Global Warming

[Aravis]

Discuss the effects of global warming, and what you feel should be done about it.

[Tenarke]

I am enclosing a link to this story here as it may, or may not be due to global warming. Only time will tell.

www.nytimes.com/2004/12/12/international/asia/12drought.html?th

Note that this drought is due to the fact that the snowfields of Afghanistan’s highlands have now shrunk to half their former size. The article also states that this is the worst drought in this region yet recorded.

[Tenarke]

More on global warming:

www.bushgreenwatch.org/

Bush Greenwatch is also an interesting source of articles on the present US Administration and the environment.

[RobertGraves]

10 things not to buy for Christmas

The nature protection group World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) has asked Christmas gift buyers to avoid coral jewellery, crocodile skin and Beluga caviar if they want to enjoy a guilt-free holiday season.

The Swiss-based body included the three on a list of 10 items whose commercial exploitation was endangering animal and plant species already threatened with extinction.

Well wishers imbued with the Santa Claus spirit should also avoid buying tiger products or tigers for pets, it said.

"All international trade of tiger products, whether used in traditional Asian medicine, as souvenirs or for good luck charms, is illegal," the WWF declared in a statement.

Ivory in any form should also be avoided, it admonished, because the ivory trade was threatening the survival of elephants whose tusks are its primary source.

The WWF warned Caspian Sea sturgeon, the source of Beluga caviar, face extinction due to illegal plunder and should only be bought in jars certified by CITES, the United Nation's agency fighting trade in endangered species.

High fashion shahtoosh scarves woven from the hair of Tibetan antelopes should be avoided altogether.

"To obtain the wool, the antelope has to be killed," the WWF said.

Many cactus species are banned from international trade.

"There is a flourishing illegal trade which is wiping out native populations, particularly from Mexico," WWF warned.

Finally, the WWF advised shoppers to avoid buying appliances like televisions and stereos that consume large amounts of electricity while on standby, arguing that the drain on energy they present was another threat to the environment.

-Reuters

[Tenarke]

Last week I was watching a motor race on TV, being run in Qatar. To save you a trip to your atlas, Qatar is a small Arab country just next door to Kuwait.

This is a very dry place where it rains only about three days out of the year and never at this time.

Last week’s race was delayed due to rain.

Of course this has nothing to do with Southern California being declared a disaster area due to flooding and landslides last month.

Climatic changes?

Naw - couldn’t be!

[Aravis]

Right, or how about the melting of the Himalayan glaciers.

[RobertGraves]

I've spent quite a few months in the Himalayas - both Nepal and India - and what struck me was the deforestation evident. I know some of it is to service a tourist trade but not all by any means is due to this alone.

[Wyndham]

This is kind of cool. It appears that the Dutch, appreciating that global warming is not good news for them, are starting to build houses that can float when necessary.

Ain't engineering sometimes grand:

service.spiegel.de/cache/international/spiegel/0,1518,377050,00.html

[Wyndham]

On the other side of the coin, I wonder how much the wheat belt liked the unexpected heavy snow they got yesterday - a foot in some places, earliest snow since records have been kept! I would guess that was a real kick in the face for some few farmers (oh: bread will be next item at $5 a pound).

www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20051005.wwinter1005/BNStory/National/

[Nulla]

it seems there is no end to entrepreneurship, global warming or no... interesting article in the NY Times this morning.... five countries stand ready to carve up the Arctic Ocean just as soon as the ice moves out and opens up shipping lanes as well as access to potential oil and natural gas fields.... all this in about 20 years!... oops! how the time flies!...

if you have hi-speed internet access and Windows Media Player, it is worth looking at the 3 videos associated with this article... two items gleaned from them: 1) when the ice moves out, the solar energy which is now radiated back into space will be absorbed into the ecology, further accelerating climate warming, and 2) the Inuit have just recently coined a word which has not existed in their language - sunburn!....

[Aravis]

I find this all so frightening, more so because people don't seem to be taking it seriously!

[Wyndham]

I can't imagine that we'll see the Murmansk to Churchill run in our lifetime. I think this is venture capital gone crazy -- or at least investments made by people with lots of money, viewing the thing as speculation chump change. If there's a 1:1000 chance that it happens, then the 11 million for a 900 mile railroad right of way and tenner for an old port would might be worth it, provided that 11 million (and a tenner) isn't big money for you.

I can remember reading a long time ago, however, that there was a plan afoot to build a land bridge between Alaska and Siberia, to bring it on. Idea was that by blocking ocean currents you could melt the arctic ice cap, and expose the land underneath for exploitation.

I find it less frightening than a little funny. Our government appears to be prepared to chuck in the occasional tenner too. The Canadian Rangers are being reactivated, and encouraged to patrol the most out of the way islands. Soldiers are being sent on 'sovereignty operations' (i.e. made to live far, far North to establish occupancy). Santa Claus IS a Canadian!

Time will tell, I guess.

[Wyndham]

Thanks Nulla. The Op Ed piece was good, though very bitter. I think there will be a sea change in George W.'s fortunes, as the article indicates when the religious part company with him. Religion, after all, is about absolute standards. You can't really fudge those, and if you try to do so with propaganda, it will just make the ultimate reaction worse. May the devil save George W. they day after the born agains discover his lyin', cheatin' ways, because God certain won't.

[Aravis]

I didn't mean that I was afraid of those countries and their plans. That's comical in a contemptible sort of way. I meant that I am afraid of the fact that people don't take global warming seriously.

[Tenarke]

Of course we all understand that according to the administration global warming is just another unproven theory:

www.nytimes.com/2005/10/10/science/10arctic.html?th&emc=th

Now he is the President and a church going, God fearing, born again Christian – I mean; would he lie to you?