Global Warming

[Wyndham]

thought some of you without a black belt in science (like me) might like this. Its a cartoon primer regarding global warming --

cartoonkate.gn.apc.org/funny%20weather/funnyweather01.htm

[Tenarke]

More on global warming:

www.nytimes.com/2005/10/19/opinion/19borgerson.html?th&emc=th

The author is an instructor at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy; not likely a proponent of radical left wing thinking.

It is interesting to note that the Northwest Passage, so important to the early exploration of North America, looks to become a reality in the near future if the Arctic icecap continues to recede at its current rate.

It is also estimated that large oil reserves will become physically available for development in this new territory emerging from the Arctic thaw. Some of this is contiguous with North American holdings; U.S. and Canada, and the rest Russian – and these borders are yet to be defined.

Once these are sorted out there are the problems of shipping safety and control of immigration and smuggling. In connection with these I was surprised to learn from the article that the U.S. Coast Guard is only about the size of the New York police department.

It may turn out that more F22 fighters and US Navy “Boomers” are going to be of less use than a few more Coast Guard cutters and, oh yes; a couple of new icebreakers would be handy.

[Wyndham]

Odd to think eh?

Personally, I find this stuff hugely funny. Mostly because Canada is so paranoid about the Far North, and so very prickly about challenges to sovereignty. There was the ludicrous incident, early in the year, in which Canada and Denmark faced off over control of some arctic islet the size of a football field. Constant concern is the US insistence that it has some say in management of any future NW passage, or attempts to limit sovereignty over the space between arctic islands. I can remember reading, years ago, that asked in 1916 what Canada wanted out of the war (S. Afr wanted Namibia, Aus wanted Kaiser Wilhelmland (i.e. New Guinea), NZ wanted Samoa), we answered Greenland and Alaska. Alas, we were informed, Denmark and the US were neutral. Cheated of our chance to ensure that Santa is Canadian, and been sulky ever since.

Me, personally, as a member of the Army Reserve, very nearly got called out this year. To mount guard in Afghanistan you say? Nay Sir. To go to the Far North on a sovereigty op. Yes indeed. To go and live on an arctic island (February no less) for ninety days, to establish that its occupied. Not worried about the Jihadists. Its the Yanks that cause concern. I guess it won't be so funny, however, when it actually happens -- when I get sent to Ellemere Island, that is, rather than when the Yanks challenge control of the waters between it and Axel Heiberg land.

[RobertGraves]

Australian justice:
www.smh.com.au/news/national/held-seven-years-by-mistake-it-gets-worse/2005/10/25/1130239521745.html

[Tenarke]

Okay, Wyndham; you got me. Ellesmere Island I knew but Axel Heiberg’s Island sent me scurrying to the Atlas. Then, just to add to the potential controversy, I spotted Peary Land, named after the American explorer, no doubt. However this is perched on top of Greenland and is in consequence Danish.

Good to know that you possibly would be posted up there to straighten out this mess. I suggest that you make good friends with the Danes. They are not only a cheerful lot but they also have an excellent caraway flavored schnapps called Aquavit which will make your long winters more bearable.

Robert, I take your point that Australian Immigration laws can be tough – but are you saying that this contributes to global warming?

[RobertGraves]

I am feeling hot under the collar about it...ooops, sorry.

[Tenarke]

Ah yes – I see; and in this manner you have made your own contribution to the warming of the souhern half of the globe.

[Tenarke]

More and more in the news on the warming of the Arctic. Now there are concerns about the possible thawing of the perma-frost and its effects on the tundra.

In these regions of Alaska, Northern Canada, et. al, though the snow melts seasonally and the upper foot or so of earth thaws there is a deeper layer of ground that remains permanently frozen. There are now signs that this perma-frost may itself be completely melted by the end of our new century. This now mucky but otherwise solid ground which, among other things, provides footing for the Caribou herds to migrate would become a deep bog endangering these same herds.

Oh; it should be here noted that Reindeer are actually domesticated Caribou. So, what will Santa do then? Perhaps a snowmobile as many of the modern Eskimo use?

Oops! Yet more CO2 to make us all toasty.

[Wyndham]

My undestanding of thing, Tenarke, is that the melting of the permafrost is a really major catastrophe, because whatever else it might do, it also locks in zillions of tons of greenhouse gases. Unfreeze the stuff, and that stuff all goes into the air. We won't have to debate for very long after that whether the ultimate effect of greenhouse gases will be to warm the environment, or to make things colder.

I'm thinking, therefore, that we should probably stop talking about how to stop 'global warming/cooling' and start worrying about what we'll do when it happens (soon).

[RobertGraves]

2005 'hottest year on record'

Last year was Australia's hottest year on record, with an average temperature of almost 23 degrees.

The Bureau of Meteorology will today release figures for 2005 that show it was the hottest year since detailed records have been kept.

The federal parliamentary secretary for the environment, Greg Hunt, says it is a further sign of rising global temperatures.

"2005 was the hottest year since comprehensive records have been taken in Australia in 1910 - the average temperature in Australia was over one degree higher than had been the case on average in previous years," he said.

"This adds to the evidence of the last decade and indeed the last two decades of increasing temperatures."

[Tenarke]

A passing note in the news - yesterday, I believe - two major icebergs have broken free of Antarctica and are now being noted as hazards to shipping off the southern coastline of Argentina.

[Aravis]

How many such occurences do you suppose it will take, Tenarke, for people to actually take notice?

[Tenarke]

This coming summer's hurricane/typhoon season might get their attention.

[RobertGraves]

No need to panic - we're already stuffed!

Don't get overheated about global warming, we're already stuffed


Crikey reporter Sophie Black writes:

While Australian industry, environmentalists and politicians sit around arguing the pros and cons of the Kyoto agreement, renowned UK scientist James Lovelock is way ahead of them – he's arguing that the world has "already passed the point of no return for climate change." In his "profoundly pessimistic new assessment" published in The Independent (UK) today, Lovelock argues that, "civilisation as we know it is now unlikely to survive."

Feeling panicky yet? Lovelock continues: "Before this century is over, billions of us will die, and the few breeding pairs of people that survive will be in the Arctic where the climate remains tolerable." He even suggests publishing "a guidebook for global warming survivors," aimed at the humans who would still be struggling to exist after a total societal collapse. And forget Kyoto – the Professor suggests that efforts to counter global warming can't succeed, and that it's already too late.

Thirty years ago, Lovelock worked out that the Earth possessed a "planetary-scale control system" which kept the environment "fit for life." He dubbed it Gaia, and the theory eventually became widely accepted by scientists. Which is why his new argument is so alarming to many – Lovelock isn't a crackpot scientist, he has cred.

Lovelock argues that Gaia, or the Earth System as most other scientists prefer to call it, contains "myriad feedback mechanisms" which in the past have acted together to keep the Earth much cooler than it otherwise would be. Now, however, they'll "come together to amplify the warming being caused by human activities such as transport and industry through huge emissions of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide." And the results of damaging the living planet's "ancient regulatory system" are likely to "accelerate uncontrollably."

The scientist terms this phenomenon "The Revenge of Gaia," which is also the title of his new book, to be published by Penguin next month.

If you're prone to nightmares, don't read any further, otherwise click here for Lovelock's apocalyptic prediction in his own words.

[Tenarke]

It is possible that the Supreme Court, in spite of he two Bush appointees, may start to undo some of the damage of the Bush “wrecking crew”.

www.nytimes.com/2006/11/28/opinion/28tue1.html?th&emc=th