Climate Change: Natural Wonders Of The World Face Destruction

[Redwinger]

From the Amazon to the Himalayas, ten of the world's greatest natural wonders face destruction if the climate continues to warm at the current rate, warns the World Widlife Fund. Released ahead of the International Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC's) Second Working Group Report, a WWF briefing -- Saving the world's natural wonders from climate change -- reports on how the devastating impacts of global warming are damaging some of the world's greatest natural wonders.

More... (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/04/070405160004.htm)

[Redwinger]

FYI these are RSS feeds and not my direct views on any of the topics posted

[Frogbone]

Ok Al ;)

[Soltaker]

Ok Al ;)

bwahahaha

[Redwinger]

Ok Al ;)

Now that was way below the belt:laugh:

[Frogbone]

And you were surprised ?? :lol_hitting:

[Tutmos]

I wonder how many people would have felt that way about the "wonderous" glaciers that covered Minnesota 10k+ years ago? The campfires from the time must have caused global warming and melted said natural wonders that were the great glaciers covering my house and all those pretty lakes in MN. The whole thing is cyclical and there's nothing we're going to do to stop it and it's going to happen over and over again long after our species is either gone form this planet or out amongst the stars.

I thought it was quite funny that Al Gore is trying to create a new trend of buying away your guilt with "carbon offsets" when it turns out he owns the company that's selling the carbon offsets. ROFLMAO. What a scumbag. It's all an act to try and make a buck. How sad people are.

[Frogbone]

I wonder how many people would have felt that way about the "wonderous" glaciers that covered Minnesota 10k+ years ago? The campfires from the time must have caused global warming and melted said natural wonders that were the great glaciers covering my house and all those pretty lakes in MN. The whole thing is cyclical and there's nothing we're going to do to stop it and it's going to happen over and over again long after our species is either gone form this planet or out amongst the stars.

I thought it was quite funny that Al Gore is trying to create a new trend of buying away your guilt with "carbon offsets" when it turns out he owns the company that's selling the carbon offsets. ROFLMAO. What a scumbag. It's all an act to try and make a buck. How sad people are.

Amen brother !!

[Redwinger]

I still love George Carlins take on global warming.:laugh:

[mattb]

Did you hear Larry the Cable Guy on KQ last week? He had a good one (though I'll butch it....) He said he say Al Gore on TV and said that global warming must not be doing a whole lot as it didn't look like it has been melting all that ice cream he's been eatin'....

I love stuff like this... the irony is that we have, may be, 200 years of data. The earth is how many million years old, like 500 million? That's not enough data to be statistically significant, and due to the only data being available for the last 200 years, the data is skewed and therefore not reliable.

[Turf]

Guess the way I figure it (global warming aside) all these cars(including mine) and smoke stacks running 24x7 can't be good for the world's reefs.

Without question they are putting pleanty of chemicals into the air that would not have been there otherwise (or at least not in the same quantity). I'm no scientist so I will never claim to be one but it would seem logical that even if this global warming (outside the norm) is a farce then there has to be other affects (eye for and eye).
If you don't buy into global warming don't but given our hobby and what we know I think we are compelled to buy into idea that one way or another it is impacting our evironment.

[PLNelson]

We actually have more like 500 years of data following air temps. The navies of Europe keep hourly records of temps and such, they've been doing this for a very long time.

Another thing. Scientists have taken core samples of glaciers in ant-artic and have tested the ice to see what gasses have been dissolved in it, and it shows that dissolved carbon dioxide in the water has increased as the human population has increased. They estimate that these glaciers are over 100,000 years old. Not to hard to believe when you take into consideration that that is the world’s driest desert.

[Soltaker]

For anyone interested I can sell you some carbon off-sets really cheap!! :biggthumpup: TCMAS discount of course


:gay1:

[Turf]

LOL, if I throw my two 400 watters back on I might need a few ;)

[Redwinger]

Here is the Carlin bit I was talking about. As far as I am concerned he hits it out of the park on this skit. Hereing it is 10x funnier than reading it.


"George Carlin's "The Planet Is Fine"
We're so self-important. So self-important. Everybody's going to save something now. "Save the trees, save the bees, save the whales, save those snails." And the greatest arrogance of all: save the planet. What? Are these ****ing people kidding me? Save the planet, we don't even know how to take care of ourselves yet. We haven't learned how to care for one another, we're gonna save the ****ing planet?
I'm getting tired of that ****. Tired of that ****. I'm tired of ****ing Earth Day, I'm tired of these self-righteous environmentalists, these white, bourgeois liberals who think the only thing wrong with this country is there aren't enough bicycle paths. People trying to make the world save for their Volvos. Besides, environmentalists don't give a **** about the planet. They don't care about the planet. Not in the abstract they don't. Not in the abstract they don't. You know what they're interested in? A clean place to live. Their own habitat. They're worried that some day in the future, they might be personally inconvenienced. Narrow, unenlightened self-interest doesn't impress me.
Besides, there is nothing wrong with the planet. Nothing wrong with the planet. The planet is fine. The PEOPLE are ****ed. Difference. Difference. The planet is fine. Compared to the people, the planet is doing great. Been here four and a half billion years. Did you ever think about the arithmetic? The planet has been here four and a half billion years. We've been here, what, a hundred thousand? Maybe two hundred thousand? And we've only been engaged in heavy industry for a little over two hundred years. Two hundred years versus four and a half billion. And we have the CONCEIT to think that somehow we're a threat? That somehow we're gonna put in jeopardy this beautiful little blue-green ball that's just a-floatin' around the sun?
The planet has been through a lot worse than us. Been through all kinds of things worse than us. Been through earthquakes, volcanoes, plate tectonics, continental drift, solar flares, sun spots, magnetic storms, the magnetic reversal of the poles...hundreds of thousands of years of bombardment by comets and asteroids and meteors, worlwide floods, tidal waves, worldwide fires, erosion, cosmic rays, recurring ice ages...And we think some plastic bags, and some aluminum cans are going to make a difference? The planet...the planet...the planet isn't going anywhere. WE ARE!
We're going away. Pack your ****, folks. We're going away. And we won't leave much of a trace, either. Thank God for that. Maybe a little styrofoam. Maybe. A little styrofoam. The planet'll be here and we'll be long gone. Just another failed mutation. Just another closed-end biological mistake. An evolutionary cul-de-sac. The planet'll shake us off like a bad case of fleas. A surface nuisance.
You wanna know how the planet's doing? Ask those people at Pompeii, who are frozen into position from volcanic ash, how the planet's doing. You wanna know if the planet's all right, ask those people in Mexico City or Armenia or a hundred other places buried under thousands of tons of earthquake rubble, if they feel like a threat to the planet this week. Or how about those people in Kilowaia, Hawaii, who built their homes right next to an active volcano, and then wonder why they have lava in the living room.
The planet will be here for a long, long, LONG time after we're gone, and it will heal itself, it will cleanse itself, 'cause that's what it does. It's a self-correcting system. The air and the water will recover, the earth will be renewed, and if it's true that plastic is not degradable, well, the planet will simply incorporate plastic into a new pardigm: the earth plus plastic. The earth doesn't share our prejudice towards plastic. Plastic came out of the earth. The earth probably sees plastic as just another one of its children. Could be the only reason the earth allowed us to be spawned from it in the first place. It wanted plastic for itself. Didn't know how to make it. Needed us. Could be the answer to our age-old egocentric philosophical question, "Why are we here?" Plastic...*******.
So, the plastic is here, our job is done, we can be phased out now. And I think that's begun. Don't you think that's already started? I think, to be fair, the planet sees us as a mild threat. Something to be dealt with. And the planet can defend itself in an organized, collective way, the way a beehive or an ant colony can. A collective defense mechanism. The planet will think of something. What would you do if you were the planet? How would you defend yourself against this troublesome, pesky species? Let's see... Viruses. Viruses might be good. They seem vulnerable to viruses. And, uh...viruses are tricky, always mutating and forming new strains whenever a vaccine is developed. Perhaps, this first virus could be one that compromises the immune system of these creatures. Perhaps a human immunodeficiency virus, making them vulnerable to all sorts of other diseases and infections that might come along. And maybe it could be spread sexually, making them a little reluctant to engage in the act of reproduction.
Well, that's a poetic note. And it's a start. And I can dream, can't I? See I don't worry about the little things: bees, trees, whales, snails. I think we're part of a greater wisdom than we will ever understand. A higher order. Call it what you want. Know what I call it? The Big Electron. The Big Electron...whoooa. Whoooa. Whoooa. It doesn't punish, it doesn't reward, it doesn't judge at all. It just is. And so are we. For a little while."

[mattb]

Considering that GW isn't even agreed upon by many of the coral reef biologists, there isn't enough data out there to make me believe we're headed for a catastrophe....

Ok, so the CO2 levels are rising? What does rising CO2 do in your aquarium? It temporarily causes pH to drop, yes, but what is it really doing, causing more bicarbonates (alkalinity) which also means that there are more carbonates in the buffer system, which ultimately will drive up the pH. I can not take credit for this comment as it's what Boomer ( I believe) on RC essentially stated....

Thanks for sharing the Carlin bit John. :)

[Fish'InMN]

Another thing. Scientists have taken core samples of glaciers in ant-artic and have tested the ice to see what gasses have been dissolved in it, and it shows that dissolved carbon dioxide in the water has increased as the human population has increased. They estimate that these glaciers are over 100,000 years old. Not to hard to believe when you take into consideration that that is the world’s driest desert.

Statistically speaking, we'd need to run a 100,000 year test without human growth to determine if the CO2 level was a result of human growth or just a standard process fluctuation. :wink: And don't forget replication! This could be a very long, expensive DoE...

Love the Carlin bit! "Yes, they made some plastic, time to kill 'em off!"

[rihanssu]

The planet has been through a lot worse than us. Been through all kinds of things worse than us. Been through earthquakes, volcanoes, plate tectonics, continental drift, solar flares, sun spots, magnetic storms, the magnetic reversal of the poles...hundreds of thousands of years of bombardment by comets and asteroids and meteors, worlwide floods, tidal waves, worldwide fires, erosion, cosmic rays, recurring ice ages...And we think some plastic bags, and some aluminum cans are going to make a difference?



hehehe geroge carlin for president of the ****in universe!

[Redwinger]

I should upload the bit to the site for people to listen to. It is much funnier to hear it than read it.