[pct-l] Wilderness

[Junaid Dawud]

Hmmm how to respond.

While I wait for this video to laod I'll go ahead and
start my response. 

>From Youtube.com

[The Great Global Warming Swindle is a controversial
documentary film by British television producer Martin
Durkin, which argues against the scientific opinion
that human activity is the main cause of global
warming. The film showcases scientists, economists,
politicians, writers, and others who are sceptical of
the scientific consensus on anthropogenic global
warming. Publicity for the programme states that
global warming is "a lie" and "the biggest scam of
modern times"]

OK watched part 1.

Well I'm convinced.  Oh wait no I'm not.  

First of all I was trained as a scientist.  Geology
and Geophysics to be specific.  I know better than to
listen to "economists, politicians, writers, and
others who are sceptical of the scientific consensus".
  I am instead informed by the vast majority of
climate and earth scientists that have no doubt that
anthropogenic greenhouse gases is what is causing the
OBSERVED warming.  The film shows a few climate
scientists and IPCC members who are not convinced of
this.  Fine, dissent is certainly part of the
scientific community.  The VAST MAJORITY of climate
and earth scientists are convinced of the reality and
gravity of the situation.  I've been reading a number
of books lately about GW (both for and againt), and I
can tell you for certain that the same small number of
papers and scientists are being "cherry picked" again
and again to support the idea that GW is a big joke. 
If you look at the body of knowledge that exists today
(scientific I mean because "economists, politicians,
writers, and others who are sceptical" are not experts
on climate), there are only a very small number of
scientists who refute the theory.  They are a tiny
fraction of the scientific community.  The latest IPCC
report would be a far better source of info than this
documentary.  This documentary appears to be cherry
picking the same people that other naysayers do.  The
idea that organisms can change the atmosphere is well
known to geologists, it is in fact the reason we have
so much oxygen in our atmosphere today.  Further CO2
has been shown to be a major climate forcer. The
milankovitch cycles (orbital paramters of earth), land
mass distribution, ocean circulation pattern, and a
few other factors affect global climate.  Guess which
one can account for the observed change? The orbital
cycles operate on ~~23000 , ~~41000 , and ~~100000
year timescales, continents shift even slower and the
basic pattern of Ocean circulation has not changed
much for a very long time.  In fact the ONLY thing
that can account for the OBSERVED changes is green
house gas build up.  Now to be sure there have been
higher levels of CO2 in the atmosphere in earths
history, but not since mankind first showed up and the
RATE of change is unprecendented.  Humans are to
blame.  Americans in particular share a huge portion
of the responsibility.  Not wanting to believe doesn't
make it go away.

I 'understand the basis of my position' with the
clarity of melting ice.  Now I could go on and on, but
I better hit send before I get too hot.

----------Speshul41







--- Jon Danniken <danniken at comcast.net> wrote:

>  "Junaid Dawud" wrote:
> > If some serious steps to turn the tide on Global
> > Warming aren't taken VERY soon, then our
> wilderness......the virtual collapse of major
> > ecosystems that will ensue.
> 
> Here is a really good video that will help you to
> understand the basis of 
> your position better:
> 
>
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1009035127227286104
> 
> Jon 
> 
> 



 
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