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Scientists Surprised to Find Earth's Biosphere Booming
radioweather writes "An article from the Financial Post
says that recent studies of
biosphere imaging from the NASA SEAWIFS satellite indicate that the
Earth's
biomass is booming: 'The results surprised Steven Running of the University of Montana and
Ramakrishna Nemani of NASA, scientists involved in analyzing the NASA satellite
data. They found that over a period of almost two decades, the Earth as a whole
became more bountiful by a whopping 6.2%. About 25% of the Earth's vegetated
landmass — almost 110 million square kilometers — enjoyed significant
increases and only 7% showed significant declines. When the satellite data zooms
in, it finds that each square meter of land, on average, now produces almost 500
grams of greenery per year.' Their 2004 study, and other more recent ones, point to the warming of the
planet and the presence of CO2, fertilizing the biota and resulting in the
increased green side effect."
Green Side Effect as a result of the greenhouse effect. So are we all gonna die or not already?
Do it yourself, because no one else will do it yourself. [beta blockade 10-17 Feb]
Do it yourself, because no one else will do it yourself. [beta blockade 10-17 Feb]
Moderator: How are we going to turn this into something that will scare the masses - we have a few more anti-privacy bills to pass..
Jeff: We'll be attacked any minute by a muslim man-eating creeper and..
Jill: What about we are all going to starve because.. uhh..
Tony: We're gonna be taken over by weeds..
Jill: Weed!
Jeff: Man eating weed..
All together: Muslim-man-eating-weed!
Moderator: Great, let's write that one down.
Do it yourself, because no one else will do it yourself. [beta blockade 10-17 Feb]
It's a good life, if you are a plant. Plants like it in greenhouses, gardeners not so much.
You think the universe would be even remotely interesting without at least one really evil species?
We could be the Vogons of the galaxy. I'd like the shouting part.
Tomato wedge sperm darts that are Republican.
I will write poetry, I'm really bad at this :D
"Ode to extinctions:
O thy, which is extinct,
Don't ever come back,
Because for you the race is over,
Use burma shave".
Extreme Programming - Redundant Array of Inexpensive Developers
My first thought was: 500 grams per square meter? Average street price of $10/gram? That's some profitable business!
That really brings out your Vogonity.. Err, I mean Humanity.
I agree. We need to burn more oil and stuff to help out the enviroment.
Take the cheese to sickbay, the doctor should see it as soon as possible - B'Elanna Torres, "Learning Curve"
Have you noticed how mass extinctions often happen at the boundary between one geological period and another? I don't think it's a coincidence.
My advice is to be extra specially careful around those times.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
More CO2 => increased temperatures => more greenery => more CO2 absorption => more biomass to decompose => more more oil => ??? => Profit!
Given that most of the world, including most industrialized nations, can function with a fraction of the per capita oil consumption of the US, I'd say yes. Granted, some American habits and conveniences might have to go, but they're not essential for functioning.
Given the size of our economy, we are actually quite efficient in our use for energy when compared to economies like China. China releases more carbon than the US while its economy is a fraction of the size.Given the current rise in oil prices, we'll probably soon get a chance to find out whether my guess is correct. I hope it is, since we'll be in even deeper shit than we're already in otherwise.
There is no "I disagree" mod for a reason. Flamebait, Troll, and Overrated are not substitutes.