Global warming off topic? Just wondering...

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/* Sandy Pittendrigh --oO0
** http://montana-riverboats.com
*/


Is global warming OT in this newsgroup?
Maybe not.

There have been a flurry of internet links, the last few days,
to a series of stories about the announcement of a
new global warming model that essentially concludes
we've already past an unstoppable tipping point. Most of this has gone
by un-noticed--admidst all the hurricane news. But it is a story
that wants to make all else beside the point.

Even if we were to stop pumping CO2 and other green house gases into
the atmosphere now--it's already too late--according to
this new model. Part of the new news is the recently noticed and
supposedly unprecedented melting of the Siberian perma-frost.
So much frozen Siberian methane is supposed to released into the atmosphere,
according to this new argument, that there is now no stopping the
melting of the polar ice caps.

New York streets, this new model says, will be, like the streets of
New Orleans, swamped and flooded within 50-80 years.
Like a mountain snowfield in late June, most of the actual melting will
happen all at once at the last minute, they say. But just like
a snowfield in early April: it's just a matter of time
and there's no stopping it now. Or at least so goes the argument.

Just because some climate guys have a model doesn't make it true, of
course. But the stakes are definitely escalating.
Just a few years ago climate researchers were starting to warn
that conditions seemed to be changing. Now some of them are
starting to predict inescapable cataclysm. A thirty foot increase in
world-wide ocean levels would--like nucular war--ruin
your whole fishing day.

One of the most interesting things about this debate is
the right/left ideological divide. The Christian right, who tend to
view the world as some sort a holy homo sapiens fish tank, created
specifically for our benefit, where humans (but only humans)
go to heaven for eternal paradise--get all uptight when
they hear about global warming suggestions. God would
never allow such a thing, they seem to think. (now this really
*is* off topic now, but I do find myself wondering about it: if they
do have eternal paradise in heaven, does that mean they still have sex?
Can I still get laid? Well, I know I won't be going there anyway, so
I guess I shouldn't worry about it. But here's another question:
if you die when you're 97, do you remain 97 for eternity?
Can they still eat steak? Do they have outhouses or toilets there?)

Anyway, back to global warming:
The ideological free market capitalists are even more
threatened by any talk about global warming than the Christians.
The magic of the market place suddenly doesn't look so ideologically pure
anymore, not in the global warming context. In fact, when and if you ever
do accept that global warming is not only happening, but largely
caused by human activity, then the only logical next step is
big time government intervention. So it's no wonder they
don't like it all.

If global warming is happening, as a consequence of humanity,
then the only logical conclusion is that the human race is
a worldwide pestilence. An infestation in fact.

The next 10 to 20 years should be interesting.
Whatever the outcome, the prognosis should be less in doubt
by then.