here (and have no adjustment phase: they are peceived as, and get along perfectly well, as if they were always us citizens)... 90% of you live within in 100 miles of the border... what the hell is canada? nothing distinct as far as i can tell, you're surrounded on 2 sides by us, and the rest: ocean

    well the quebeckers ARE distinct... but they want to break away from you! they don't like you! your "countrymen" pffft. what is that for a canadian? and i heard if the quebeckers did break free, alberta actually wants to join the usa! or even the maritimes. sorry, but anglophone canada is a f***ing joke

    who knows if we'd take alberta though... again, too cold, not worth it

    enjoy your wasteland, unincorporated american

    sorry, but in the immortal words of rodney dangerfield (american comedian, i know you know who he is, because we exist in the same culture): "i don't get no respect"

    canada: the rodney dangerfield of (nonexistent) countries

    xoxoxoxoxoxox

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
  5. Re:Give me a break... by stonecypher · · Score: 1, Troll

    Mutually corroborating data makes for a convincing argument. When multiple investigative conclusions all point to the same thing, it's hard to say the conclusion should be dismissed based in inaccuracy.

    I agree. That's why when I see the ice record disagreeing with CO2-driven warming, the CO2 sedimentation record disagreeing, weather balloons disagreeing, the atmospheric temperature gradient disagreeing, oceanic outgassing measurements disagreeing, the CO2/temperature correlation disagreeing and basic common sense disagreeing, I start thinking it's hard to say that the conclusion that global warming is driven by this vanishingly rare industrial gas whose primary output is a system that has been in place throughout the entire life of the planet is incorrect can be argued.

    The ice core itself may or may not be accurate enough (what is enough?) But when considered along with everything else, it is spot on.

    Yes, they all agree that CO2-driven global warming is a fundamental impossibility. This is why it is looked down upon to make broad statements like "with everything else" - you should be giving a list, so that you can realize that you're not actually on nearly as solid ground as you believe that you are.

    Suppose we indulge you for a moment. 10 years?

    I'd prefer to indulge in the six hundred million years of data provided by the things you're carefully ignoring, but okay.

    10 years? The industrial revolution has been going on a lot longer than that. Even with a margin of 10 years, the general trend is *not* due to statistical sampling or measurement errors.

    Luckily, I never said that it was. I was too busy focussing on realistic data that predates animal life, rather than on measurements that go back almost as far as a middle aged man.

    I'll be careful to raise my child to be humiliated when they say "your claim X isn't true," only to realize that the person never actually claimed X. That should prevent them from behaving as you do.

    By the way, I don't like the way you associated global warming with the wholesale rape of baby seals. (It's not much better when the lies are on topic, either. Funny how what you claim I said isn't actually coming out of my posts.)

    The "source" that you cite is nothing more than the polished product of a video production outfit.

    What I've never understood is how someone can pretend someone else has only one source, attack that source based on something that isn't a useful observation, and then walk away as anything other than ashamed of themselves.

    So, if you ignore everything else I said, and rely only on a professionally edited documentary by a neutral organization featuring dozens of professional climatologists, data which nobody has claimed is false and observations that nobody has claimed to have specific fault with, this is, what, supposed to be inferior to your well thought out opinion or something?

    Or did you just miss the half dozen places where I said I was able to read the models, and was doing so at that time? Or the links, the references to work, et cetera?

    Reductionism is tiresome. Don't attack 10% of my sources on validity and then claim there are no others. By the way, I don't see you citing a damn thing, which is a hell of a lot less authoratative than the thing you're currently whining about. Indeed, the only things anyone seem to be citing are Wikipedia, bastion of popular belief, and random people's personal web pages. Wow! The Nobody Ever Heard Of It Institute! I'm impressed!

    When you can read one of these models, or even argue without putting lies in other people's mouths, lemme know, and I'll take you a little more seriously.

    Professionally speaking, they're no different from "alien autopsy", "moon landing hoax", and other similar embarrassments.

    It doesn't actually much surprise me that you ca

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    StoneCypher is Full of BS
  6. Re:Head in the sand by fyngyrz · · Score: 1, Troll
    People will laugh at this hysteria the same way we laugh at the global cooling hysteria of the 1970s.

    You'll note the dead silence at the news that Mars is warming just as fast (or faster), and by just as much, as the Earth is. You'll note that on earth, historically speaking, CO2 rises lag warm periods, not lead them. You'll also note that the evaporative cooling cycle - water vapor, rain, etc . - runs at many times the speed of the CO2 warming cycle and is temperature sensitive so that a warmer environment will make it run even faster. And of course, it is important to observe that the predictions of the climate models have been very, very poor, even completely failing in some regions. And no one can miss the fact that the media pump the idea that GW is anthropocentric without pause.

    Here in the USA, it is critically important that the public be kept in the cycle of fuckarosis about terrorists, pedophiles, immgrants, and global warming. It keeps them from realizing their government is 100% in the grip of corporate and wealthy power brokers, that their constitutional rights are being eroded at an ever-faster pace, and that the entire political system is a sham. So don't disturb the rank and file. Shhhh!

    We now return you to our normally scheduled, politically correct, hysteria-fest, with special guest, Al Gore.

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    I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
  7. Re:Could Global Warming Make Life Better? by Lars+T. · · Score: 0, Troll

    Hi, welcome to earth. We're much older than 600,000 years. By quite a bit.

    There's proof that the levels were higher when the Dinosaurs were around, and hey, guess what, there's also evidence that the climate is in a cycle. Meaning you're ignoring that this could be happening normally.
    There is also proof that there were much less species then. And "cycles" don't happen without a cause - where is this cause for this cycle?
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    Lars T.

    To the guy who modded me down from perfect to terrible Karma - Apple haters still suck

  8. Re:Could Global Warming Make Life Better? by An+Onerous+Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

    Dude, do you see ANY dinosaurs around here, saying, "Global warming will be just great for us, so bring it on?"

    No. To put it bluntly, those creatures that were adapted to such warm weather have all gone extinct. The ecosystems that exist now will not be able to adjust to such a warming spike easily. Some won't be able to adapt at all.

    By the way, for future reference: the whole "we can't be altering the planet because insects outweigh us" is just about the dumbest argument I've ever heard. That's about like saying "Bush can't be harming the country. In fact, he can't affect the country at all. He's just one guy, compared to five million homeless people! You want to blame somebody? Blame the hobos!"

    Rising CO2 is mankind's fault. Case closed.

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    You want the truthiness? You can't handle the truthiness!

  9. Re:Could Global Warming Make Life Better? by Iron+Condor · · Score: 0, Troll

    The greenhouse gas emissions created by the human race are about 3-5% of the total.

    This is a lie.

    You are a liar.
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