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REAL WORLD EVENT DISCUSSIONS
Earth That Was: The Human Race Commits Suicide
Tuesday, September 1, 2009 9:25 AM
SIGNYM
I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.
Quote:Mackenzie River Delta, Northwest Territories (AP)— "On a calm day, you can see 20 or more 'seeps' out across this lake," said Canadian researcher Rob Bowen... A tossed match would have set it ablaze. Pure methane, gas bubbling up from underwater vents, escaping into northern skies, adds to the global-warming gases accumulating in the atmosphere. And pure methane escaping in the massive amounts known to be locked in the Arctic permafrost and seabed would spell a climate catastrophe. Researchers say air temperatures here in ... the Arctic have risen ... much faster than the global average. The summer thaw is reaching deeper into frozen soil at a rate of 1.5 inches a year, and a further 7°C (13°F) temperature rise is possible this century, says the authoritative, U.N.-sponsored Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). In 2007, air monitors detected a rise in methane concentrations in the atmosphere, apparently from far northern sources. Russian researchers in Siberia expressed alarm, warning of a potential surge in the powerful greenhouse gas, additional warming of several degrees, and unpredictable consequences for Earth's climate. ... "There is a very large storehouse of greenhouse gases within the permafrost, and if that storehouse of greenhouse gases is fluxing to the surface, that's important to know. And it's important to know if that flux will change with time." Methane also is present in another form, as hydrates—ice-like formations deep underground and under the seabed in which methane molecules are trapped within crystals of frozen water. (Clathrates) If warmed, the methane will escape. Reporting to the European Geophysical Union last year, the scientists, affiliated with the University of Alaska and the Russian Academy of Sciences, cited "extreme" saturation of methane in surface waters and in the air above. They said up to 10 percent of the undersea permafrost area had melted, and it was "highly possible" that this would open the way to abrupt release of an estimated 50 billion tons of methane. Depending on how much dissolved in the sea, that might multiply methane in the atmosphere several-fold, boosting temperatures enough to cause "catastrophic greenhouse warming," as the Russians called it. It would be self-perpetuating, melting more permafrost, emitting more methane.
Quote:That’s one in every six people on this planet. The number of these hungry people is roughly equivalent to the populations of the United States, Indonesia, Brazil, Pakistan, and Bangladesh combined. The world reached this bleak milestone in the middle of June this year. With the global human population continuing to explode and resources being stripped at an increasing rate, the outlook is not good. More people will go hungry. Less will have access to the nutrients their bodies need. And more will succumb to the illnesses that take advantage of the malnourished body. More people will die.
Quote:Owing to its roughly 100-year survival time in the atmosphere (a lifespan comparable to CFCs) and the huge quantities released each year, N2O stands poised to become a potent player in the thinning of global stratospheric ozone. Indeed, “We found that if you look ahead, N2O will remain the largest ozone-depleting emissions for the rest of the century,” notes team leader A.R. Ravishankara.Deforestation, animal wastes and bacterial decomposition of plant material in soils and streams emit up to two-thirds of atmospheric N2O. However, emissions from such natural sources appear fairly static, Ravishankara said at a briefing yesterday. That’s in stark contrast to N2O releases from processes fostered by human activity, such as the nitrogen fertilization of agricultural soils and fossil-fuel combustion. These anthropogenic emissions of the pollutant have been growing steadily, he says, to where they now boost atmospheric concentrations of N2O by roughly one percent every four years. What all this means, the NOAA scientists say, is that N2O is now a bigger threat to future stratospheric ozone destruction than are CFCs.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009 10:17 AM
HERO
Quote:Originally posted by SignyM: RIGHT NOW, ONE BILLION PEOPLE ARE STARVING
Tuesday, September 1, 2009 10:19 AM
Tuesday, September 1, 2009 10:36 AM
DREAMTROVE
Tuesday, September 1, 2009 10:38 AM
Wednesday, September 2, 2009 5:48 PM
Wednesday, September 2, 2009 6:05 PM
PIRATENEWS
John Lee, conspiracy therapist at Hollywood award-winner History Channel-mocked SNL-spoofed PirateNew.org wooHOO!!!!!!
Quote:Cold Water on "Global Warming" It has almost become something of a joke when some “global warming” conference has to be cancelled because of a snowstorm or bitterly cold weather. But stampedes and hysteria are no joke - and creating stampedes and hysteria has become a major activity of those hyping a global-warming “crisis.” They mobilize like-minded people from a variety of occupations, call them all “scientists” and then claim that “all” the experts agree on a global-warming crisis. Their biggest argument is that there is no argument. A whole cottage industry has sprung up among people who get grants, government agencies who get appropriations, politicians who get publicity, and the perpetually indignant who get something new to be indignant about. It gives teachers something to talk about in school instead of teaching. Those who bother to check the facts often find that not all those who are called scientists are really scientists and not all of those who are scientists are specialists in climate. But who bothers to check facts these days? A new and very different conference on global warming will be held in New York City, under the sponsorship of the Heartland Institute, on March 2nd to March 4th - weather permitting. It is called an “International Conference on Climate Change” that will examine the question “Global Warming: Crisis or Scam?” Among those present will be professors of climatology, along with scientists in other fields and people from other professions. They come from universities in England, Hungary, and Australia, as well as from the United States and Canada, and include among other dignitaries the former president of the Czech Republic, Václav Havel. All told, there will be 98 speakers and 400 participants. The theme of the conference is that “there is no scientific consensus on the causes or likely consequences of global warming.” www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/02/29/opinion/main3893146.shtml
Wednesday, September 2, 2009 10:17 PM
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