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User: riverat1

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  1. Re:remove excessive CO2? on Sea Level Rise Can't Be Stopped · · Score: 1

    If we magically stopped emitting net CO2 tomorrow it would be thousands of years or more before the level dropped back to the 280 ppmv it was before we started. It would probably take 50-100 years before the warming caught up with the forcings and stopped. The way I look at it is that we're adding carbon to the carbon cycle and the carbon gets balanced between the various parts of it, the atmosphere, hydrosphere and biosphere most notably. So the carbon cycle is going to find a balance between those and the things that naturally remove carbon from the cycle more or less permanently operate on far longer time scales.

  2. Re:remove excessive CO2? on Sea Level Rise Can't Be Stopped · · Score: 1

    Hmm... 30 GT/ year CO2 = ~ 8 GT carbon. I think 8 GT of diamonds per year would pretty much tank the diamond market.

  3. Re:Overall rise on Sea Level Rise Can't Be Stopped · · Score: 1

    A recent post on RealClimate has a graph of the components of sea level rise. Thermal expansion and ice melt are about equal in their contribution so as a rough guess you can double the thermal expansion number.

  4. Re:Not too bad? on Sea Level Rise Can't Be Stopped · · Score: 1

    At 30 feet AMSL you're still within reach of a large storm surge and rising sea level increases the chances of it happening.

  5. Re:Bye Florida! on Sea Level Rise Can't Be Stopped · · Score: 2

    So the "twenty feet by 2100" thing is gone now then is it Mr. Gore, cause, gosh, that sure sold a lot of movies books and carbon taxes.

    Mr. Gore never said there would be 20 feet of sea level rise by 2100. He said that if all the ice on Greenland melted it would cause 20 feet of sea level rise which is an accurate statement. He didn't specify a time frame.

  6. Re:Not too bad? on Sea Level Rise Can't Be Stopped · · Score: 1

    It is highly likely that people will drown when a large storm surge on top of a relatively small sea level rise reaches places that have never been flooded before.

  7. Re:Not too bad? on Sea Level Rise Can't Be Stopped · · Score: 1

    Thank you.

  8. Re:pshaw! on Sea Level Rise Can't Be Stopped · · Score: 2

    I think the current understanding is that global warming doesn't necessarily increase the number of hurricanes/tropical storms but I will likely increase their intensity. Look at what TS Debby did to the Florida panhandle.

  9. Re:Bye Florida! on Sea Level Rise Can't Be Stopped · · Score: 1

    32.2 cm is only from thermal expansion. If glaciers and ice sheets continue to melt you can probably double that.

  10. Re:Time to get off the oil addiction on US Energy Transportation Network Gets Multibillion-Dollar Revamp · · Score: 1

    Which says to me that we gotta stop wasting it by burning it up.

  11. Re:Doesn't sound that accurate on NAVSOP Navigation System Rivals GPS · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Use a real GPS unit with no broadcast capabilities and you don't have that problem.

  12. Re:Now to understand what it means on Supreme Court: Affordable Care Act Is Constitutional · · Score: 1

    I don't personally know anyone who is getting a rebate but this article has the skinny. I guess the rebates haven't actually gone out yet but they are scheduled to in the next few months.

  13. Re:Breathless summary by the clueless on Texas GOP Educational Platform Opposes Teaching Critical Thinking Skills · · Score: 1
  14. Re:Breathless summary by the clueless on Texas GOP Educational Platform Opposes Teaching Critical Thinking Skills · · Score: 1

    The idea of mandated insurance coverage came from the Heritage Foundation and was touted by Newt Gingrich and the Republicans as an alternative to the Clinton's health care proposals. Too bad we just didn't say "Ok, we'll take that." back then. The right wouldn't have much to complain about now and we'd probably be talking about taking the next step into some sort of single payer system.

  15. Re:Breathless summary by the clueless on Texas GOP Educational Platform Opposes Teaching Critical Thinking Skills · · Score: 1

    Yes, I always thought having universal health care would increase freedom and the entrepreneurial spirit in this country. How many people are afraid to quit their job and try and start their own business simply because they can't afford to take the chance they couldn't afford their medical bills.

  16. Re:Breathless summary by the clueless on Texas GOP Educational Platform Opposes Teaching Critical Thinking Skills · · Score: 1

    You see, that just demonstrates your authoritarian mind set to think that what Jane Fonda had to say back then means anything to current progressives.

  17. Re:Breathless summary by the clueless on Texas GOP Educational Platform Opposes Teaching Critical Thinking Skills · · Score: 1

    The only reason the right holds as much power as they do is that they bow down to their authority figures and stick together. Trying to get a bunch of leftists on the same page is like herding cats.

  18. Re:Breathless summary by the clueless on Texas GOP Educational Platform Opposes Teaching Critical Thinking Skills · · Score: 1

    In general the the further right you are politically the more authoritarian your viewpoint is. The more you take your viewpoint from those you consider authority figures rather than making it up for yourself. It's easier that way since you don't have to think it out for yourself, just parrot your authority figure. These are the same kind people who think if you're rich it's because you've been blessed by God and therefore you must be better than the rest of us instead of just maybe luckier than many of us. That kind of thinking is pretty alien to me.

  19. Re:Who cares? on Are We Failing To Prepare Children For Leadership In the US? · · Score: 1

    Yes, squirrels love nuts.

  20. Re:Now to understand what it means on Supreme Court: Affordable Care Act Is Constitutional · · Score: 1

    I agree with you. A single payer system similar to Canada's is the way to go. I just don't think it is politically possible at the moment and the ACA is better than before. Let's keep pushing for single payer and educating the people we know about its benefits and we'll get there eventually.

  21. Re:Do horses produce more greenhouse gasses than c on Exxon CEO: Warming Happening, But Fears Overblown · · Score: 3, Informative

    Because there is 227 times as much CO2 in the atmosphere as there is methane? Also CO2 and methane absorb IR in different bands and the band that methane absorbs in radiated at a lower energy level than CO2's. Finally, most atmospheric methane breaks down into CO2 and water within a decade or two so in the long run one methane equals one CO2 anyway.

  22. Re:ExxonMobil's science education ads on Exxon CEO: Warming Happening, But Fears Overblown · · Score: 1

    The ads are just PR to make them look good.

  23. Re:typology of global warming denial on Exxon CEO: Warming Happening, But Fears Overblown · · Score: 1

    And I've read that it's over 20,000 years before Milankovitch Cycles line up well enough to trigger the next ice age. But no worries, if we continue BAU it will be too warm for a real ice age to happen.

  24. Re:Now to understand what it means on Supreme Court: Affordable Care Act Is Constitutional · · Score: 1

    Medicare/Medicaid spends about 3% on administration. 15% seems like plenty of headroom to me.

  25. Re:Excellent decision on Supreme Court: Affordable Care Act Is Constitutional · · Score: 1

    Parts of the law like the individual mandate don't go into effect until 2014 but that part is already in effect. In 2012 insurance companies are providing about $1 billion in rebates.