----- Original Message ----- From: Michael Pollak To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org Sent: Tuesday, October 12, 2004 1:06 PM Subject: Re: [lbo-talk] Carbonoia?
On Sun, 10 Oct 2004, a Guardian article was quoted that was titled
> Scientists bewildered by sharp rise of CO2 in atmosphere for second year
> running
Although such a sharp and sudden increase is probably best explained by one-off contemporary natural events, the impetus it provides to meditate on the various ways in which global warming might possibly accelerate reminded me of one they left out. On a recent segment on "NOW With Bill Moyers and David Brancaccio," they interviewed a scientist from Berkely who set up an experiment in an alpine meadow in the Rocky Mountains. He and his team suspended heaters on wires over a tract of land in order to make it five degrees hotter and see what happened over the course of many years. The result, which was kind of shocking, was that carbon was leached out the soil directly into the air, a process hitherto not foreseen, and which if true in general, would mean global warming would happen much faster than any current model predicts.
You can see the entire transcipt at:
http://www.pbs.org/now/transcript/transcript338_full.html
The segment is short, near the end, and easy to find: search for John Harte, the name of the scientist in charge of the experiment.
Michael
----- Original Message ----- From: Leigh Meyers To: Newsroom-L Sent: Tuesday, October 12, 2004 6:29 AM Subject: It's an anomaly folks... Just keep driving
"...it is very easy to substitute other factors for natural resources, so exhaustion is just an event, not a catastrophe." --Robert Solow, Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences 1987
"Even if net output in agriculture fell by 50 percent by the end of the next century, this is only a 1.5 percent cut in the GNP." --Wilfred Beckerman, Oxford economist ~~~~~ The game... human extinction. Come on... lets play!
The rules: 1> Don't ask hard questions.
2> You are *not* qualified to critique the experts.
(Even if you *are* qualified.)
3> Trust them, they're the experts.
4> No whining... "Consume" more if depressed.
5> Keep driving automobiles using any type of
fuel that's available now, or any type that might
become available in your lifetime.
6> See rule #1 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"U.N. scientists project that average temperatures will rise by 1.4 to 5.8 C (3 to 11 F) by 2100 because of human impact on the climate. Temperatures have already risen by 0.8C since the Industrial Revolution in tandem with a 30 percent rise in CO2 levels."
Reuters: Greenhouse Gas Jump Spurs Global Warming Fears Mon Oct 11, 2004 11:30 AM ET http://www.reuters.com/printerFriendlyPopup.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6468677 By Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent
OSLO (Reuters) - An unexplained jump in greenhouse gases since 2002 might herald a catastrophic acceleration of global warming if it becomes a trend, scientists said on Monday.
But they said the two-year leap might be an anomaly linked, for instance, to forest fires in Siberia or a freak hot summer in Europe in 2003 rather than a portent of runaway climate change linked to human disruption of the climate system.
"There have been two years where the rise of carbon dioxide (CO2) has been faster than average," said Richard Betts, Manager for Ecosystems and Climate Impacts at Britain's Hadley Center.
"We shouldn't get alarmist about this ... If it lasted for more than about five years you'd start to get worried," he said.
Carbon dioxide levels, the main gas blamed for blanketing the planet and pushing up temperatures since the Industrial Revolution, have risen by more than two parts per million (ppm) in the past two years against a recent rate of about 1.5 ppm.
Scientists said the figures were confirmed at sites including Mauna Loa, Hawaii, west Ireland or the Norwegian Arctic island of Svalbard, about 800 miles from the North Pole. The rise was less in the southern hemisphere.
"CO2 levels are up about two ppm in the past two years -- but it would be pushing it to say that it could be the start of runaway global warming," said Kim Holmen, senior scientist at the Norwegian Institute for Air Research (NILU).
The rise in the past two years is quicker than mapped out in U.N. projections to the year 2100 based on increased human use of fossil fuels like coal, oil or gas. Higher temperatures could trigger everything from desertification to rising sea levels. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ http://www.reuters.com/printerFriendlyPopup.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6468677 ============================== Leigh leighcmeyers at yahoo.com