From fork-admin@xent.com Mon Sep 23 22:47:44 2002 Return-Path: Delivered-To: yyyy@localhost.example.com Received: from localhost (jalapeno [127.0.0.1]) by jmason.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 8FF1516F03 for ; Mon, 23 Sep 2002 22:47:43 +0100 (IST) Received: from jalapeno [127.0.0.1] by localhost with IMAP (fetchmail-5.9.0) for jm@localhost (single-drop); Mon, 23 Sep 2002 22:47:43 +0100 (IST) Received: from xent.com ([64.161.22.236]) by dogma.slashnull.org (8.11.6/8.11.6) with ESMTP id g8NL1PC02473 for ; Mon, 23 Sep 2002 22:01:26 +0100 Received: from lair.xent.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by xent.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 034932941C4; Mon, 23 Sep 2002 13:54:16 -0700 (PDT) Delivered-To: fork@example.com Received: from cats.ucsc.edu (cats-mx2.ucsc.edu [128.114.129.35]) by xent.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id BC0F629409A for ; Mon, 23 Sep 2002 13:53:15 -0700 (PDT) Received: from Tycho (dhcp-55-196.cse.ucsc.edu [128.114.55.196]) by cats.ucsc.edu (8.10.1/8.10.1) with SMTP id g8NKuUT20028; Mon, 23 Sep 2002 13:56:31 -0700 (PDT) From: "Jim Whitehead" To: "James Rogers" Cc: Subject: RE: Goodbye Global Warming Message-Id: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Priority: 3 (Normal) X-Msmail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook IMO, Build 9.0.2416 (9.0.2911.0) In-Reply-To: <1032813374.21921.43.camel@avalon> Importance: Normal X-Mimeole: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.50.4133.2400 X-Ucsc-Cats-Mailscanner: Found to be clean Sender: fork-admin@xent.com Errors-To: fork-admin@xent.com X-Beenthere: fork@example.com X-Mailman-Version: 2.0.11 Precedence: bulk List-Help: List-Post: List-Subscribe: , List-Id: Friends of Rohit Khare List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: Date: Mon, 23 Sep 2002 13:53:56 -0700 X-Spam-Status: No, hits=-2.4 required=5.0 tests=AWL,IN_REP_TO,KNOWN_MAILING_LIST,QUOTED_EMAIL_TEXT version=2.50-cvs X-Spam-Level: > "the historical record", by which you mean *human* historical record, is > highly overrated (nigh worthless) when you are talking about geological > timescales, even on topics with as short a timescale as climate. There has been a significant recent increase in global CO2 concentrations. The vast preponderance of the new CO2 in the atmosphere is due to human activity starting around the industrialization of Europe, and accelerating after WWII. Most scientists studying global climate change believe that these increased CO2 concentrations are the primary causal agent for increased global warming. Hence our interest in items of human time scale. > It is worth noting that underneath the receding glaciers deposited > during the last major ice age, they are finding substantial evidence of > humans living in what was a nice temperate climate before the glaciers > paved over their civilization. The receding glaciers have turned into a > bit of an archaeological treasure chest, as they expose artifacts buried > in and underneath them as they shrink that have been preserved by the > ice for thousands of years. I don't see any compelling reason to "save > the glaciers" anyway, particularly in light of the fact that their > existence has always been transient. Most global climate change scientists would agree that temperatures in the past have often been much warmer than today. The point of global warming isn't to save the Earth -- the planet is not sentient. The point is to understand and potentially reduce the impact of increasing temperatures on global human activity. > For anyone to insist that the current negligible fluctuations are > anthropogenic just heaps one ridiculous assertion upon another. I'll > just stick with Occam's Razor for now. The increase in atmospheric CO2 concentration is due to human activity. It is generally accepted that increases in CO2 in a closed environment subject to solar heating retain more of that solar energy. This is the current best explanation for the high temperature of Venus. If the CO2 concentration goes up globally (which it has), then theory states the earth should be retaining greater solar energy. This process may be slow, and may be difficult to monitor due to the variability of temperatures worldwide. I encourage you to refute any part of this causal chain linking CO2 to eventual increases in global energy content, part of which will be evident as heat. - Jim