Climate change, we could have 80 years left to live

by pat c Thu Feb 05, 2004 17:06

some relevant links with more info:

The Ecologist, you have to pay for the current info:
http://www.theecologist.org/current_issue.html

But there are free articles on climate:

http://www.theecologist.org/archive_articles.html?category=38

New Scientist:

Global warming threatens millions of species
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994545

Get more, search using "climate change"



List of stories/links on The Geological Society of America site:

http://rock.geosociety.org/Indexing/fullSiteSearch.asp

Rebuttals of the Skeptical Environmentalist:
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=000F3D47-C6D2-1CEB-93F6809EC5880000&pageNumber=1

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=00040A72-A95C-1CDA-B4A8809EC588EEDF&pageNumber=1

A list of relevant stories on Science Daily:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/
Search using "climate change"

A list of relevant stories on Nature:

http://www.nature.com/

Search using "climate change"

by Andrew Fri Feb 06, 2004 13:02

Another 80 years will mean I'll nearly make 120!

by David Fri Feb 06, 2004 16:00

though if i were you i'd take my pension fund out of seafront property and maybe start investing in loweAlpine

by pat c Fri Feb 06, 2004 18:24

Increasing Greenhouse Gases Lead To Dramatic Thinning Of The Upper Atmosphere
Washington, D.C. (February 2, 2004) -- The highest layers of the Earth's atmosphere are cooling and contracting, most likely in response to increasing levels of greenhouse gases, according to a new study by scientists at the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL). This contraction could result in longer orbital lifetimes for both satellites and hazardous space debris.

Full story at

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2004/02/040203234243.htm

Scientists Find Ozone-destroying Molecule
WASHINGTON - For years, scientists theorized that a molecule called ClOOCl in the stratosphere played a key role in destroying ozone. Now, using measurements from a NASA aircraft laboratory flying over the Arctic, Harvard scientist Rick Stimpfle and colleagues observed the molecule for the first time. They report their discovery in the Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres, published by the American Geophysical Union.

Full story at

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2004/02/040204000415.htm

by David Mon Feb 09, 2004 12:35

An extreme example of the greenhouse gas effect can be found on Venus, whose atmosphere is 96% carbon dioxide (compared to trace amounts in the Earth's atmosphere), resulting in a very hot lower atmosphere (8008F, 4278C) and a very cold and compact upper atmosphere.

The cooling of our upper atmosphere is another sign of the changes that are happining to our planet and they're not good

by pat c Tue Feb 10, 2004 13:56

The Scoop On Poop: Insect Feces, Dead Leaves May Provide Clues To Health Of World

Barro Colorado Island, Panama

Insect feces and leaf litter in the rainforest may provide important clues to better understanding global climate change, according to a group of scientists conducting research in the Panamanian rainforest on a JASON Project expedition.

Full story At:

by pat c Wed Feb 11, 2004 15:45

Century May Bring Unprecedented Climate Change To Southern Hemisphere

The new century may bring hundreds or even thousands of plant and animal extinctions to the Andes Mountains of Peru according to new research by Florida Institute of Technology Paleo-Ecologist Mark Bush. Bush's findings, chronicled in the Feb. 6 issue of the prestigious journal Science, result from the study of the first continuous record of Andean climate change during the past 48,000 years. The Andes region of Peru is one of the most biologically diverse areas on the planet.

Full story at:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2004/02/040209075957.htm

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New Evidence Points To Pollution As Main Cause Of Much Coral Reef Destruction

Scientists agree that coral reefs are in an alarming global state of decline. However, determining the main cause or causes of this decline has proven a much more contentious issue. In the current edition of the Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology (JEMBE), Harbor Branch marine scientist Dr.Brian Lapointe and colleagues present new evidence they hope will help settle one major debate: whether pollution or overfishing is the main cause of the coral-smothering spread of seaweed on many reefs. The research suggests that pollution from such sources as sewage and agricultural runoff is the main culprit, a conclusion that has major repercussions for managers working to end the decline of reefs in South Florida and around the world.

full story at:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2004/02/040210075445.htm

by pat c Fri Feb 13, 2004 13:50

NASA Predicts More Tropical Rain In A Warmer World

As the tropical oceans continue to heat up, following a 20-year trend, warm rains in the tropics are likely to become more frequent, according to NASA scientists.

Full story at:

by pat c Fri Feb 13, 2004 13:53

Out-of-balance Ecosystems Play Role In Demise Of Amphibian Populations

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- During the last decade, Val Beasley of the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine has led a team wanting to know why the world's amphibian populations have been dwindling or riddled with limb deformities.

Evidence from his and other teams points to increasing numbers of common parasites as an important cause. However, the problems facing amphibian habitats really pose a poignant example of ecosystems out of balance because of human activity, according to Beasley, a professor of veterinary biosciences and executive director of the Envirovet Program in Wildlife and Ecosystem Health.

Full story at:

by pat c Mon Feb 16, 2004 18:34

Pacific nation of Tuvalu preparing to disappear beneath tides this week

AUCKLAND (AFP) Feb 16, 2004
Weather authorities in Tuvalu warned Monday their small South Pacific nation is likely to be inundated by unusual tides later this week.
Tuvalu, home to 11,500 people living on nine scattered atolls all less than 4.5 metres (15 feet) above sea level, will be hit Thursday and Friday by "king tides" associated with the new moon, Hilia Vavae of the Tuvalu Meteorological Office told AFP.

Full story at:

by pat c Mon Feb 16, 2004 18:42

Duke Open-air Experiment Results Could Deflate Hopes That Forests Can Alleviate Global Warming

SEATTLE -- A futuristic Duke University simulation of forest growth under the carbon dioxide-enriched atmosphere expected by 2050 does not reinforce the optimism of those who believe trees can absorb that extra CO2 by growing faster, said a spokesman for the experiment.

During seven years of exposure to carbon dioxide concentrations 1½ times higher than today's, test plots of loblolly pines have indeed boosted their annual growth rates by between 10 and 25 percent, found the researchers. But "the highest responses have been in the driest years, and the effect of CO2 has been much less in normal and wet years," said William Schlesinger, a professor of biogeochemistry and dean of Duke's Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences.

Full story at:

by pat c Tue Feb 17, 2004 11:09

(Looks as if my postings are annoying a pollution supporter, or maybe hes just a sad sicko who has so little self belief he has to make anonymous attacks on anyone who tries to do something.)
While cities provide vital habitat for human beings to thrive, it appears U.S. cities have been built on the most fertile soils, lessening contributions of these lands to Earth's food web and human agriculture, according to a study by NASA researchers and others.

Full story at:

by pat c Wed Feb 18, 2004 16:50

SEATTLE -- Global warming will diminish the amount of water stored as snow in the Western United States by up to 70 percent in the coastal mountains over the next 50 years, according to a new climate change model released here today.

The reduction in Western mountain snow cover, from the Sierra Nevada range that feeds California in the south to the snowcapped volcanic peaks of the Cascades in the Pacific Northwest, will lead to increased fall and winter flooding, severe spring and summer drought that will play havoc with the West's agriculture, fisheries and hydropower industry.

Full story at:

by pat c Thu Feb 19, 2004 11:52

MAF salutes Inspector Cat's prowess
18 February 2004

An environmental lobby group is spitting mad after it managed to get a family cat registered as an inspector of sea containers.

"My Cat Bolletje" has been issued an interim certificate and online congratulations by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF) for passing its internet biosecurity awareness training course.

The claws are out at Forest and Bird where conservation manager Kevin Hackwell condemned MAF's inspection regime as "farcical". He said he passed the ministry's online test on behalf of his two-year-old cat in just eight minutes. "My cat's pretty smart and I'm sure it could make a more reliable inspector of sea containers than some of the people that will become accredited online," he said.


More at:

by pat c Thu Feb 19, 2004 14:34

Scientists: Bush Distorts Science

The Bush administration has distorted scientific fact leading to policy decisions on the environment, health, biomedical research and nuclear weaponry, a group of about 60 scientists, including 20 Nobel laureates, said in a statement on Wednesday.

The Union of Concerned Scientists, an independent organization, also issued a 37-page report, "Scientific Integrity in Policymaking," detailing the accusations. The statement and the report both accuse the Bush administration of distorting and suppressing findings that contradict administration policies, stacking panels with like-minded and underqualified scientists with ties to industry, and eliminating some advisory committees altogether.

The scientists listed various policy issues as being unfairly influenced by the administration, including those concerning climate change, mercury emissions, reproductive health, lead poisoning in children, workplace safety and nuclear weapons.

More at:

by Moi Thu Feb 19, 2004 14:57

Sure, why wouldn't the shrub distort a few scientific facts, or facts about nature? Didn't one of his predecessors, Ronald Reagan, declare that "Trees cause pollution". So the shrub is only keeping up a tradition.

by Leon Thu Feb 19, 2004 15:10

If there weren't any scientists with their inventions and such there would be no pollution.

Anyway even 'nobel prize winners' (a prize paid for in blood) can be biased

by Cyber punk Thu Feb 19, 2004 15:20

Step away from the computer.
It was invented.

"The two most common elements in the universe are hydrogen and stupidity."

by David Thu Feb 19, 2004 16:42

Scientists are to blame, If it went for them we wouldnt know that the world was doomed so we'd all live happily until we die.. probably from falling apples hitting us on the head

by Leon Thu Feb 19, 2004 16:56

If it wasn't for them the world wouldn't be doomed.

Technolphilia is an infantile disorder.

by pat c Thu Feb 19, 2004 17:00

If you are a technophobe then why are you using a PC? Surely you should have returned to a hunter gatherer existence.

by Leon Thu Feb 19, 2004 17:28

I do live a hunter gatherer existence , The D6W area is probably the best place in Dublin for pre-technological nomads like myself and my band.

Bushie Park provides an excellent source of forage and also for the tree bark which I write my responses to your arguments on.

I myself don't send them onto the "shining box of grey metal"

Barrg our shaman does that while under the influence of teacher plants.

by pat c Tue Feb 24, 2004 14:21

Great Barrier Reef to be decimated by 2050

Australia's Great Barrier Reef will lose 95 per cent of its living coral by 2050 - predicts a new report. And this devastating situation will occur if the best-case scenario for global warming unfolds.

Full story at:

by Gaillimhed Wed Mar 03, 2004 13:09

The Junk Science of George W. Bush
By Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
The Nation

March 8, 2004 Issue


Today, flat-earthers within the Bush Administration are engaged in a campaign to suppress science that is arguably unmatched in the Western world since the Inquisition. Meanwhile, the Bush White House is purging, censoring and blacklisting scientists and engineers whose work threatens the profits of the Administration's corporate paymasters or challenges the ideological underpinnings of their radical anti-environmental agenda.

read the rest of the article at:

http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/030204C.shtml

by pat c Wed Mar 03, 2004 15:45

Arctic clouds could make ozone depletion three times worse than predicted.

The thinning of the ozone layer over the Arctic could be much worse than we thought, because of a side-effect of global warming.

If the upper reaches of the Arctic atmosphere get colder - a predicted consequence of climate change - then the rate of ozone depletion could be three times greater than currently forecast, according to Markus Rex of the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in Potsdam, Germany, and his co-workers.


Full story at:

by pat c Thu Mar 04, 2004 13:53

Overfishing is not the sole cause of dramatically declining fish stocks in the north Atlantic Ocean, or worldwide, said marine biologists at a Royal Society meeting last week in London. Environmental changes such as climate warming may be just as important, they said, urging governments to consider these factors when managing fisheries.

Full story at:

by pat c Tue Mar 09, 2004 12:46

Wolves are up and moose are down this spring at Isle Royale National Park, the home of a 46-year study of predators and their prey. Researchers suspect that a global warming trend may be behind the shift.

The moose population has slid to 750 on this Lake Superior wilderness island park, down from 900 last year and 1,100 in 2002. In the meantime, the number of wolves has seesawed upward over the past decade and is now up to 29, as many as the park has seen since 1980 and 11 more than last year.

Full story at:

by Anonimoggy Tue Mar 09, 2004 18:00

Please somebody tell me its not true, Pat C has another 80 years to live!

by pat c Wed Mar 10, 2004 11:13

hah! no my feline friend, i reckon it will be more like 800 yrs. i will live to see a libertarian society where children will read in history books of the antics of the trots and laugh at them. i have faith in nano-biotechnology ;)

by pat c Thu Mar 11, 2004 15:35

Black Soot And Snow: A Warmer Combination

Global warming might be the last thing on your mind while snuggled up inside during a raging snowstorm. But, scientists say what happens to that snow over the next few days, as its plowed and turns filthy along our roadsides, contributes to climate change.

A new study found that emissions of soot, or black carbon, alters the way sunlight reflects off snow and may be responsible for as much as 25 percent of observed global warming over the past century.

by pat c Thu Mar 11, 2004 15:48

Changes in tree communities underline humans' pervasive influence.

Supposedly pristine regions of the Amazon rainforests are being affected by changes in the environment, say researchers in Panama. The species composition of ecosystems is changing even in remote areas, they report in Nature1.

Human activities such as logging, burning and clearing are known to affect the delicate balance between the many thousands of species in tropical rainforests. But the latest discovery suggests that these communities may not be safe even when they are far from the nearest humans.

by Leon Fri Mar 12, 2004 11:33

Climate change is more serious threat than terrorism.

by iosaf Mon Oct 25, 2004 20:02

So now consider this-
I live (in case you don't know) in Barcelona in Catalonia, with a mediterranean climate. Every year as the academic term begins I return to work, and have got used to seeing seasonal flowers from the train.
This year as all of ye in Ireland have had rain and cold weather, the hottest October since records began has been experienced here.
One of Yesterday's sunday papers headlines was "October without Jersey!". As if this was good.
Today as I took my shirt off the line, I found two ladybirds on it. Then later from the train I saw robin red breast and purple lysteria in bloom. Walking the last stretch to work I saw a dragonfly.
Today I saw with my own eyes that the seasons have broken down. These four sights that I list you, ought not occur at the same time.
I commented as much to one of my colleagues (a New Yorker) his answer-
"Oh that's my president, isn't he wonderful, he's just a regular guy, regular guys don't know when ladybirds are supposed to come out".